One of my very first Words of the Week was the word cleave. I’ve long found it interesting that the word has two meanings, which are opposite each other:

But then as the years went on and English evolved into what we now call Middle English, the second cleave came along…from a totally different word. This one is from the West-Germanic klibajan, meaning “to stick.” Again, other languages have similar words that reflect this meaning.

Apparently from the get-go there was some confusion about the two meanings, because Cleave (1) had, by then, weakened a bit as a verb. It was no longer so strong and forceful a word, so introducing Cleave (2) that meant the opposite kinda messed with it even more, and also contributed to its continued weakening.

These days, we don’t often use either, and I have to wonder if in part it’s because of that confusion.

Okay, when I say truffle, I mean the chocolate. Period. At least in terms of things I’d like to put into my mouth. 😉 But I am, of course, also aware of the fungus sold for ridiculous amounts of money that answers to the same name. And I’ve wondered why these two very different foods share a name.

Truffle, the fungus, most certainly came first. It dates as an English word from the 1500s, taken from French, which is in turn from a Latin word meaning “edible root.” Truffles have long been considered a delicacy in Europe, and both dogs and pigs have been trained to hunt them (as seen in The Lost Heiress–the one time I used the word truffle and didn’t mean chocolate, LOL.)

So where did the confection version come from? Apparently, these delightful chocolates were invented in the 1920s and given the name truffle because they resembled the fungus and were a special treat.

Hmm. Not sure I approve of the connection, LOL. But I definitely do approve of the confection!

No one wants to be ostracized, right? It’s a banishment, or a more metaphorical exclusion. Either way, not good.

But it has a looooong history.

Ostracize actually comes from the Greek word ostrakon–a piece of broken pottery. See, back in the day in Athens, someone who was deemed dangerous to society but who hadn’t committed a crime could be officially banished. The votes were cast on these pieces of broken pottery, and if there were enough gathered, then the person was ostracized–cut off and cast out. Interestingly, this could only be done to men…because women weren’t citizens.

The word has been retained pretty much unchanged all this time, entering into English in the late 1500/early 1600s.