Welcome to Origin of the words
Thoughts, stories, and ideas from this author.
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Origin of the word "Doctor"
What the word names now In ordinary English, doctor most often means a physician: a person trained and licensed to treat the sick. The same noun still names someone who holds a doctorate, and the abbr
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Origin of the word "Beautiful"
What the adjective covers now Beautiful is the ordinary English word for something that gives aesthetic pleasure: a face, a hillside, a melody, even a clean piece of reasoning. Dictionaries also keep
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Origin of the word "Hand"
Still the limb, and much besides In ordinary English, a hand is the grasping end of the arm: palm, fingers, and thumb. That physical sense is the oldest and still the first that speakers reach for. Ar
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Origin of the word "Music"
What the word names now In present-day English, music is the art and the product of organizing sound in time. The usual ingredients are pitch, rhythm, timbre, and, in much later European practice, har
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Origin of the word "Watch"
Looking, guarding, and keeping time In present-day English, watch does several jobs that feel only loosely related. As a verb it means to look at something over a stretch of time, to stay alert, or to
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Origin of the word "Year"
What English speakers count A year is the everyday unit for a full circuit of seasons and, on the civil calendar, three hundred and sixty-five or three hundred and sixty-six days. Speakers also stretc
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Origin of the word "Later"
A comparative that now stands on its own In present-day English, later is the ordinary comparative of late: a later train, a later date, arriving later than planned. As an adverb it also works without
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Origin of the word "Heart"
What the word covers now In current English, heart is first the hollow muscle that keeps blood moving. The same noun also stands for courage, affection, private feeling, and the middle of a place, a p
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Origin of the word "True"
Loyalty before fact In modern English, true is first of all the opposite of false. A claim is true when it matches the world. The same adjective still means loyal, as in a true friend; genuine, as in
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Origin of the word "Case"
Two spellings that are really two words In present-day English, case can name a situation, a lawsuit, a medical instance, a grammatical form, and also a box or covering. Those jobs sit together in one
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Origin of the word "Business"
Today business names a firm, a trade, a field of study, and the private affairs that are none of anyone else's. People do business, go into business, and mind their own business. The commercial sense
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Origin of the word "Turn"
A short word with a long reach English speakers ask turn to do almost too much work. A key turns in a lock. A driver turns left. Leaves turn colour. Milk turns sour. In a queue it is your turn. A favo
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Origin of the word "Excuse"
What speakers mean by it now In modern English, excuse works as both a verb and a noun, and the two are told apart by sound as well as by grammar. The verb, with a voiced ending, covers several relate
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Origin of the word "Police"
A civic word, not a badge In present-day English, police names the civil authority that keeps public order, prevents and investigates crime, and enforces the law. The same form can stand for the organ
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Origin of the word "Lost"
What English uses the word for In current English, lost covers more than a missing object. A traveler who cannot find the road is lost. So is a letter that never arrives, an hour given to delay, a mat
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