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Word Derivations
These word derivations were written for a Linguistics class where we had to figure out the history and meaning of words we chose. It was pretty fun.
People use words everyday and there are some words that they use and do not even know the real definitions of. Humans are a big source when it comes to a misinterpretation of languages. Sometimes we make things more confusing than they actually are. So, for those of us that cannot quite understand a word some one said or a word we would like to use ourselves, dictionaries were invented. Dictionaries also help us get a clearer understanding of a word's true meaning. One such dictionary is the great anthology of the Oxford English Dictionary that gives not only the meanings of words, but also a tracing of their history. Using this dictionary, I looked up three words that I had fair knowledge of and discovered their origins. What I found out was close and not so close to my original thoughts.
Fairy (fair - y)
I am a big fan of the fantasy realm, because it allows writers to use their imaginations and make up stories involving unique characters that we do not read about every day. For as long as I can remember, my preference was writing about dragons, elves, mermaids, and other mythical beings. Because I want to write these types of stories later on in life, researching the definition of one of my favorite creatures of tales and legends would be a good start. For this I picked the word "fairy". It would be helpful to know the true meaning of their origin, before using them in my own stories.
The word fairy has taken on many different spellings and meanings over its years. Its date of birth was approximately 1320 and is Middle English in origin. Fairy was created for the text Orfeo. In one sentence, it was written, "The kyng of Fayré with his route, Com to haunt all aboute." Today, we hardly ever, or if at all, use the word spelled as "fayré". It is interesting to note that even after all the various spelling changes, fairy keeps the same sound. The actual spelling of "fairy" came to be used around the year 1640 said by Waller. "Hast thou not heard of fairy Arthur's shield?" This word has changed from fayré, ffairye, fayrie, fery, farey, feyrie, fayry, fairie, to fairy and many more beyond that. It is strange, because when I thought I knew the different spellings of fairy (faerie and faery), there were actually a lot more that I was aware of.
As far as meanings go, the original meaning is "the land or home of the fays; fairy-land." It also became known as term to describe the inhabitants of this magical land or just of smaller creatures who were believed to have great magical powers, which could enable them to possess the will of men. Fairy can also be used to describe magic, enchantments, or dreams. Those are practically all the noun forms of it. However, fairy can also be used as an adjective. It can be related to some one who is acting with fairy-like nature or one who resembles their appearance. For example, some one could say in describing another person, "The child is so fairy today." Nevertheless, many of us probably would not use the word fairy to describe another person. The plural version of fairy would be "fairies". Some plural changes are formed differently on the other hand. In the spelling of "fayry", the plural is formed by just adding an "s" instead of dropping the "y" and adding "ies". Various other forms of fairy already have an "ie" at the end of them, so just adding an "s" would suffice for them as well. For example, like how the plural of "fairie" is "fairies".
There really are no obsolete meanings of fairy. Most of the time we use it to describe little, magical beings and their lands. The less used meanings would be those that portray dreams and enchantments as fairy. However, there are many strange combinations of this word that we rarely, if ever, use. "Fairy-rade" meaning the expedition of the fairies to the place where they are to hold their annual banquet, probably has not been used in a while.
Fairy pretty much holds the same definition I always knew about it no matter which spelling you look at. They are those small, winged creatures conjuring magic or mischief we all imagine in stories. One thing I did learn about this word was that there really is no correct spelling of it. I was always confused as whether it was fairy, faery, or faerie, since those were the only versions I had ever seen. After reading up, there are many more than my initial thoughts. Since the word is one of a fantasy being, I believe it can be used in any spelling a person so wishes.
Pirate (pi - rate)
Pirates are people that bring out adventure and curiosity to myself and to many other people. They are another subject I like to write about as well which explains the reason for looking up this word. However, since pirates make more frequent appearances than fairies in history, a background on this word sparks my interest. I also see fewer stories written about pirates, so it is difficult to tell what is factual and what is not. I am intrigued to find out everything I can about them and the Oxford English Dictionary gives a good general explanation on their history.
Also from Middle English inspiration, the word "pirate" first came to term in about 1387. In 1426, one of the first things written about them was, "I mene pyratys of the Se, Which brynge folk in pouerte." I can imagine the initial spelling of pirate sounds a lot different from what we are used too. What was described in 1426 sounds something like "pie-rat-ies." A long time after, a naval chronicle from 1799 wrote, "River pirates... ply upon Thames during the night," and that is where we got this current version of the word. The word has taken a good number of forms as well from pyraty, pirat, pyrote, pirotte, pyrate, pyrat, pyratt, and finally to pirate.
