The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-01-09
SOME CURIOUS WORDS.
origin of Seas" Unexplained and Caprice
Relates to the Goat.

virgin OF "Gas' Unexplained and "Caprice'
Relates to the Goat.
One need not search far in the
dictionary to find curious words.
Most words Lavo an interesting his
tory as to development and change
of sense, and the regular processes
of formation by compounding differ
ent elements into one new vocable
are very interesting as q study. #
you desire to know the English Ian
guage we'll and to be able to express
thought clearly, you cannot afford
to neglect the study of etymology.
One of the most interesting dis
ooveries made by the student of ETY.
mology will be the unaccountable
origin, or rather the utter absence
of systematic origin, of some of the
commonest words. Thus gas is a
name that has never been explained
beyond the mere statement that it
was invented by Belgian chemist
named Van Helmont. Guesses have
been made about what suggested it
to him, but he gave no information
as to it's source, but merely wrote
in Latin, "This vapor hitherto un.
known I call by new name, gas"
Caucus and teetotal are common
words without satisfactory explana.
ton, but with very interesting his
tories.
Certain snakes are called adders.
Is it not a curious fact that the name
adder originated simply through er-
roneous understanding of sound?
Tho Anglo Saxon word was naedre,
and the German is natter. Adder
comes from misunderstanding a mad
der as an adder, and the Century
Dictionary says that apron, anger,
orange and umpire arose through a
similar mistake.
just opposite to this peculiar
change from madden to adder is that
which gives US the name newt for
what used to be an ewt
A common saying is that a sur,
prised person is taken aback. This
is said to have originated from the
Same expression used nautically, as
in saying that sails are taken aback
when they are driven by the winds
back against the mast. Probably it
would be hard to provo that either
of the sayings had its origin in the
other, for they both use the word
aback in its literal sense-backward.
Aback and similar words disclose q
curious fact in their etymology-
namely, that the first syllable is
merely q letter that stands for the
original Anglo-SaXOn word on,
which meant not only what our pres
emit ION" means, but also at, to, in,
into or almost anything of that kind,
according to circumstances.
Accord, concord and discord come
from what seems q queer thing to
suggest such words for tho sense in
which they have always been used
In each the second syllable is from
the Latin word for heart. Accord
in its elements means to the heart. :"
Real agreement or harmony must
have been considered so sweet and
SO rare that the only fitting name
for it must contain that of the heart
as the seat of human affection.
Caprice and capricious seem to
arise from tho fact that people could
find no better comparison for GER
tain actions than the capering of
goat. The etymology of these words
that connects them with the Latin
word for goat is questioned by the
Century Dictionary, but there is no
doubt that caper is from that Latin
word.
Pilgrims were SO called for very
queer reason, and the word was
made in a queer way. They walked
through the land, and as this was
their prominent characteristic it
suggested the name for them, which
is made from the Latin words per,
meaning through, and ager, mean
ing land. -Philadelphia Times.