Word of the Week – Mean

by Roseanna White | Apr 11, 2016 | Word of the Week

I always find it interesting to see how very common words have changed over time–and mean is certainly one that has shifted around quite a bit!

I’m going to focus solely on the adjective version of the word today, though it’s worth noting that through the years, some of the changes to mean‘s meaning (ha…ha…ha) is because of it’s noun definition (“that which is in the middle or between extremes”–a definition mostly retained these days in math).

When mean first entered the English language back in 1200 (you know…when the English language first entered the English language), it meant “of low quality; common to all.” Within a hundred years there was a subtle shift to “inferior, second-rate.” This was of things–think of the second verse of “What Child Is This?”: “why lies he in such mean estate…?”–but it came from an application to people that had arisen earlier in the 1300s, that of a low or inferior rank.

The word carried these meanings of “common” or “inferior” for quite a while. In the 1660s, it took a bit of a turn and started to mean “stingy, nasty.”

So when did our main meaning today (“not obliging, pettily offensive”) come into play? Interestingly, not until 1839, and it was American slang. The inverted meaning of “remarkable good” (think, “She plays a mean piano”) is from about 1900, probably a shortened form of “no mean _____”)

Word of the Week – Groggy

by Roseanna White | Apr 4, 2016 | Word of the Week

This is a simple one, but likely to be apt today, after I stayed up way too late last night watching the season finale of The Walking Dead. 😉 But I took a nap first. And when my husband came in from working outside right after I got up, I said, “I’m still groggy.”

To which he replied, “You were drinking grog?”

I knew right then that this is where that word came from. And indeed, it does. Grog, in the 18th century, first meant “any alcoholic drink diluted with water.” British General Edward Vernon, you see, ordered his men’s rum to be diluted with water; he was also known for the grogram cloak he wore (grogram is a stiff, coarse cloth), so his men started calling this drink grog, after his trademark cloak. The term, coined in 1749, caught on so quickly that by 1790, taverns were often called grog shops, though the “diluted” part got lost, and grog meant any strong alcoholic drink.

Groggy, then, by 1770 meant “drunk with grog until one staggers or stumbles.” It took on the figurative sense of someone just who is staggering or stumbling without necessarily being drunk by 1838. I’m not quite sure when it shifted toward the modern meaning, but today’s dictionary entries say, “staggering from exhaustion or blows; dazed or weakened from lack of sleep.”

Now, announcement. The Reluctant Duchess releases tomorrow!!!!!!! My big giveaway will go live at some point during the day tomorrow. Not sure what time, because I still need to take a picture of the giveaway items, and one of said items needs just a bit more work. 😉 But it will definitely be up at some point, and then you’ll have two weeks to enter!

Word of the Week – Fit the Bill

by Roseanna White | Mar 28, 2016 | Word of the Week

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holy Week and Lenten season! I know some of you were reading along my 40 Days of Jesus challenge, and others weren’t–and now it’s back to usual blogging. (Only 3 days a week instead of the 6 of the challenge, LOL.)

My next book releases NEXT TUESDAY!!!! One of the items on my to-do list this week is getting my usual huge giveaway running by release day, so you definitely want to stay tuned for that. =)

In the meantime, while normal blogging was suspended for the reading challenge, I was still writing The Name Thief and having a blast (most of the time). And, of course, finding some words to feature on Mondays. 😉

Last week, I had my heroine poised to say that something “fit the bill,” and then I paused. Went to etymonline.com . . . and found that this time I couldn’t find it in such an easy click, so headed to Google instead, to trace the etymology of that phrase. (Found this entry.)

What I discovered was that while the idea of fit the bill was certainly around by 1914, that wasn’t how they said it. At the time, a “bill” wasn’t thought of as an invoice–it was more a program or advertisement that could be tacked up on a billboard (go figure). Think a restaurant’s “bill of fare.” So those who planned these events that used bills had to find things with which to fill them, to round them out. The original saying was, then, fill the bill.

So my instincts to check it were, this time, right. 😉

Word of the Week – Brainstorm

by Roseanna White | Feb 1, 2016 | Word of the Week

I’m busy working on a new project, which means the chance to look up a bunch of random words as I write them and then go, “Wait a minute. Did that exist yet?”

Last week, I looked up brainstorm. I knew I’d looked it up before for a book set pretty early and deemed it off-limits, but I couldn’t remember when it came about. As it turns out, it’s recorded in 1849, meaning, as one would expect, “A brilliant idea, mental excitement.” (The figurative use of storm entered English waaaaaay back in the Old English days.)

Here’s the only thing to keep in mind with brainstorm–it was only a noun. You didn’t brainstorm an idea. You had a brainstorm. The verb form didn’t follow for another 70 years.

Now off I go to see what my characters’ brainstorm results in. 😉

Word of the Week – Bedlam

by Roseanna White | Jan 25, 2016 | Word of the Week

Last week, one of Xoe’s vocabulary words was bedlam. And while her book told her what it means, this is my daughter. She also wanted to know where it came from. So naturally, Mama hops over to etymonline.com

And I learned something!

I never had any idea where the word came from, but it’s a shortened form of “Bethlehem,” apparently. In medieval London there was a priory called “Saint Mary of Bethlehem,” which became a hospital in the 1300s, and specifically one for lunatics by 1400. In wills as early as 1440, it was referred to as “Hospital of Saint Mary of Bedlam,” or sometimes “Betleem.” Bedlam was the most common abbreviation, though…and the place was infamous for its scenes of confusion and madness.

Because of that, bedlam was used for any scene of mad confusion by the 1600s.