The definition we are most familiar with illustrates a pirate as "one who robs and plunders the sea or navigable rivers; one who practices piracy; a sea-robber." However, a pirate can be the actual ship that is employed in this robbery by the pirates as well. A pirate can also be seen as some one who copies another person's work, such as plagiarizing musical compositions or text from a book. On a stranger note, there are two other meanings of pirate that I would have never thought of or probably would have never been familiar with, had I not looked up this word. The first of them is, "an omnibus (a bus) which infringes on the recognized routes and snaps up the regular custom of other omnibuses, or which overcharges and otherwise preys upon passengers." The second is, "applied to animals the habits of which suggest piracy as a species of hermit crab." Who would have thought of ever describing a bus as being a pirate?
Pirate does not differ form in any plural situation. It is done by simply adding an "s" to the end of the word. In such cases like the word "pyratys", the "y" was not dropped for an "ies". Pirate does change form when the person doing the plundering and robbing is a female. We call this type of lady a "piratess".
The most used definition of pirate today is the first (one who robs and plunders the sea) and the third meaning (a person who copies). The third meaning has taken on a new turn today thanks to the Internet. Since many programs and music are available for not so legal downloading these days, people can steal them very easily. We like to say these people are "pirating" media or are pirates themselves. As far as the omnibus definition goes, I am not sure how often that is actually used or not. It can certainly be used to describe a situation like that, but I have not seen anything on the news lately of drivers stealing bus routes. The hermit crab example was also amusing because when a hermit crab sheds it shell, does it not go looking for another free shell and takes it? Therefore, I think pirate can really be used to describe any act of thieving something from another person or thing. As far as special combinations go, there are very few. One such word formed using pirate is "pirate-blue" which is a vivid shade of blue color.
By looking up this word, I learned interpretations that brought new light to the subject. The most important aspect of my discovery was the vast use for the word pirate. It is not just a man of the sea who steals treasure and ravages the land in his journeys. Though the way the definition is used is common, it can be used to describe a various number of situations.
Nightmare (night - mare)
The final word came to me from a different reason than the others above. In some stories and myths, I have seen demonic beings represented as horses called "nightmares". I wanted to see if there was an actual reason for defining these beings using this term. I have always been curious as to the meaning of this, but until now I never had a reason to actually find an answer. Are nightmares more than just the bad dreams we think they are, or can they be other things as well?
Nightmare is the oldest word I have researched thus far. It came about the year 1290 described in a sentence I cannot even decipher the meaning myself. "Ofte huy ouer-liggez and men cleopiet e ni t-mare." In a much clearer example contrasting from the above, in 1530 the actual word "nightmare" came to be to describe a goblin. The word has taken varied spellings from the first to nytmare, nyghte mare, nightes-mare, night-mare, and finally to nightmare. The only difference in sound maybe by the spellings of the first word (which I cannot even begin to try and say myself) and nytmare. This looks as if it may be pronounced something like "nit-mare".
Surprisingly there are only two definitions available for this word and the first the one we hold less knowledge of. Nightmare's main entry is stated as "a female spirit or monster supposed to beset people and animals by night, settling upon them when they are asleep and producing a feeling of suffocation by its weight." The image I had read about the horses being represented as nightmares closely resembles this meaning. On the other hand, the second definition which describes nightmare as being another feeling of distress and suffocation most likely caused by bad dreams during sleep, is the one we are more acquainted with.
As far as plural forms go, they are joined with this word by adding an "s" only. There really are no strange rules to this. The only note worthy mention would be the spelling of "nightes-mare". The "s" comes at the end of "nighte" when in other cases it would come at the end of "mare."
The definitions of nightmare are nothing close to being put out of existence. Both of them are used still. It might be considered that the first entry is acknowledged less, however when people think of nightmares, they generally think of goblins, ghosts, and other spooks that haunt their dreams and make them toss and turn at night. If this is the case, the only thing obsolete about the first meaning is that it describes the villains of these bad dreams as women or monsters. Sometimes, and a few of us can agree, men can be the subject of our worst nightmares as well. Moving to combinations, they are actually less rare from the other words I have chosen to look up. One such combination that I have heard of is "nightmare-laden" which roughly translates to being weighed down by bad dreams.
