Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World
It is not fortuitous that many words like ‘puzzle’, ‘conundrum’, and ‘quiz’ are themselves puzzles from an etymological point of view. They arose as slang, sometimes as student slang, and as we don’t know the circumstances in which they were coined, our chances of discovering their origin is low.
Two opposite forces act on the brain of someone who sets out to trace the origin of a word. To cite the most famous cases, coward is supposedly a “corruption” of cowherd and sirloin came into being when an English king dubbed an edible loin at table (Sir Loin). Such fantasies have tremendous appeal.
Anatoly searches for the origin of hubba-hubba.
Anatoly responds to comments on spelling reform.
Anatoly turns puckish.
Anatoly explains the key to “understanding”.
Anatoly looks at the connection between the words “robber” and “robe.”
Anatoly responds to comments on spelling reform.
Anatoly considers the addition of suffixes.
Is the spellchecker compromising language history? Anatoly weighs in on spelling reform.
Anatoly looks at everyday buzzwords.
Anatoly looks at the origin of the word “blizzard.”
Anatoly answers questions that have come up throughout the month.
Anatoly divulges how seasons make up the year.
Anatoly looks at strong and weak past participles.
Anatoly takes a look at negative prefixes.