St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-02-08
SOME CURIOUS WORDS.
The Origin Of ssGas" Uasxplalnod and ~
price, Relates e the Playful 0oAA

4ho origin u ~Goo" Uoexp01Do0 ma ~
price" Relates - the Playful oesa
One need not search far in the die
tionary to find curious words. Most
words have an interesting history ~
to development and change Of sense.
and the regular processes Of forma-
ton by compromising different ele-
ments into one new voca,,le are very
interesting as q study. II you desire
to know the English language well.
and to be able to express thought
clearly, you cannot afford to neglect
the study Of etymology.
One Of the most interesting discov-
cries made by the student Of etymology
will be the unaccountablc origin, or
rather the utter absence OF systematic
origin, Of some Of the commonest
words. Thus, gas u . name that hal
never been explained, beyond the mere
statement that 1t was invented by .
Belgian chemist named Van Helmont.
Luesses have been made about what
suggested it to him, but he gave no in
formation as to its source. but merely
wrote in Latin: This varcr hitherto
unknown, / call by . new name, gas. -
Caucus and teetotal are common
words without satisfactory explana-
ton, but with very interesting histor-
les.
Certain snakes are called adders. u
it not o curious fact that the name adj
der originated simply through erroneous
understanding of sound? The Anglo
Saxon word was naedre, and the Ger
man II natter. Adder comes from mis-
understanding . madden a. an adder,
and the Century dictionary says that
apron. anger, orange and umpire arose
through o similar mistake.
just opposite to this peculiar change
from madden to adder II that which
gives US the name newt for what used
to be an ewt.
A common saying is that a surprised
person is taken aback. This il said to
have originated from some expression
used nautically. Is in saying that sails
are taken aback when they are driven
by the winds back against the mast.
Probably It would be hard 70 prove that
either of the sayings had its origin in
the other. but they both use the word
aback in its literal sense-backward.
Aback and similar words disclose q
curious fact in their etymology, name
~. that the first syllable il merely .
letter that stands for the original
Ang.o-Saxon word on. which meant not
only what our present ION" means.
but also at, to, in. into, Or almost any
thing of that kind, according to cir
cumstances.
Accord, concord and discord come
from what seems queer thing to sug-
gest some words for the sense in
which they have always been used. In
each the second syllable il from the
Latin word for heart. Accord In its
elements means Ito the heart" Real
agreement or harmony must have been
considered 10 sweet and 60 rare that
the only fitting name for It must con-
tain that Of the heart a. the seat Of
human affection, -.
Caprice and capricious seem to arise
from the fact that people could hnd no
better comparison for certain actions
than the capering Of goat. The ety.
mology Of these words that connects
them with the Latin word for goat IL
questioned by the Century dictionary,
but there II NO doubt 4hAt caper IL from
that Latin word. :s',E-
Pilgrims were 20 called from q very
queer reason, and the word was made
in . queer way. They.walked through
the land, and. ~ this was their promi-
nent characteristics, y suggested She
name for them, which II made from
the Latin words per. mis;aning through.
and agsr; meazisg'l6ad. LPhiladelphis
Times. -: Ia. - -.