Nightmare was different from the other words because what I was curious about turned out to be the primary definition of it. What vocabulary we are taught has different meanings that we are unaware of. This was how my situation played out. As I was told, I thought the word nightmare was used to describe bad dreams. Then by seeing other sides of this word, it made me finally see the truth with the help of the Oxford English Dictionary. There is always more than what we think we know about language.
These word derivations were written for a Linguistics class where we had to figure out the history and meaning of words we chose. It was pretty fun.
People use words everyday and there are some words that they use and do not even know the real definitions of. Humans are a big source when it comes to a misinterpretation of languages. Sometimes we make things more confusing than they actually are. So, for those of us that cannot quite understand a word some one said or a word we would like to use ourselves, dictionaries were invented. Dictionaries also help us get a clearer understanding of a word's true meaning. One such dictionary is the great anthology of the Oxford English Dictionary that gives not only the meanings of words, but also a tracing of their history. Using this dictionary, I looked up three words that I had fair knowledge of and discovered their origins. What I found out was close and not so close to my original thoughts.
Fairy (fair - y)
I am a big fan of the fantasy realm, because it allows writers to use their imaginations and make up stories involving unique characters that we do not read about every day. For as long as I can remember, my preference was writing about dragons, elves, mermaids, and other mythical beings. Because I want to write these types of stories later on in life, researching the definition of one of my favorite creatures of tales and legends would be a good start. For this I picked the word "fairy". It would be helpful to know the true meaning of their origin, before using them in my own stories.
The word fairy has taken on many different spellings and meanings over its years. Its date of birth was approximately 1320 and is Middle English in origin. Fairy was created for the text Orfeo. In one sentence, it was written, "The kyng of Fayré with his route, Com to haunt all aboute." Today, we hardly ever, or if at all, use the word spelled as "fayré". It is interesting to note that even after all the various spelling changes, fairy keeps the same sound. The actual spelling of "fairy" came to be used around the year 1640 said by Waller. "Hast thou not heard of fairy Arthur's shield?" This word has changed from fayré, ffairye, fayrie, fery, farey, feyrie, fayry, fairie, to fairy and many more beyond that. It is strange, because when I thought I knew the different spellings of fairy (faerie and faery), there were actually a lot more that I was aware of.
As far as meanings go, the original meaning is "the land or home of the fays; fairy-land." It also became known as term to describe the inhabitants of this magical land or just of smaller creatures who were believed to have great magical powers, which could enable them to possess the will of men. Fairy can also be used to describe magic, enchantments, or dreams. Those are practically all the noun forms of it. However, fairy can also be used as an adjective. It can be related to some one who is acting with fairy-like nature or one who resembles their appearance. For example, some one could say in describing another person, "The child is so fairy today." Nevertheless, many of us probably would not use the word fairy to describe another person. The plural version of fairy would be "fairies". Some plural changes are formed differently on the other hand. In the spelling of "fayry", the plural is formed by just adding an "s" instead of dropping the "y" and adding "ies". Various other forms of fairy already have an "ie" at the end of them, so just adding an "s" would suffice for them as well. For example, like how the plural of "fairie" is "fairies".
There really are no obsolete meanings of fairy. Most of the time we use it to describe little, magical beings and their lands. The less used meanings would be those that portray dreams and enchantments as fairy. However, there are many strange combinations of this word that we rarely, if ever, use. "Fairy-rade" meaning the expedition of the fairies to the place where they are to hold their annual banquet, probably has not been used in a while.
Fairy pretty much holds the same definition I always knew about it no matter which spelling you look at. They are those small, winged creatures conjuring magic or mischief we all imagine in stories. One thing I did learn about this word was that there really is no correct spelling of it. I was always confused as whether it was fairy, faery, or faerie, since those were the only versions I had ever seen. After reading up, there are many more than my initial thoughts. Since the word is one of a fantasy being, I believe it can be used in any spelling a person so wishes.
Pirate (pi - rate)
Pirates are people that bring out adventure and curiosity to myself and to many other people. They are another subject I like to write about as well which explains the reason for looking up this word. However, since pirates make more frequent appearances than fairies in history, a background on this word sparks my interest. I also see fewer stories written about pirates, so it is difficult to tell what is factual and what is not. I am intrigued to find out everything I can about them and the Oxford English Dictionary gives a good general explanation on their history.
