As October stretches on, people in the Northern Hemisphere…at least the more northern climes of the Northern Hemisphere…begin thinking about autumn and all things cozy. But did you ever wonder where the word came from?
Cozy (or cosy if you’re a Brit) meaning “snug, warm, comfortable,” is actually taken from the Scottish dialect’s colsie. It entered the English vernacular from the Scottish round about 1709 and is thought to have come originally from a Scandinavian influence, given that Norwegian has kose seg for “be cozy.”
Clearly a word so well loved that we decided even teapots need to stay cozy…those padded coverings meant to keep the water warm longer date from 1863.
Hope your October is feeling cozy!
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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.