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.

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Word of the Week – Alchemy

Word of the Week – Alchemy

by | Jul 24, 2023 | Word of the Week

Alchemy.

When we hear the word, we think of one central meaning: the process of turning a cheap, base metal like lead into a precious metal like gold.

But did you know that alchemy used to mean something much broader–and would have been used without any connotation of impossibility, magic, or even unlikelihood?

Alchemy in English is from the Middle Ages, but it meant all chemistry (specifically pharmacetical) and medicine. The word had originated with the Greek word for Egypt–khymeia. Why? Because the greatest chemists and apothecaries of the ancient days were known to be from Alexandria. The al- beginning is just the Arabic word for “the.”

As science continued to develop, however, the scientific community decided to use the word chemistry for its pursuits in the field, leaving alchemy to those who sought what wasn’t scientifically possible.

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Word of the Week – Panic

Word of the Week – Panic

by | Jan 16, 2023 | Word of the Week

Since last week I examined the Greek-mythology-origins of the word clue, I thought I’d stick to the theme and do another word from Greek mythology today. This one I’ve known for many years, so I always just assumed everyone else knew it too…but of course, not everyone has studied the Greeks as much as I have, so let’s take a look!

Panic. We all know the meaning…and the feeling. It’s that sudden fright or terror. That feeling of pulse-pounding dread. Looking at the definition, however, taught me something–it’s specifically fright or fear or dread of the unknown or without a clear cause. So, losing it when your airplane goes out of control isn’t panic–but that sudden fear when you’re walking along a perfectly safe road or hear a weird noise or go into your own dark basement where nothing bad has ever happened is.

What I also hadn’t realized was that the word originally meant “mass hysteria”–it was only used when that feeling hit multiple people at once.

Why? Where did it come from? From the Greek, meaning “pertaining to Pan.” Pan was a minor god, the god of woods and fields, of shepherds and flocks. He’s often pictured as a faun, with goat legs and a human torso (though not always)–and he always, ALWAYS has a set of pipes in hand. That is, in fact, a key part of the myth and the word panic.

Pan, you see, was attributed as the one responsible for those sudden, unexplained noises that caused herd or flocks (of animals or people) to panic, especially when out in the countryside in lonely places. He would play his pipes, and our mortal ears wouldn’t quite know what to make of the godly music, and … there you go. Panic, which is actually short for panikon deima, or “panic fright,” literally “the fright caused by Pan.”

We’ve been using the word in English as a modifying adjective (panic fright) from the 1600s, and then independently as a noun (“he was in a panic”) from about 1708. Interestingly, the verb didn’t come along until 1827, and it first appeared as “to afflict with panic.” Our meaning today of “lose one’s head, get into a panic” didn’t come along until 1902! Panic-stricken is from 1804 and panic-attack from 1970.

Word of the Week – Clue

Word of the Week – Clue

by | Jan 9, 2023 | Word of the Week

Clue we know as “anything that guides or directs.” We generally think of it as something that helps us solve a mystery or answer a question. But did you know that clue actually relates directly back to an Ancient Greek myth?

That’s right! In the myths of Theseus, one involves him being trapped in the dreaded Labyrinth. Ariadne gives him a ball of yarn to help him find his way out again–he could unwind it as he went and thereby know where he’d already been or retrace his steps as necessary.

What’s the connection, then, to our modern English word? Pretty simple. Clue (originally spelled clew) was the Middle English word for “a ball of yarn or thread.” Borrowed from the German, it’s been in English since the mid-1300s in its original yarn meaning, and had taken on its metaphorical one–but specifically in regard to labyrinths–by 1590. It wasn’t until the 1620s that people began using it for “that which points the way” apart from labyrinths.

The phrase “[that person] hasn’t got a clue” is first recorded in 1948, and the board game (which my kids still love to play today!) was launched in England in 1949 with the name Cluedo.

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