Word of the Week

The word campaign has been in English since the 1600s, arriving in our tongue from Latin, by way of French. In its early days, campaign was reserved for military courses of action. Why? Well, it's actually from the Latin word campus, which means "an open field."...

This is one of those that I probably could have figured out if I ever happened to pause and think about it...but which I'd never paused to think of until I saw it in my son's vocabulary book. 😉 So, we're probably all familiar with the root of disaster. Namely, aster,...

In my house, we often ask which words come first--the animals, or the people who share their traits. Like slug/sluggish, sloth/slothful etc. Well, in the case of slug, the trait definitely came before the critter! It comes from the Scandinavian word slugje, which...

We all know the liber words that have to do with "freedom": Liberty Liberate Liberally But what about Library? Is it so called because it's where you can get books for free? You might think so, but...no, actually. It's because in Latin, liber had two meanings: "free"...

My kids' vocabulary books have this section at the end of each lesson called "Fun and Fascinating Facts" about the words or roots in that week's list. This one comes courtesy of Rowyn's book--and is something I really did find fun and fascinating! So, puny. I know it...

This time of year, I do a fair amount of baking--love a little added warmth in the kitchen! And I have to say, one of my favorite things to bake is bread. I love the process of making it--kneading the dough, finding that perfect texture and moisture level, then...

So we all know what a companion is...but if you're anything like me, you've never paused to examine where the word came from. Com is Latin for "with." Okay...making sense so far. A companion is someone you're with. But I'd never stopped to realize that the panion part...

I know, I know, I'm a week late for this one. But on New Year's, my family asked what in the world this song means, so I figured it would be a great feature for my first Word of the Week post in January! I've never really looked too deeply into this song and the...

As the old year draws to a close, I always pray for a word for the new year. Something I ought to keep in mind through the coming months. Something God whispers to my spirit. Sometimes I get one. Sometimes I don't. For 2018, there was no word that stood out. And given...

'Tis the season to look up any Christmas-related words I haven't already done. 😉 Knowing that noel is French, I suppose I figured there wasn't much more to know about it, so I hadn't looked into this one before. But I decided it was time! For starters, I had no idea...

This is another word that my daughter came running out to show me in her history book. And one I found even more intriguing when I looked it up on my own, as etymonline doesn't, in fact, agree with said history book! So, according to A History of Us, the phrase...

We've been studying medieval history in our homeschool right now, which of course means learning about knights and the process they go through to become knights. Which naturally led to a question of where in the world the word dub came from. Dub has been around since...

I love learning things through my kids' school! A week or two ago, my daughter came out with her vocabulary book in hand to ask if I knew about the history of the word vignette. I'm not sure if I've ever heard this before, but it's a fun progression! So back in the...

Ever wonder why, when we're stymied and/or confused, we say we're stumped? I'd never really paused to wonder about this one, but my daughter learned this etymology in her history class and had to share, and it made me go, "Oh, of course!" As early as the 13th century,...

This one also comes courtesy of my daughter and her history book, which includes fun little snippets about what words got their origins in the time she's studying (a history book after my own heart!). I think I'd heard this one before, but I'd forgotten. Ever wonder...

In my house, this has become a bit of a joke. Not knowing--or pausing to ask--the origin of the phrase sleep tight, we just sort of assumed it was related to being tucked in. Rowyn, who likes to be tucked and covered, "sleeps tight." Xoe, who sleeps on top of her...

My October baking has inspired looking into this one. Why, exactly, do we say something's made "from scratch" if it doesn't use a mix? Maybe y'all know this already, since it's pretty simple, but I was clueless, LOL. In my head, I think it may have had something to do...

Writing war books as I for some bizarre reason seem to do quite a bit (built in conflict?), I occasionally find myself looking up terms that have to do with weapons, fighting, etc. And sometimes--like this time--I'm quite surprised by what I find! Apparently, I've...

This is one of the words I'd just never paused to think about. Auditorium. It was always just the place we went to in school when the whole school needed to meet. But last week my husband went, "Oh! I'd never looked at auditorium this way before. As in, auditory. Plus...

I know, I know. This seems like a strange choice of word for me to look up. 😉 But I had a moment last week when I was wondering how long the garden-hose type of thing had been in use, so I looked it up. As I do. And then was kind of amazed by the answer! Hose first...

This one is yet again at the request of my kids, who asked why in the world we abbreviate "dollar" with $. (They also asked why they sometimes have one line through it and other times two.) So...though it has been suggested by some historians that the $ is related to...

The heat of summer is fully upon us, and we all know nothing tastes as good on those hot summer days as cool treats. Ice cream, Popsicles, frozen coffees and yogurts and you-name-it. My assistant's little boy asked where the word Popsicle comes from, so this Word of...

It has been a rainy, rainy summer here in West Virginia. The result? Critters everywhere they shouldn't be. We live in the woods, and the rodents and spiders inside this year have been terrible. Then...then...there's the copperheads. These venomous snakes usually...

Last Wednesday, I was invited to speak at retailers event near Lancaster, PA. As my husband and I were driving through Pennsylvania, also known in our family as "the land of oh-so-helpful road signs," we saw first the "Don't Tailgate" sign. And then one that said...

I live in a house with both a man and cats. So naturally, the debate about which came first, whisker for a man's facial hair or whisker for the long, sensitive hairs on a cat's face, has come up. (Yeah, okay, so my family's all weird, LOL. Or my word-nerd ways have...

