Being an English teacher, it is only fitting that I am fascinated with words. I enjoy finding new ways to say "old" things (to my students' dismay) or better ways to say "boring" things. Words can cut like a knife or heal long standing wounds. Words can toss us to the very depths of the Earth or make us feel like we are flying above the clouds. One single word can change your life.
So, it is no surprise that my love of words leads me to explore how words are created. During this exploration I stumbled upon a couple of resources that I could not help but share with my readers. The first resource, a new book about the people that inspire words, is fascinating. The story about the origin of a "sandwich" is well-known, but who knew that a pie maker inspired the word "frisbee?"
The second resource is a blog, Podictionary, that I subscribe to that posts information about word origins and definitions. They tend to present a nice variety of words from typical, commonly used ones to more obscure words. I recommend subscribing to a blog like this to help improve your vocabulary for not only the SAT/ACT, but also your personal vocabulary development.
For this week's response I would love for you to research a word origin and share it with your peers. You can use the resources I listed, or find some of your own. Happy exploring!
8 comments:
I went to the podictionary link and liked it, but one of them stood out more than the rest, the one about Nike's "Just do it." Like it is said there, it is a phrase that could summarize every little aspect of life and solve every problem, by "just doing it." They mention that this comes from a book written in 1450 which is quoted as saying "leave the words and do the deeds," or basicaally as it is re-phrased "actions speak louder than words." This is very true, because when people see something they react more than when they are told the same thing.
I decided to go to the Podictionary link because I figure since it is a blog I might as well subscribe to it while I am there. I chose to go with the word "Baby" because it dates back all the way to biblical times (the word babe). I found out that baby appeared first in Middle English. Baby is often associated with crying, but baban (related to baby) is the non-crying sounds that babies make before they talk, like "goo-goo gaga."
When I went to prodictionary I read some pretty interesting things. For instance, the word baby came first came from in Middle english. Like the word babe, they think it was used as a pet name. Also french had the word bebe. In the English language the word baby or babe did not exists it must have came from the word baban. Baban meant something like non-crying sounds because the word form babe doesn't involve crying but baby must be different. I never thought that a word like this had such a background.
The website "podictionary" is very interesting. It has a plethora of words along with where they came from. I choose to read about the word "baby". It is a word that we don't think often about where it originally came from. The word first appeared in Middle English. 150 years before the word "baby" appeared, it was the word "baban". The difference between the two is that "baby" involves crying, and "baban" evolved as a word from the non-crying sounds a baby makes.
I looked in the Podictionary link, and its pretty interesting. I saw the Nike post and then saw the statue of the goddess, and immediatly I started reading it. Its interesting how most of the advertisments that the Nike company has can be linked to that goddess..
I went to Podictionary and first off was amazed at how "high tech" a blog can really be. He has sponsors and over 6.5million subscribers! Anyway, I found the word commute. When it was brought to America it didnt even mean traveling, it meant to exchange money. However through some 100 years ago, a seasonal train ticket was called the commutation ticket, and from that ticket the word arose. Now commute is used widely when talking about driving to work, or school. I really like this blog, maybe Ill subscribe to it!
One word that I researched was "instrument". Apparently it comes from French origin by William The Conqueror himself around the year 1290. He uses it to describe "something that builds". This makes sense since guitars and drums basically "make music". Also, tools are considered "instruments" since they do "stack up" on something.
The word I researched was "orange." It comes from the Latin language and simply means "citrus apple." It was first used to refer to the fruit in 1050. It makes sense considering its shape is similar to an apple's and it has citric acid. But, it wasn't until the 1400's when it was first used to name the color.
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