I’m in a sprint toward the end of Circle of Spies (woo hoo!), and in my marathon writing these last few days have been looking up a lot of words’ etymology. This is the first time in a good while I’ve had a historical character prone to slang, and slang is so tricky! Good thing I enjoy learning this stuff. 😉
So from my bushel of new-found knowledge I have chosen snap for today. =) Because Slade really, really wanted to tell Marietta to “snap out of it” during the scene I was writing last night. I mean, really wanted to. But I knew that wouldn’t work, so I had to prove it to myself.
Snap became a verb in the 1520s, meaning “to take a quick bite” and taken directly from the noun of the similar meaning, which dates from the 15th century. These two meanings were related to animals–a critter snapping its jaws around prey. The meaning of “to break suddenly” came along in the early 1600s (and I had no idea it was nearly a century after “bite”!) “To snap” mentally might be literally from that “break” meaning, but it came way late to the game–as in, 1970s.
Football move? 1887. Sound fingers make? 1670s. (See, I probably would have guessed that one came first. Shows what I know, LOL.) The turtle? 1740s. And then, aha! Snap out of it. My target phrase was a bit older than I thought but still of no help to my 1865 story, joining the party in 1907.
On an unrelated note, I discovered this weekend that Fairchild’s Lady, the FREE novella sequel to Ring of Secrets, is available for pre-order on Amazon! I have a post set up dedicated to it on its release day, June 1, but thought I’d mention it today too. 😉
And just for the fun of sharing, today begins our last week of our school year! Woot!!! =)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Fun fun! (and yeah, it's preordered :D)
Haha, the etymology of a word is so fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I hope you can find a different word or phrase that fits your book just as well!