CONSIDERING that English has such a large vocabulary, being an expert of spellings, or a Spelling Bee participant is really a feat that needs lots of appreciation. It is no mean task to remember whether there is an ‘e’ or an ‘i’ in a word or if it contains a silent letter. And in this age of the ‘spell check’ option, most people will break into a sweat when asked to spell even a simple word.

Learning spellings takes a lot of effort, skill and some smartness because knowing the root word or the origin of a word can make it easier to learn and remember the correct spelling.

English is not as old as some of the other languages of the world, so it borrowed from other languages as it developed and it is still developing, adding new words to reflect the growing needs of this age of instant communication. This week we will look at the interesting origins of some English words and retrace the stories that led to the words being coined.

Raining cats and dogs

WE have all heard this phrase ‘raining cats and dogs’ and know that it means it’s raining a lot. There are many theories related to the origin of this phrase. One of these is the fact that pets like cats and dogs, and other small animals such as mice, rats and bugs, lived in the (thatched) roof of houses in the past. So when it rained, the roof became slippery due to which the animals would slip and fall off the roof. The first reference to this phrase can be found in Jonathan Swift’s Polite Conversation, Written in 1708 and published in 1738.

Another explanation is that this phrase alludes to Norse mythology, in which cats had an influence on the weather. Then there is an explanation that in heavy rain, cats and dogs would drown in London streets and in the aftermath it would look as if the animals had fallen down from the sky with the rain.

When cats and dogs fight, there is a lot of noise so one believable root of this phrase is that the sound of a storm is like a cat and dog fight. You decide what you think is the right explanation.

Buck

BUCK is an American slang term for dollar and came into usage because in the past, on the American frontier, deerskins were used as units of commerce. They were referred to as buckskin, which became shortened to a buck.

The term actually dates all the way back to 1748. Buck then became transferred to the newer means of commerce, dollars.

Coconut

DO you think a coconut looks like a human face? Well, that’s what the Spanish and Portuguese explorers thought, for they felt that the three holes made it look like a human face. “Coco” means grinning face. The English made it “coconut” in 1613.

Berserk

BERSERK means to go crazy and wild, and it is derived from the word “berserkrs,” used for fierce Norse warriors. It was made up of Old Icelandic words for bear, “ber”, and shirt, “serkr”. And this word combination was due to the fact that these warriors would wear shirts made of bear fur into battle, believing it made them invincible.

But interestingly, the word ‘berserker’ is first recorded in English in the early nineteenth century long after these wild warriors ceased to exist.

Coffee

COFFEE, the plant, has a very interesting origin. It is believed that a goat-header in the year 850AD, noticed his goats acting strangely and then saw it was because they were eating certain berries. He tried them himself and was exciting by the effect it had on him. The Arabs soon figured out how to dry and boil the berries in what they called ‘qahwe’.

The drink was then introduced in Turkey and from there it travelled to France where it became ‘cafe’ and finally ‘coffee’ came into being.

Coward

THE word coward comes from Old French word ‘Couart’ or ‘coart’ and is related to the Italian word ‘codardo’, meaning a coward. Couart is formed from ‘coe’ a variant of a word meaning ‘tail’, to which a derogatory suffix –ard was added. A coward may also be one with his tail hidden between his legs or one who turns tail and runs like a rabbit, with his tail showing.

Clue

‘CLUE’ and ‘clew’ were at one time two spellings of the same word meaning ‘ball’, especially a ball of yarn or thread. The current meaning of clue, ‘guide to a solution’ developed from the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Theseus, an Athenian hero, was to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, a half-man and half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth, King Mino’s maze on Crete. It was impossible to find a way out of the Labyrinth, so Mino’s daughter Ariadne gave Theseus a clew, a ball of strings, that he unwound when he entered and wound it up to make his way out again.

By the seventeenth century, all associations with the ball of twine were cut and clue now primarily means ‘guide to a solution’.

America

THERE are many theories about the origin of the name of America, with the most common and widely-believed one being that the continent was named in honour of Amerigo Vespucci, for his discovery of the mainland of the New World. Vespucci made two trips to the New Land as a ship’s navigator, in 1499 and 1501.

In 1507, the cartographer (someone who makes maps) Martin Waldseemuller published a map that marked the New World as ‘America’, in honour of Amerigo.

Those who don’t accept this point out that the name America is from the name of a certain tribe, Amerrique, of Nicaragua and there is also the Amerrique Mountains there. Columbus probably met the Amerrique Indians on his fourth trip to the New World and carried the name back with him.

A legend in Britain, reflecting their desire to claim some credit for themselves, is that America is named after a 15th century Bristol merchant Richard Ameryk who is believed to have played an unknown role in Cobot’s expeditions to the New World. This theory was the last of these to be put forward, in 1908, by a Bristol historian. And this is the least believable one.

Wiki

THE invention of new technologies has required the invention of new words to. Wiki is an abbreviation of ‘WikiWikiWeb’, the name that American computer programmer Ward Cunningham chose in 1995 for his new code permitting the easy development of collaborative website.

He coined the word WikiWikiWeb from the Hawaiian word ‘wikiwiki’, meaning fast speed as he thought that WikiWikiWeb was more fun to say than quick web.

Pen

PEN is derived from the Latin word ‘penna’, meaning feather. Originally pens were made from feathers. ‘Penna’ became the Old French ‘penne’ and then the English ‘pen’.

Nightmare

‘MARE’ in the word ‘nightmare’ has nothing to do with a female horse because in Old English, ‘maere’ was used to mean an evil female spirit that suffocated people in their sleep. Bad dreams often make people feel suffocated and short of breath, so ‘night’ was linked to the word ‘mare’. First it was used as ‘nigt-mare’ in 1300, and by 1829 the word was used to describe ‘a bad dream’ in general

Sandwich

THIS yummy food item gets its name from John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich in England, in the 18th century. He liked gambling, in fact he gambled so much that he would not get up from his seat for hours and hours. During one 24-hour gambling session, he refused to stop for meals, but demanded to be served roast beef placed between two pieces of bread ... and the sandwich was born.