Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-24
WHAT IS NEWS
The TAaeiful s.d True Derivstions Of the
NaHa.


me Fa.eiful s.d rrps Dsriv.sions Of the
Word.
This word is derived from the initial
letters Of the four points Of the COM
pass arranged in q device in the form
Of cross, and placed at the top OF
some of the earlier uews-sheets to in
dictate that their contents were derived
from all quarters. But it is easy 20
show that this is purely fanciful. First
the esrliest newspaper dates from 1862.
and we find the word news, exactly In
its modern sense, in Shakespeare, who
died nearly fifty years earlier. namely.
in 1916. Thus We have (:Mac-
beth" l. y. ''How now?"
What news?" (.'Winter's Tale"
4, Cho.) But let times news
be brought!' (''King John'). "Even
at that news he dies" This list,
which might be extended indeK-
nitely. from Shakespeare and other old
writer's. would alone be sufficient to
dispose of the north, east, west, south
theory; but reference to the equiva-
lent words in the tongue to which En-
gland is most nearly allied will further
show its fallacy. In German the ini-
tials of the points of the compass read
in this order: IN, O.. w., S." while
the word for new is neuigkeiten. OBJ
viously impossible of derivation from
these four letters. while it is derived
from the word new. Again, in the
French the initials are n, E., O., s.,
while the word for news is nouvelles.
once more simply the plural form OF
now.
The true derivation does not seem
difficult to trace. Some take it direct
ly from the German ''das neue," which
is an abstract noun signifying 1.-The
new" and equivalent to our news. The
genitive is neuce. and the phrase
''Was giebts neues?" renders the exact
sense of our whats the news?" More
over, the old German spelling is new,
genitive newes. Yet this, plausible as
it looks, is not the origin of the word.
When we find in Anglo-Saxon such q
phrase as hwat hives? (what news)
we can be at no loss to determine that
the word is of pure low German or ma
tive English origin, although the
French nouvelles may have influenced
its use The fact that the word is often
used in the singular confirms this.
Thus we have in John Florio's 'World
of Words Q598), '.Novella. Tale. a
Nerves." In the wits Recreation"
published in 1910, we have the follow.
ing epigram:
When news doth come, if any would discuss
The letter OF the word. resolved it thus:
News Is conveyed by letter, word or mouth,
And come to US from north, east, west and
south.
The little corps of the newspaper
fraternity were then beginning work in
England. and being tickled by the
above epigram. had it put at the head
of their paper as above stated.
Skeat says that news is not older
than 1900. and cites Berner's transla-
ton OF Froissart. '.Desyrous to hear
nerves." and Surveys translation OF
Virgil, What news he brought" But
at least one earlier instance is to be ]
found in the "Siege of Rhodes" trans
lated by John Kay and printed by Cax-
ton about 1890.
Before closing we may state that
some contend that the German neues is
not q genitive. but the neuter nomi-
native or accusative. We incline to
think that it is genitive. and the
phrase: "Was giebts newest" an exact
equivalent of the Latin "Ecquid Novi?"
Ncscs.