Word of the Week – Coin

Word of the Week – Coin

After talking for the last few weeks about words that were coined by writers, I thought it would be fun to actually look up the word coin! I was most interested in the verb, but alas. The word begins with the noun form, so that’s where we’ll start too.

Coin as an English word is from the early 1300s and, interestingly, meant “a wedge; a wedge-shaped piece used for some purpose” directly from the Latin cuneus, which means “wedge.” Go ahead, scratch your head. We’re used to seeing circular coins–even Ancient Roman coins were more or less circular–so this is an understandable response. But in fact, for a span of history, though coins began as circular, they ended up as wedges…when those larger circles of silver or gold were cut like a pie into smaller pieces. Spanish pieces of eight is a prime example–they were literally a large silver coin that had been cut into eights. So in that era, “wedge” was the most common coin shape, at least for smaller denominations cut from larger ones. What’s more, many dies used for stamping metal were also wedge-shaped. So lots of wedges associated here!

Throughout the 14th century the word evolved from “wedge” to “thing used to stamp metal” to “metal stamped for use as currency.”

Which is where we begin to see coin be used as a verb as well, for “to stamp metal for use as currency.” By the 1580s, the word had morphed into the metaphorical meaning of “invent, fabricate, make,” which then led to coin phrases by the 1890s and then to the singular coin a phrase by 1940.

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Word of the Week – Robot

Word of the Week – Robot

Shakespeare wasn’t the only playwright to coin words that are now part of our everyday language!

Did you know that robot also comes to us from a play? Karel Capek, a Czech playwright, wrote the popular play in the 1920s translated into English as “Rossum’s Universal Robots” or “R.U.R.” that was a raving success in New York. In the play, he has “mechanical persons” called robotniks (shortened to robot in English), which means, in Czech, “forced laborers.” Robotnik in turn comes from robota, which means “compulsory service, drudgery,” which takes its own root from robotiti, “to work, to drudge.”

The play debuted in New York in 1922, and by 1923, robot was considered an English word meaning “mechanical person.” According to the playwright, it was actually his brother Josef who came up with the word and used it first in a short story–the two often collaborated.

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Word of the Week – Swoop

Word of the Week – Swoop

Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This one is fascinating because Shakespeare completely changed the meaning of an existent word. Swoop had been in use already, but it meant “to move or walk in a stately manner,” much like sweep. Then Shakespeare came along and, in 1605, used it in Macbeth to describe a bird of prey, thereby adding the meaning “to pounce with a sweeping motion”…and it stuck!

Oh, Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme, At one fell swoope? [“Macbeth,” IV.iii.219]

In fact, he was the first to use swoop as a noun! (And note that the phrase above is still in use today, “one fell swoop”!) The verb took on that meaning shortly thereafter as well. So thank you, Shakespeare, for yet again redefining words for us! 😉

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Word of the Week – Swagger

Word of the Week – Swagger

Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This time we’re looking at swagger. We all recognize a swagger when we see it–“to strut defiantly or insolently.” But did you know that the base word swag means “to sway”? So it’s the swaying motion of that strut that gives it its name.

Shakespeare was apparently quite fond of the word, using it in King Lear, Henry IV Part 2, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The verb came first in Shakespeare in the 1580s, but the noun for such a strut didn’t follow until 1727! I’m surprised at how long it took to cross that part-of-speech divide!

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Word of the Week – Seconds

Word of the Week – Seconds

Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This time, we’re looking at seconds. Now, first, note the -s on the end of the word. We’re not talking here about second, but about seconds…and we don’t mean the measure of time. 😉

The meaning that Shakespeare coined for us in one of his sonnets circa 1600 is “articles below the first in quality.” So think of items pulled from production that aren’t quite up to full quality so are sold at a discount. Shakespeare first used this as an extension of the natural meaning of “following the first” and it stuck!

Now, maybe your favorite meaning of seconds is a second helping. (I mean…) If so, then you should know that that meaning dates from 1792. So we can’t thank Shakespeare for that one, but that’s no reason not to enjoy it. In fact, I’m going back for seconds on my coffee right now…

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Word of the Week – Hint

Word of the Week – Hint

I love finding words that Shakespeare was the one to introduce to us…or at least, the first one we have record of. Goes to show the power of a writer, right? 😉

Did you know that hint also comes to us in its current meaning of “an indirect suggestion intended to be caught by the knowing” via Shakespeare as well? It’s true! He first used it right around 1600. It traces from Middle English hinten, which meant “to inform,” which is in turn from Old English hentan, which means “to seize.”

The noun form pre-dates the verb by about 40 years. By the late 1700s, the OED also records the meaning of “a small piece of practical information.” You know, like “I like coffee and chocolate. Hint, hint.” 😉

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