Category: Uncategorized
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end
The New Year–so full of possibility, fresh starts, new…endings? End End may seem like such a simple word, but it turns out to be a bit more complex, etymologically speaking. The form of the word has changed little from the Old English ende, where it once also meant, according to Oxford, “termination,” “completion,” “death,” “event,” issue,” “intended…
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the four seasons, part iv (winter)
Fast Mash Winter, attested in the same form in Old English around 888, comes through Proto-Germanic’s *wentruz, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European’s *wed-, *wod, or *ud-, meaning “wet,” or *wind-, meaning “white” The early sense of winter, as one of the two major divisions of the year alongside summer, may have been the “rainy or wet season” or “the white season,”…
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aardvark
With the passing of Nelson Mandela, the world has been pouring out beautiful remembrances of a life yet more beautifully lived. As I listen to and read them, I can’t help but attend to the language we are using. Forbearance. Courage. Of the ages. We complain so often of the abuse of language. Of exaggeration.…
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typhoon
Fast Mash Typhoon reaches English–translated from the Italian, itself from the Portuguese tufão–in the late 1580s, and its various spellings point to various possible sources Typhoon may be from the Arabic tufan (“violent storm of wind and rain”), related to tafa (“to turn around”) It may also be from the Greek typhon (“whirlwind” and name of a monstrous,…
Mashed Radish 