Trending today on Etymology online cowboy (n.) 1725, "boy who tends to cows and drives them to and from pasture," from cow (n.) + boy. American-English sense of "man employed to have care of grazing cattle on the Great Plains for a stockman or ranch, doing his work on horseback" is by 1849. Earlier it was an insulting name for a band of marauding loyalists in the neighborhood of New York during the Revolution (1775). In figurative use by 1942 for "brash and reckless young man" (as an adjective meaning "reckless," from 1920s). The oldest word for "one whose occupation is the care of cattle" is cowherd (late Old English).
If you've ever watched a rodeo, you might decide "brash and reckless young man" is a great definition of the word "cowboy." My son is the real deal, though he's calmed down and cautioned up as he's gotten older. He rode bareback in the rodeo in his younger days and owns a small ranch now, though his focus for the time being is horses and mules.
Trending today on Etymology online thank (v.) Old English þancian, þoncian "to give thanks, thank, to recompense, to reward," from Proto-Germanic *thankōjanan (source also of Old Saxon thancon, Old Norse þakka, Danish takke, Old Frisian thankia, Old High German danchon, Middle Dutch, Dutch, German danken "to thank"), from *thankoz "thought; gratitude," from PIE root *tong- "to think, feel." It is related phonetically to think as song is to sing;
Trending today on Etymology online alligator (n.) 1560s, "large carnivorous reptile of the Americas," lagarto, aligarto, a corruption of Spanish el lagarto (de Indias) "the lizard (of the Indies)," from Latin lacertus (see lizard), with Spanish definite article el, from Latin ille (see le). The modern form of the English word is attested from 1620s See you later, alligator!
Trending today on Etymology online... apanthropy (n.) "aversion to human company, love of solitude," 1753, nativized form of Greek apanthrōpia, abstract noun from apanthrōpos "unsocial," from assimilated form of apo "off, away from" https://www.etymonline.com/word/apanthropy
Sort of lycanthropy (n.) 1580s, a form of madness (described by ancient writers) in which the afflicted thought he was a wolf, from Greek lykanthropia, from lykanthropos "wolf-man," from lykos "wolf" (see wolf (n.)) + anthrōpos "man" (from PIE root *ner- (2) "man"). Applied to actual transformations of persons (especially witches) into wolves since 1830 (see werewolf).
Trending today on Etymology online (four score and seven years ago....) score (n.) late Old English scoru "twenty," from Old Norse skor "mark, notch, incision; a rift in rock," also, in Icelandic, "twenty," from Proto-Germanic *skur-, from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut." The notion probably is of counting large numbers (of a passing flock of sheep, etc.) by making a notch in a stick for each 20. The prehistoric sense of the Germanic word, then, likely was "straight mark like a scratch, line drawn by a sharp instrument." That way of counting, called vigesimalism, is widespread and also exists in France and left its trace in the language: In Old French, "twenty" (vint) or a multiple of it could be used as a base, as in vint et doze ("32"), dous vinz et diz ("50"). Vigesimalism was or is a feature of Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and Breton (as well as non-IE Basque), and it is speculated that the English and the French learned it from the Celts. Compare tally (n.). By early 13c. it is attested in the sense of "a financial record" (perhaps one kept by tallies), and it is attested from early 14c. as "reckoning, total amount." The specific sense of "a reckoning or account kept by means of tallies" is clearly attested by c. 1400, especially (1590s) "mark made (by chalk, on a taproom door, etc.) to keep count of a customer's drinks." This was extended by c. 1600 to "amount due, one's debt," and by 1670s to "mark made for purpose of recording a point in a game or match," and thus "aggregate of points made by contestants in certain games and matches" (1742, in whist).
