by Roseanna White | Apr 15, 2013 | Word of the Week
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| Agnes Melanie Dickson as a debutante, 1890 |
Anyone who reads historicals, even 20th century historicals…or watches TV…knows what a debutante is. But as I started writing Colonial-set books, I was a bit surprised to learn the word wasn’t around in the 1700s. And a bit at a loss as to what to replace it with when talking about a young woman entering society.
But in its first appearance, debutante actually meant an actress making her stage debut. This word arrived in English round about 1801, coming (no surprise) from the French. It wasn’t applied to society ladies making their debut until 1817. So for me, that means no using it until my Civil War books.
Which I’m now going to hasten back to. 😉 If you haven’t seen the cover of said book, Circle of Spies, yet on Facebook, be sure to come back on Wednesday for a peek, and some fun behind-the-scenes I’ve learned about it since describing it to y’all last week!
by Roseanna White | Apr 8, 2013 | Word of the Week
Another one I looked up in the course of writing. =) I knew that charades was a pretty old game, but I was interested in the metaphorical sense. And learned some fun things.
Charade entered the English language round about 1776, obviously from French. The interesting bit is that it’s from a word that means chatter, talk. Interesting because of where our version of the game has ended up–silent. LOL. The original version of the game relied on enigmatic descriptions to try to get the players to guess the word.
The silent form variation was originally referred to as dumb charades. This is what led to “acting charades,” which is what our metaphorical (i.e. Could she keep up this charade forever?) sense is taken from.
I hope everyone has a lovely Monday! I’ll be enjoying the National Aquarium with my kiddos and a group of other homeschoolers. =)
Oh! And one of WhiteFire’s titles is on super-sale! Check out this biblical novella for only $.99! Trapped: The Adulterous Woman by Golden Keyes Parsons.
by Roseanna White | Mar 18, 2013 | Word of the Week
There’s an awful lot of snooping going on in my current manuscript, so as Marietta and Slade go peeking into things Devereaux doesn’t want them too, I had to pause to look up the history of the word. =)
I discovered that the verb came first, debuting round about 1832. It’s American English, and carried the original meaning of “to go around in a prying manner.” Definitely fits my undercover detective’s behavior, LOL. Conjecture is that it comes from the Dutch word snoepen, which means “to pry.” Interestingly, the association there is to “eat in secret, eat sweets, sneak.” Oh yeah–sneaking dessert. That’s my kind of snooping! 😉 The precise definition of “prying into others’ business” is attested from 1921.
In the middle of those, about 1891, the noun form joined the party, meaning “detective.” And the adjective “snoopy” followed four years later. Leading, of course, to the cartoon in 1950. 😉
Don’t forget that a new installment of A Vow Fulfilled goes live today!
by Roseanna White | Mar 4, 2013 | Word of the Week
Very quick one this week, as I’m still on my writing retreat. =) (And have gotten over 20K written in just two days!) In quick research while writing, I learned something interesting about file.
I think I was looking to see if a file folder would have been around in 1865. So in looking up file, I discovered this:
file (n.1)
1520s, “string or wire on which documents are strung,”
Say what? Strings? Wires? Apparently yes. It comes from the notion of documents being strung up like clothes on a clothes line for safekeeping. The verb entry even had this lovely 17th century quote:
File (filacium) is a threed or wyer, whereon writs, or other exhibits in courts, are fastened for the better keeping of them. [Cowel, “The Interpreter,” 1607]
As www.etymonline.com goes on to say, “Methods have become more sophisticated, but the word has stuck.”
See, you learn something new every day. 😉
by Roseanna White | Feb 25, 2013 | Word of the Week
Virus is another word that really surprised me. I guess because I know that viruses are so itsy-bitsy they require a high-powered microscope to see them…I just assumed they were a modern realization. And hence a modern word.
Um, no.
Virus has been around since the late 1300s as a word, its original meaning being “venomous substance.” It’s in fact straight from the Latin virus that means “poisonous liquid.” So, okay…really old meaning. But that’s not what a virus is today exactly, right? So how about the modern meaning?
Even that surprised me! It’s from 1728. If someone had asked me, I would have guessed sometime in the 1800s at the earliest. But nope. 1728. Obviously “computer virus” didn’t come around until the 20th century though. 😉 And viral is from 1948.
Now let’s pray everyone can stay immune to all those nasty viruses floating around out there this time of year!
by Roseanna White | Feb 18, 2013 | Word of the Week
Have you entered the giveaway yet for Susie Finkbeiner’s Paint Chips and a piece of jewelry of your choice from her Etsy shop? If not, hurry! One more day!
This one will be quick, but that’s okay. I have galleys of Whispers from the Shadows arriving today, so no time to lose! =)
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| Resin oozing from a stump |
Ooze was one of those words like “wow” that really surprised me in how old it was–as in, as old as English. I thought it was a new word . . . perhaps I thought so because of its use in Ghost Busters and Nickelodeon slime stuff. 😉
But nope. Ooze dates, both as a verb and a noun, from the 1300s, and had its modern spelling as early as the 1500s. And the meaning hasn’t changed either. From its origins, it carried the same denotation of juicy, gooy, miry stuff.
Interestingly, its root is the same as the one from which we get virus, which we’ll take a look at next week. 😉
Now, today is the official launch of the Ring of Secrets promo tour! So to kick things off, I’m over at Go Teen Writers sharing the story of the book’s road to publication. Leave a comment there for a chance to win a signed copy of the book AND a chance to name a character in Circle of Spies, book 3 in the Culper Ring Series!
Plus it marks the launch of my Box of Secrets giveaway! For the next month-ish, during the blog tour, you can enter to win these 10 fun prizes, including a complete set of signed books-by-me. (If you already have some of these, think of it as a nice gift for a family member or friend, LOL.) Plus some awesome custom-made items.
And as you’ll see on Rafflecopter, one of the ways to enter is to play my Create Your Own Spy Name game!
Let the intrigue begin. =)
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. 