Three Simple Words with Interesting History

Man, I bet you could find some great cuss words in these old dictionaries. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve always loved the dictionary, even if I’ve loved it for the wrong reasons.  When I was a kid, I liked to look up dirty words and laugh at the definitions.  As I got older, I appreciated the giant unabridged dictionary at the back of the library.  It was always attached to a table or podium so it wouldn’t get stolen (who’d steal a dictionary?) or dropped (yeah, I could see that happening, and a kid gets squashed, and a parent sues). 

Anyway, the guy who runs the Oxford English Dictionary (the formal position is called Chief Editor) is retiring after 37 years at OED and about 20 as Chief Editor.  37 years is a long time at any one place. 20 is a lot at any one position, so I hope they at least get him a big thesaurus as a parting gift.  

In the BBC article reporting this retirement, the retiring Chief Editor chose a few words as examples of what he does, which is to figure out word history.  The selected words were pom, Etaoin shrdlu, and New Model Army. 

Even though the history behind these terms/phrases may be interesting, I was turned off by my lack of familiarity with them.  How can I be interested in these words if I never use them?  That’s not a complaint against the Chief editor.  That’s simply my reaction. 

As an American, I probably wasn’t the author’s intended audience anyway, but these examples probably would not inspire people NOT interested in the dictionary to become interested in the dictionary. 

To help out, I’ve chosen three simple words, each with an interesting history.  Despite my past fascination with profanity and vulgar words, I’ve chosen three common words that aren’t dirty, profane, or vulgar.  Since I’m American, I’m using a Merriam-Webster Intermediate Dictionary, an abridged version that my kids use at school and at home.

1.  Nice- 

Short Version: Nice used to mean “stupid.”

Nice comes from the Latin word “nescius” which means (or meant) “ignorant.”  In the 15^th century, the English word nice meant “stupid.”  By the 16^th century, the meaning of nice had changed a bit to “finicky.”  Then by the 19^th century, nice had come to mean “pleasant” or “agreeable” which is still one of nice’s most common meanings.

 2.  Snob- 

Short Version: Snob used to mean “a guy who made shoes.” 

Snob used to be an English dialect word for cobbler (a person who makes or repairs shoes).  Snob then came to mean “a common person” since cobblers were thought of as common or lower class.  Then snob became “a lower class person who pretended to be upper class or imitated the mannerisms of noble people” (kind of like how I used to pretend to have read literature that I really hadn’t). Now snob is “a person who looks down on others.” 

3.  Travel-

Short Version- Travel used to mean “to torture” (kind of).

Travel starts from the Latin (of course) word tripaliare which meant “to torture.”   The French word travailler also meant “to torture” but also meant “to work really hard”.  The Middle English word travaile meant “to work hard” but also “to travel” (maybe because travelling was so difficult… and this was BEFORE airline screening).  Travailen eventually split into two different words, travail for “hard work” and travel for “to go on a trip.”

*****

See how easy that was?  I spent five minutes with a dictionary and learned a bunch of word history.  Maybe next week I’ll spend five minutes with a thesaurus.