There's no need to make etymology fun. It's already fun. The word "score" also sounds like the origin of the British Pound, with its twenty shillings. A Pound was literally "a score of shillings". Of course, this word was also used by Lincoln in one of his most famous speeches -- the Gettysburg Address. Speaking of counting sheep - this is exactly what the shepherds in Northern England and other parts of Britain used to do. See Yan, tan, tethera! (A big thank you to the late Sir Terry Pratchett for introducing me to the concept in his book, The Wee Free Men)
Can you think of any other examples where the ending consonant is changed from V to F going from verb to noun - as in belief/believe and relief/relieve? Trending today on Etymology online belief (n.) late 12c., bileave, "confidence reposed in a person or thing; faith in a religion," replacing Old English geleafa "belief, faith," from West Germanic *ga-laubon "to hold dear, esteem, trust" (source also of Old Saxon gilobo, Middle Dutch gelove, Old High German giloubo, German Glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed," from intensive prefix *ga- + PIE root *leubh- "to care, desire, love." The prefix in English was altered on analogy of the verb believe. The distinction of the final consonant from that of believe developed 15c.
Shelf/Shelve Hey, more fun—how about words where it seems almost right, but isn't? Like Delve. Would the other form be Delf?
I think with these particular examples it is a French influence, which can be traced back to Latin. grieve (v.) c. 1200, transitive, "to make worried or depressed; to make angry, enrage;" also "to be physically painful, cause discomfort;" c. 1300 as "cause grief to, disappoint, be a cause of sorrow;" also "injure, harass, oppress," from tonic stem of Old French grever "afflict, burden, oppress," from Latin gravare "make heavy; cause grief," from gravis "weighty" grief (n.) early 13c., "hardship, suffering, pain, bodily affliction," from Old French grief "wrong, grievance, injustice, misfortune, calamity" (13c.), from grever "afflict, burden, oppress," from Latin gravare "make heavy; cause grief," from gravis "weighty" (from PIE root *gwere- (1) "heavy").
In old English it was delfen, and then in middle English is became delven, so there's your F and your V delve (v.) Middle English delven, from Old English delfan "to dig, turn up with a spade or other tool, excavate"
I just figured this one out. It's kind of obvious, but I had never devoted any attention to it before, and did just now. How come Fix can mean to stick something in place (as in Affix), and it can also mean to repair something? I believe first it meant to stick something down, or affix it into place. But (and this is the obvious part) often to repair something means to glue nail or screw some piece back down. Hence why it came to mean repair, even though repairing something often means making it able to move again (sort of the opposite of sticking it in place). I enjoy figuring out this kind of commonsense etymology. Now we just need to figure out why certain words liike Sanction can mean two seemingly opposite things.
It's pretty obvious with Inflammable, because in this case the prefix 'in' means something like 'to fill with', but it can also mean 'the opposite of.' That's actually a very dangerous misunderstanding, because some people doubtless believe inflammable means it's completely flame-proof.
Indeed. Delf means "an excavation; usually a quarry or mine." And that's how you get words like Dwarrowdelf (better known as Khazad-dûm, or the Mines of Moria).
or it can also be used to mean "fix your eyes" or "fix your mind" and in this way it means to "set" - which is the older meaning of the word - going back to the 14th century the meaning "to repair" doesn't appear until the 18th century fix (v.) late 14c., "set (one's eyes or mind) on something" (a figurative use), probably from Old French verb *fixer, from fixe "fixed," from Latin fixus "fixed, fast, immovable; established, settled," past-participle adjective from figere "to fix, fasten, drive, thrust in; pierce through, transfix," also figurative, from PIE root *dheigw- "to pierce, stick in;" hence "to fix, fasten." Sense of "fasten, attach" is c. 1400; that of "to make (colors, etc.) fast or permanent" is from 1660s. The meaning "settle, assign" evolved into "adjust, arrange" (1660s), then "to repair" (1737)
When I said: I meant reasoning it out, without resorting to when terms came into use and country of origin, and all the fine-print blathering stuff you get from the etymological listings, that often is no help at all. I mean, sometimes it is, but even when you read through the listings, you might still need to reason things through to understand how the meanings changed and why. To me that's the fun part, and often it's left completley opaque in the listings.
Lol, sorry for spoiling your fun! But seriously, you've reminded me of some of the comments that you made on the Science thread, that narrative is more important than science. But, but ... I can't quite make the connection between commonsense and the history of a word. History is history.
