Word of the Week – Clone

Word of the Week – Clone

by | Sep 4, 2023 | Word of the Week

Clone. It’s a word we all know…and use often enough that most of us probably haven’t given much thought to where in the world it came from. And once you pause to think it through, you’re probably still shrugging, am I right? That short little word doesn’t give us a lot of clues!

In fact, the word clone comes from a Latinized form of the Greek klon, which means…”a twig.”

Yep. That’s right. A twig. Klon is related to klados, which means “an offshoot or young branch.” Which helps the lightbulb start to go on a bit. Especially when you realize that the English word “clone” was first created by botanists in 1903. A “clone” was a plant grown from a clipping of another plant, so that it was identical to it.

Ahh, now it’s making sense! These plant “clones” were groups of trees or flowers or bushes etc all identical to the parent plant from which the clippings were taken. And that was the sole meaning of the word until the 1970s, when people began to apply it to other living things that were genetically identical to another as well.

So there we go! Based on a very old Greek word but with a very new meaning.

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Word of the Week – Tabby

Word of the Week – Tabby

by | Aug 28, 2023 | Word of the Week

Okay, I admit it. The only use of tabby I’m all that familiar with is the cat–and I didn’t know until we rescued a tabby kitten that tabby just means striped. (There was totally a call to the vet that answered the question of “Color?” with “I don’t know, a kind of brownish with darker stripes?” which lead to, “Oh, so a tabby.” Insert me answering, “Is that what that means?”)

But what can I say? Tabby just isn’t used anymore in its original meaning–namely, to describe striped silk.

Yep, that’s right. Tabby was first used in English in 1630 to describe a striped silk taffeta that the French called tabis…which they in turn had shortened from atabis. Which the French in turn had borrowed from Arabic ‘attabi, which is shortened from ‘Attabiyah.

And what, you ask, is ‘Attabiyah? It’s the neighborhood in which said striped silk was first created in Bagdhad. And that neighborhood was said to be named after a prince, ‘Attab of the Omayyad dynasty.

So there you have it. The cute striped cats are totally named after a prince. (The word wasn’t applied to cats until the 1770s though!)

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Word of the Week – Disguise

Word of the Week – Disguise

by | Aug 21, 2023 | Word of the Week

Disguise.

There’s nothing incredibly surprising about the history and etymology of disguise, but I’m going to talk about it anyway, in honor of the release of A Beautiful Disguise. 😉

Disguise is quite simply a combination of the French guise (appearance) and des (away or off). Granted, the word guise on its own isn’t as common as it used to be, but I imagine most of us have heard or read it somewhere, so as soon you break it down, you go, “Oh yeah, of course!”

Since the word entered English in the 1300s, it’s meant “to change one’s appearance with the intent to deceive.”

What I find interesting is that there’s a sense of the word that’s fallen out of use that focuses on the thing used to disguise, one of the most popular phrases of old being “to disguise with liquor,” for when one’s personality is changed because of intoxication.

You know, other than for costume events and plays, I don’t think I’ve ever donned a disguise. How about you?

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Word of the Week – Bingo

Word of the Week – Bingo

by | Aug 17, 2023 | Word of the Week

Go ahead. Look at the word and try not to sing the children’s song. I dare you. 😉

And interestingly, the song about the farmer’s dog is the oldest attest use of the word bingo, which I never knew. There aren’t really any theories about where it came from otherwise, but the song is referenced in a play from 1854, so it must have been commonplace well before then. Although, ahem, that reference was actually a story of using the song as a drinking game. Each person had to do a letter and if they made a mistake, they had to drink.

There is some uncertain connection to bingo being a slang word for brandy, actually, dating to the 1690s…so perhaps the idea of using the song as a drinking game has some history to it. Certainly, it became a euphemism for “liquor” by the 1860s, and one must wonder how much that popular play, “The Americans at Home” had to do with it.

The game of chance is from 1924…presumably because a year earlier, shouting out “Bingo!” as an exclamation of surprise or sudden realization became popular.

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Word of the Week – Rope

Word of the Week – Rope

by | Aug 7, 2023 | Word of the Week

Rope is a word that’s been pretty much forever, dating from Old English and with similar words in many related languages. And it’s always meant the same thing too–“strong, heavy cord.”

The interesting thing about this word is more the idioms that contain it. Did you know, for instance, that to learn the ropes or to know the ropes is a sailing term? And as soon as I say that, the lightbulb goes on, right, and you go, “Oh, of COURSE!” That’s what I did, anyway. Because of course, rigging is made of ropes. So to know or learn them is to know or learn the rigging. To be/come familiar with the ship.

As early as the 1300s, rope was used as a stand-in for the idea of a noose or snare–no big surprise there, since it’s what those are made of.

The phrase “on the ropes” dates fro 1924 and appeals to boxing–if you’re on the ropes of the ring, you’re about to be defeated.

“At the end of your rope” has been an idiom since the 1680s, meaning you’ve run out of resources or ideas. At that same time, the phrase “give him enough rope to hang himself” also became popular. A similar but earlier phrase was “rope-ripe,” meaning fit to be hanged. Morbid, right? I think I’ll stick with those nautical ones. 😉

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Word of the Week – Brat

Word of the Week – Brat

by | Jul 31, 2023 | Word of the Week

If someone were to call you a brat, you’d know exactly what they mean, right? They’d be calling you a bad-mannered, annoying child. Or perhaps the child of someone in a very specific career (like an “army brat”). There’s often a connotation of being spoiled.

But did you know that the original meaning of brat, while still applied to children, was the exact opposite of “spoiled”?

Brat dates back to the 1500s and is thought to have come from some English dialects…and it’s from the word for “a makeshift, ragged garment.” Um…huh? Yep. When someone didn’t have proper clothes and made do with whatever they could find, it was called a brat, from the Old English word for “cloak,” bratt. So then the word began to be applied to the homeless or ragged children who were often forced to wear these makeshift clothes–beggar children.

How it evolved into what we know it as today is a bit murky. The suggestion is that perhaps it began to also be used as a word for a child’s apron…and the children who wore aprons were not beggars, of course. By 1788 the word brattery was being used for a nursery, so clearly it had evolved away from beggars by that time. And we know that by the 1920, bratty meant spoiled.

Definitely a word with some evolution!

Word Nerds Unite!

Read More Word of the Week Posts

Word Nerds Merch!

Word Nerd Definition Unisex Softstyle T-Shirt
Cart
Checkout - $0.00
  • 0
  • 1