Since yesterday was Palm Sunday, I thought it would be fun to look at the etymology of the word palm.

Not shockingly, it’s been in English a long time–since the 1300s. And it comes from a root that means “flat.” So in reference to the palm of the hand, it’s describing the flat part of the hand.

From there, the palm trees got their names because of the flat leaves and branches with “fingers” on them. Of course, these trees aren’t native to England, so that early knowledge of the trees mostly came thanks to the story of Palm Sunday.

Why palms, though? Because in the ancient world, palm fronds were word on carried as a symbol of victory (much like a laurel leaf crown).

Did you attend a Palm Sunday service yesterday?

Word Nerds Merch!

Did you know that peruse is its own opposite?

In the late 1400s, the word peruse was created to mean “to go through something with extreme detail or careful scrutiny.” It comes from per- (completely) combined with use.

By the 1530s, it was applied specifically to “read thoroughly.”

But somewhere in the mists of time, things changed. By the 19th century, peruse instead came to mean “browse” or “read casually.”

Why? Etymologists don’t have a lot to say on the matter. They simply classify it as a “contronym”–a word that has two opposite meanings. I always love finding these–how about you?

Word Nerds Merch!

We know the definitions of words that end in -spire…but do we know what they literally mean? All these -spire endings come from the Latin spirare, which means “to breathe.” So let’s examine our English words!

Conspire – literally “breathe together”
Perspire – literally “through breath”
Aspire – literally “to breathe upon” (the notion being to pant after something)
Respire – literally “to breathe again”
Transpire – literally “across, beyond, or through the breath”
Expire – literally “out of breath”
Inspire – literally “to put breath into”

Then, hilariously, there’s spire…which isn’t from that Latin root at all, but is from Norse/Germanic, meaning “sharp point.” 😉

Word Nerds Merch!

Did you know that muscle comes from mouse?

You didn’t read that wrong.

Apparently back in Ancient Greece, someone thought that bulging muscles (think biceps) resembled mice. So mys was the root for both words, and that just carried right up on through the millennia and into Latin, and from there to many other languages.

I don’t know about you, but I thought the shared letters and sounds were pure coincidence. Turns out, the Latin musculus means “little mouse.” That’s where our English word came from, way back in the 1300s.

Now you know.

Word Nerds Merch!

Time for yet another look at a word so common we probably don’t even think about it. But pause for a second and consider these two: again and against. They look strikingly similar, don’t they? Coincidence?

Far from it.

Again actually traces its roots allllll the way back to Old English, when it could be either a preposition or an adverb and meant “toward; opposite, contrary to”…you know, what we think of as against.

In the 1100s, the variation with that -st ending appeared, but the two variations were used interchangeably. It wasn’t until the 1500s that they began to deviate and be differentiated in most English dialects, but not all. Scottish never did adopt the -st ending so continued to use again in the ways we would use against. Even so, again still retained its earlier meanings for quite a long time.

And that “once more” meaning we think of today? That didn’t join in until the 14th century, which is pretty late in life for the Old English word!

Word Nerds Merch!