Before bed one night, while we were waiting for his sister to finish washing her face and brushing her teeth, my son and I were coming up with silly reasons for each season's name. It began with the easy-to-determine fall. "Hey!" Rowyn said, "I bet it's because of...

Slang. Something we all know. And probably use. "Informal language." Those words not accepted as proper but not bad. That informal language is in fact usually "characterized by vividness and novelty." Mostly, the word hasn't changed that much...but it's broadened. And...

It's summer. And so, as I was casting around looking for words to feature, my daughter said, "Do something summery! Like, you know...a carnival, or the fair." When I'm writing this, our County Fair has just finished up, and the neighboring county's is scheduled for a...

I love that www.etymonline.com has a list of trending words. Sometimes I click on them solely out of curiosity...like when I saw circus on there today. Last May my family journeyed to Charleston, WV to attend one of the final shows of the Ringling Bros and Barnum...

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary--17 years since I first said "I do" to the love of my life. 😀 So naturally, today I thought I'd take a look at the words! Wed is from Old English weddian, which means "to pledge oneself, vow; to betroth, to marry." This is similar...

This one is a special request from my daughter, who came across it in a book. 😃 So, tootles. Being a 90s tween/teen, I grew up hearing this word as "goodbye" (or maybe it was toodles? Hard to say, as apparently it never appeared in writing, and it has no entry in any...

Sometimes it's so interesting to look at the history of the words that are so very common to our language! God is certainly one of those. I'd heard at some point over the years that god and good are related . . . and I imagine most of you have heard the same. But...

Time for a sweet treat of a word! Cookie. In American English, we all know what this means. Yummy... Tasty... Delicious sweet treats... My favorites are soft and chewy. Some prefer crisp and buttery. But in my opinion, all cookies are awesome. What they aren't,...

Nice. Such a simple word, so well known...and so surprising! I happened to click onto it on www.etymonline.com because it was a trending word, and I was so shocked to see its evolution! Did you know that nice used to mean "foolish, stupid, senseless"? Apparently it's...

If you've been hanging around my blog since 2011 (there are a few of you--you know who you are, LOL), then you may remember that I've featured this word before. And you may remember it solely because it was first ever Word of the Week. But since so many of my readers...

Today's Word of the Week comes as a special request from Lynne F.'s nephew, who asked about grub, and how/when it came to be a slang word for food. Well, grub is the larva of an insect, and has meant that since the early 1400s. Etymologists aren't actually sure if...

This is actually a repost of a word from 6 years ago, but my daughter asked me about it last week, so it seemed a fine time for a revisit. 😁 Reckless is one of those that always confused me as a kid. I mean, why was it reckLESS when you were indicating that people...

Some families are football families. Baseball families. Basketball families. We are a hockey family. And since the playoff just began and we're cheering our Penguins on, I thought I'd pause to look at one of the hockey terms. (Okay, so it was a trending word on...

I looked this one up, wanting to use it in a book set in 1917...only to find a history I knew nothing about! So mannequin has been around since 1902, but it wasn't a form used to display clothes. Or rather, not a non-living one. When mannequin first appeared, it was...

Today's Word of the Week is actually just inspired by www.etymonline.com's trending word list, LOL. Which is funny, because those who know me well know that my church has actually opted to keep Saturday as the Sabbath rather than Sunday, so you might think I have an...

This week, something fun is happening, and I'm celebrating by making all the week's blog posts go to the theme. This week, the book previously known as Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland will re-release from WhiteFire as A Heart's Revolution. On Wednesday, I'll be...

A couple weeks ago on the radio, I heard someone musing about the shift of the university experience from its origins. He was saying how university came from uni (one) + verity (truth), and how in recent years people have forgotten the one-truth bit and are instead...

Yet another word I just never bothered to look up...but once I did, I was a bit surprised! PinterestGerman servants, early 1900s Did you know that family didn't mean "parents with their children" until 1660, though it was an English word since the early 1400s??? I...

A commonplace book, circa mid-1600s. Photo via Beinecke Flickr Laboratory This special request comes from Bev Duell-Moore. =) And hilariously, as soon she asked me to feature it, I did a quick search...which came in mighty handy just a few days later, when I needed a...

Upon special request, today we're going to look into the word autograph . . . which is fitting, since there are just a couple days left in this month's sale of autographed copies of The Reluctant Duchess! 😉 I didn't give it too much thought when this request came...

This week's Word is another special request from Lynne F.  ~ Remember that any time you have one you'd like me to look up, just let me know! ~ Pinterest Nun dates back to the very beginnings of English, all the way to the days of Old English, when it was spelled...

Today's Word of the Week is a special request from Lynne F. (and as a reminder, if ever you have a word you'd like me to look into, please feel free to let me know and I'll add it to my list!). Nurse is rather interesting, in that the noun and verb forms evolved a bit...

I'd noticed when reading historical work--either original or fiction--that recipe and receipt were often used in ways that we today would deem, well, flipped. But I'd never really paused to look it up. I'm glad I just did, because I learned something! We'll start with...

Yet another Word of the Week inspired by my weekend activities. 😉 I confess: I'm not a decorator. Most of the decorations in my house are books, LOL. (The best decorations, if I do say so myself.) Things like curtains...meh. I've put them up in most rooms, simply to...