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by Roseanna White | Jan 27, 2014 | Word of the Week
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| Patent diagram of the first escalator (“revolving stairs”) – 1859 |
This one got me. I admit it. I looked it up during edits on a WhiteFire book because I wasn’t sure it was quite early enough in the sense used. And what do I find? A surprise!
Escalate is new. Darn new. As in, from 1922–and that’s in the literal sense. It’s actually a back-formation of escalator (from 1900). Before that, the verb had been escalade. Not so different a word, right? Except that escalade has exactly one meaning: “to use ladders to scale a fortified wall.” Yeah, um…not how I use escalate!
So what of that meaning? The “to raise,” or “to intensify” meaning? Well…that didn’t come around until the Cold War! 1959 to be exact. I had no idea it was so new!
by Roseanna White | Jan 20, 2014 | Word of the Week
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| A Roman Calendar |
When I’m writing or editing historicals, much of my word nit-picking relies on gut and ear. If something feels too new or sounds too new (as in, I don’t remember reading it in works of the period), I look it up. Which is how I came to look up date last week.
Date obviously has a long history…in some senses. Ignoring the fruit called a date, which has been around forever, let’s look at the noun and verb that both have to do with noting the day. These have been around since the 14th century, directly from the Latin datum. From which also comes data, apparently. Which makes sense, but I don’t think I ever thought of it, LOL.
This primary meaning gradually evolved to mean “appointment.” But it took several hundred years for that appointment to gain a romantic sense–as in, not until the 1890s, five or so years after it came to mean “liaison.” But this was still just the actual meeting. Calling a person your date didn’t come about until 1925.
And to round it all out, “date” was also used to call something old-fashioned or out-of-date (her clothes date her) in 1895. So many meanings! Some so very old, some so relatively new.
Quick side note! I just added a page to my website featuring the book covers I’ve designed. I didn’t realize how many there were! LOL. If you’d like to check them out–or if you have a project you’d like me to consider taking on–do swing over to http://www.roseannawhite.com/wordpress/designs and take a look at my gallery. I’d love to hear which is your favorite. 😉
by Roseanna White | Jan 13, 2014 | Word of the Week
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| The Duchess of Chevreuse as Diana the Huntressby Claude Deruet, 17th century |
We see a lot of historical heroines described as feisty–and why not? It’s a great word, right? It means “spirited,” right?
Wrong. Though I just learned this recently, and now I’m wondering if I’m guilty of using this wrongly, LOL. First of all, feisty wasn’t ever used until 1896. At which point it was an Americanism that meant “aggressive, exuberant.”
But here’s the kicker. Do you know where it comes from? I didn’t. But apparently it’s from fice, a word for a dog. Particularly a stinking dog. For centuries, folks would use fice (also spelled feist) to describe, er, passing gas.
So not exactly a compliment, LOL. And I’m going to think twice about using it again in anything but a contemporary, where that original meaning has been largely forgotten.
~*~
Don’t forget I have two giveaways running! The first one, for The Wyoming Heir, will run through Tuesday 1/14/14. The second, for winner’s choice of one of my books, will go through Thursday 1/16/14.
by Roseanna White | Jan 6, 2014 | Word of the Week
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| The Blizzard by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1860 |
Given the awful winter weather striking so much of the country this year, this seemed like an appropriate word for the day. =) Though one I can’t take credit for coming up with–one of my fellow Colonial Writers, the amazingly-talented Lori Benton, posted to our group about this one. I otherwise wouldn’t have thought to question it!
But apparently blizzard is a pretty new word. Though occasionally used for a “a hail of gunfire” as early as 1829, it didn’t take on the snowstorm meaning until–get this–1859. It most likely came from blizz, a word for a violent rainstorm that dates to 1770. Etymologists suspect that its origin is America’s Upper Midwest, where locals probably took the word used for the rainstorm and applied it to the snowstorm just to be cheeky. 😉 (Okay, so they technically say “in a colloquialism.” But we all know what they mean.)
So what in the world did they call blizzards before blizzard was a word?? That’s the question Lori asked, and I’m not sure we really found the best answer. “Violent blow” seems to be the closest, but it doesn’t feel sufficient to me. Guess that’s why those Upper Midwesterners found a better word for it. =)
Hope everybody stays warm this week! And if you’re stuck inside, be sure to swing by again tomorrow. I’m hosting a good friend of mine (from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, so a girl who knows all about the cold and blizzards, LOL) in an interview and giveaway of her just-released historical romance, The Wyoming Heir. And on Wednesday, I’m taking everyone on a step-by-step journey through the last book cover I designed for WhiteFire. That should be fun too. =) See you tomorrow!
by Roseanna White | Dec 30, 2013 | Word of the Week
First of all, I’d like too announce that next Monday will mark a pretty cool milestone around here–1,000 posts! Woot! I’ll have to think up some fun way to celebrate. Ideas welcome. 😉
And now, a word of the week. =)
I was designing a book cover with a bustle on it, which inspired me to look up the word. Not surprisingly the verb bustle dates back pretty far–all the way to 1570. It meant “be active,” and actually came from bustling, which is from the century before as an adjective. The adjective meant “noisy activity.”
The noun form followed by 1630 with the expected meaning of “activity, stir, fuss, commotion.”
So then, how about the padding in a skirt? Well, that arrived on the scene in the 1780s, though from where and how no one’s quite sure. Speculation is that its rustling sound inspired the name bustle, but it’s also possible that it came from the German buschel, which means “bunch or pad.” Either way, it was a key part of women’s fashion for well over a hundred years.
by Roseanna White | Dec 16, 2013 | Holidays, Word of the Week
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| Christmas throughout Christendom, 1873 |
I thought it would be fun to examine some Christmas traditions this week and next. So while this isn’t exactly etymology, it’s still looking at origins. 😉
The legend of mistletoe goes all the way back to Norse mythology. Baldr, grandson of Thor, had a troubling dream in which all living things were trying to kill him. His wife and mother saw how troubled he was by this and so went out to procure promises from all living things that they would not injure their beloved Baldr. They got these promises from everything from oak trees to cows…but not from the mistletoe. Some stories say they overlooked it, others that it seemed too young to give such promises. Whatever their reasoning, they failed to get its word–and then an arrow made of its stem pierced Baldr and killed him.
Mistletoe, therefore, became a reminder to remember and treasure what one loves, hence why couple kiss under it.
In Celtic traditions, mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, symbolic of fertility. The reasoning actually gets a bit explicit, but suffice it to say that this culture also held it as holy, and when Christianity spread, they integrated it into the Christmas tradition.
Kissing under mistletoe has been around for longer than we can accurately say, referenced in some European writings as early as the 17th century. The first English mention of it seems to be in the 1820s, though the mention implies it’s a longstanding tradition.
Whatever its origins, it’s always been a popular one, with young couples quite eager to lure a special someone under the berries and greens. And I daresay few care too much about why they’re doing it, LOL.
Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!
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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.