by Roseanna White | Feb 6, 2012 | Word of the Week
Cool. It could be argued (successfully, I think) that cool is a word that not only gets used, but over-used. It’s the word we use to mean someone is hip, fashionable, or has that certain something that sets them apart as desirable. Or, spinning off that, it’s the word we use to say we really like something. It’s the word we use to tell someone to stop (cool it!). And of course, it’s a temperature word, too. =)
Last week I found myself wanting to write “cool it!” so I looked it up. Well, I didn’t find the etymology of that particular use in my quick browsing, but I did find a few of the others interesting. I tend to think of “cool” as a modern word, and that “fashionable” meaning is indeed rather new, coming from 1933. But still, it’s older than I thought, and comes, so it is said, from the jazz movement. Which makes sense, because I can totally hear Louis Armstrong in my head going “Cool, man. Cool.”
Where it surprised me, though, was that its use of being attached to a sum to give emphasis to the amount is from 1728. You know, like “He won a cool million in the game.” I had no idea that one was that old!
In 1825 it adopted the meaning of “calmly audacious.” That, I daresay is what made the way for the above-mentioned “fashionable,” since, well, it’s pretty cool (ha ha ha) to be calmly audacious. =)
I hope everyone had a great weekend and is gearing up for a stellar Monday! Time for me to get down to business–I’m going to finish this manuscript I’m working on in the next three weeks, even if it kills me. So if you have the urge to say a prayer that I survive it . . . 😉
by Roseanna White | Jan 23, 2012 | Word of the Week
This ranks as one of those “who’d a thunk?” late arrivals to the English language. Not in every sense, of course, but I think you’ll be surprised by some of the years on this!
Okay, so “show” as in act or performance is as old as you might expect, coming from the 1300s. And an appearance put on to deceive, or an ostentatious display are from the 1500s. As a verb, it’s even older, though with a twist unique to English. Ours evolved into a meaning of “to make known” in the 1200s, but the correlating word in other languages still carried its original meaning of “to look at.”
But some of the meanings we use most often are the ones that’ll get you.
Did you know, for instance, that “show up” didn’t come along until 1888? That’s after “show biz” which is from the 1850s! And it’s even after “I’ll show you!” That particular meaning comes from the 1820s.
Interesting, huh? =)
Hope everyone has a great Monday!
by Roseanna White | Jan 16, 2012 | Word of the Week
As usual, my word of the week comes from last week’s writing experience. =) My heroine has just spent weeks preparing a performance, which went off without a hitch. Her father comes up and says, “You were a . . .” Sensation is what I want to say. But that sounds a bit too modern, doesn’t it?
So I look it up. As expected, I discover that “sensation” in its physical sense–a reaction to stimulation of the senses, so sensation of cold, hunger, etc.–is old. From 1610. I knew it would be. But what about the secondary sense? I was expecting mid-1800s, I’ll be honest.
Nope. That one, the definition of “state of shock or surprise within a community” is from 1779! Definitely safe to use in my story, which was good. So out of curiosity, I looked to the next entry, sensational. As in, aiming at producing said shock within a community. That one was more what I expected, dating from 1863. And sensationalism in literature is recorded two years after that.
Hope everyone has a sensational Monday!
by Roseanna White | Jan 9, 2012 | Word of the Week
My husband has been asking for months and months, “When’s my vacation?” Working for himself as he does, he can rarely take a day off. This weekend we traveled a few hours to visit friends for a birthday celebration, and we looked at it as a mini vacation.
Which of course made me wonder about the word. =) I was pretty surprised to learn that it’s as old as it is! It strikes me as a modern idea, I suppose . . . or maybe I just tend to think of the British word “holiday” as being older.
But in actuality, “vacation” dates from the 14th century with the meaning of “freedom from obligations, leisure, release.” Which I guess goes to show that as long as people have been toiling, they’ve been in need of a break. Even the formalized version–i.e. a break from school–is from the 15th century. But the idea of going away somewhere to pass this free time (a distinction I would have thought subtle) is from the late 1800s. Who knew?
Hope everyone has a lovely Monday!
by Roseanna White | Jan 2, 2012 | Word of the Week
It’s the first Monday of 2012, and though we may not all make resolutions, I imagine many of us are thinking about what we want to do differently this coming year, and what we won’t want to budge on. We’re embracing the idea of a fresh start in some areas and accepting the traditions as a way to motivate ourselves.
So I figured this would be a good word to share the history of today. =) Did you know that “motivation” wasn’t in use until 1873? Pretty late! And even then, it was only used in a literal, physical sense of “causing to move toward action.” The sense of “inner or social stimulus” didn’t come into play until 1904.
I discovered this last year when writing
Annapolis and was baffled for a good long minute. My character was claiming that his friend would question his motivations. But if he couldn’t question his “motivations” in 1783, then what was he questioning?
Then I had a “duh” moment–he would be questioning his motives. “Motive” carried that very meaning since the 15th century. Which rather begs the question of why we ever thought we had to add that “-ation” ending to it, doesn’t it?
Which brings me back to one of my favorite quotations–I believe this is from Pascal, though I’d have to look through my old notes to make sure, so if I’m wrong, please correct me. I love this one because it’s basically saying “Don’t be pretentious, dude.” So a fun one to start off our new year . . .
“Think with deep motives–but talk like an ordinary person.”
Happy New Year!
by Roseanna White | Dec 19, 2011 | Holidays, Word of the Week
In Old English, Christmas day was called geol (not to be confused with gaol, which is jail–ha ha ha), taken from Old Norse jol. Jol was a heathen feast day, taken over by English so long ago that no one’s sure exactly when it happened. Though we do know that “jolly” comes from jol. 😉
Origianlly, geol, or yule, meant solely Christmas Day. It also happens that there was a cognate, giuli, that was the Anglo-Saxon name for a two-month midwinter season of feasting, so the two got mixed together. When English first borrowed the word, it meant the 12 Day Feast of Christmas–December 25 through January 6, the Epiphany. It was largely replaced by the word Christmas by the eleventh century, except for in Danish-settled parts of England.
Writers, however, revived the word in the 19th century to capture the particular charm of Christmas in Merry Ol’ England. Oh yes, it’s always the writers, LOL.
Yultide (literally yule time or Christmastime) was recorded in the 15th century, and the first written mention of the yule log is from the 17th century and was a ceremonially chosen log (sometimes and entire tree) picked to have an enduring burn for Christmas.
Can you believe there’s less than a week until Christmas?? I hope everyone is enjoying this yuletide season!
~*~
And today I’m on
Go Teen Writers! It was a fun interview, so be sure to check it out to learn what I would do if captured by kidnappers. 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.