The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1895-12-21
SOME CURIOUS WORDS.
The Origin Of "Gas" Unexplained and "Ca-
price" Relates to the Playful Goat.


One need NOT search far in the die
tionary to find curious words. Most
words have an interesting history as
to development and change of senSC,
and the regular processes of fOrma-
ton by compromising deterrent rlc-
mcntS into one new vocahic are very
interesting as Il study. If you desire
and to lie able to express thought
clearly. you cannot afford to neglect
the study of ctymOiOgy.
One OF the most interesting disCov.
cries made by the student OF etymOlOgy
will he the u~nacCountable origin, or
rather the utter absence OF systematic
origin, OF some of the cOmmOneSt
words. Thus, gas is Il name that has
never been explained, beyond the mere
statement that it was invented by a
Belgian chemist named Van belmont.
GucsScS have been made about what
suggested it to him, bat he gave no in
formation as to its source. but merely
wrote in Latin: This yaror hitherto
unknown, | call by Il new name, gas"
Caucus and tcetotal aIr common
words without satisfactory cNplana-
ton, but with very interesting hiStOr-
les.
Certain snakes are called addCrs. Is
it not Il curious fact that the name adj
dcroriginatcd simply through erroneous
understanding OF sound? The Anglo
Saxon word was nacdrc. and the Ger
man is natter. Adder ome from mis-
understanding Il naddpr as iii adder,
and the Century dictionary says that
apron. anger. orange and umpire arose
through Il similar mistake.
just opposite To this peculiar change
from madden to adder is hat which
gives us the name newt for what used
to be an ewt.
y common saying is that Il surprised
person is taken ahack. This is said to
have originated from some expression
used naUtically. as iii sayiug that sails
are taken ahack when they are driven
by the winds back against the mast.
Probably it would he hard 10 prove hat
either OF the savings had its origin in
the other. but they both Use H." word
ahack in its literal scnsc-Iackwmrd.
.Nhack and similar words disclose a
curious fact in their ctymolo~y, name
~. that the first syllable is merely Il
letter that stands for rne original
.Nu"i0-SaNou word on. which mcHntnOt
only what our present "on" means,
IN: also at, to. in, into, or almost any
thing Of that kind, according cir
cumStHu"cS.
Accord. concord and discord come
from what seems il queer thing to Sug-
rest some words for TIE sense in
which they have always been used. In
cach the second syllable is from the
Latin word for heart. Accord in its
elements means ito the heart" Real
agreement or harmony must have been
considered so sweet and 50 rare that
the only fitting name for it must con-
tain that of the heart as the seat of
human affection.
Caprice and capriciOus seem to arise
from the fact that people could find no
better comparison for certain actions
than the capering of Il goat. The ety.
mology of these words that connects
them with the Latin word for goat is
questioned by the Century dictionary,
but there is no doubt that caperi is from
that Latin word.
Pilgrims were so called from n very
queer reason. and the word was made
in a queer way. They walked through
the land, and, as this was their promi-
nent characteristic, it suggested the
name for them, which is made from
the Latin words per. meaning through,
and ager, meaning land.-Philadelphis
Times.