Also from Middle English inspiration, the word "pirate" first came to term in about 1387. In 1426, one of the first things written about them was, "I mene pyratys of the Se, Which brynge folk in pouerte." I can imagine the initial spelling of pirate sounds a lot different from what we are used too. What was described in 1426 sounds something like "pie-rat-ies." A long time after, a naval chronicle from 1799 wrote, "River pirates... ply upon Thames during the night," and that is where we got this current version of the word. The word has taken a good number of forms as well from pyraty, pirat, pyrote, pirotte, pyrate, pyrat, pyratt, and finally to pirate.
The definition we are most familiar with illustrates a pirate as "one who robs and plunders the sea or navigable rivers; one who practices piracy; a sea-robber." However, a pirate can be the actual ship that is employed in this robbery by the pirates as well. A pirate can also be seen as some one who copies another person's work, such as plagiarizing musical compositions or text from a book. On a stranger note, there are two other meanings of pirate that I would have never thought of or probably would have never been familiar with, had I not looked up this word. The first of them is, "an omnibus (a bus) which infringes on the recognized routes and snaps up the regular custom of other omnibuses, or which overcharges and otherwise preys upon passengers." The second is, "applied to animals the habits of which suggest piracy as a species of hermit crab." Who would have thought of ever describing a bus as being a pirate?
Pirate does not differ form in any plural situation. It is done by simply adding an "s" to the end of the word. In such cases like the word "pyratys", the "y" was not dropped for an "ies". Pirate does change form when the person doing the plundering and robbing is a female. We call this type of lady a "piratess".
The most used definition of pirate today is the first (one who robs and plunders the sea) and the third meaning (a person who copies). The third meaning has taken on a new turn today thanks to the Internet. Since many programs and music are available for not so legal downloading these days, people can steal them very easily. We like to say these people are "pirating" media or are pirates themselves. As far as the omnibus definition goes, I am not sure how often that is actually used or not. It can certainly be used to describe a situation like that, but I have not seen anything on the news lately of drivers stealing bus routes. The hermit crab example was also amusing because when a hermit crab sheds it shell, does it not go looking for another free shell and takes it? Therefore, I think pirate can really be used to describe any act of thieving something from another person or thing. As far as special combinations go, there are very few. One such word formed using pirate is "pirate-blue" which is a vivid shade of blue color.
By looking up this word, I learned interpretations that brought new light to the subject. The most important aspect of my discovery was the vast use for the word pirate. It is not just a man of the sea who steals treasure and ravages the land in his journeys. Though the way the definition is used is common, it can be used to describe a various number of situations.
Nightmare (night - mare)
The final word came to me from a different reason than the others above. In some stories and myths, I have seen demonic beings represented as horses called "nightmares". I wanted to see if there was an actual reason for defining these beings using this term. I have always been curious as to the meaning of this, but until now I never had a reason to actually find an answer. Are nightmares more than just the bad dreams we think they are, or can they be other things as well?
Nightmare is the oldest word I have researched thus far. It came about the year 1290 described in a sentence I cannot even decipher the meaning myself. "Ofte huy ouer-liggez and men cleopiet e ni t-mare." In a much clearer example contrasting from the above, in 1530 the actual word "nightmare" came to be to describe a goblin. The word has taken varied spellings from the first to nytmare, nyghte mare, nightes-mare, night-mare, and finally to nightmare. The only difference in sound maybe by the spellings of the first word (which I cannot even begin to try and say myself) and nytmare. This looks as if it may be pronounced something like "nit-mare".
Surprisingly there are only two definitions available for this word and the first the one we hold less knowledge of. Nightmare's main entry is stated as "a female spirit or monster supposed to beset people and animals by night, settling upon them when they are asleep and producing a feeling of suffocation by its weight." The image I had read about the horses being represented as nightmares closely resembles this meaning. On the other hand, the second definition which describes nightmare as being another feeling of distress and suffocation most likely caused by bad dreams during sleep, is the one we are more acquainted with.
As far as plural forms go, they are joined with this word by adding an "s" only. There really are no strange rules to this. The only note worthy mention would be the spelling of "nightes-mare". The "s" comes at the end of "nighte" when in other cases it would come at the end of "mare."
The definitions of nightmare are nothing close to being put out of existence. Both of them are used still. It might be considered that the first entry is acknowledged less, however when people think of nightmares, they generally think of goblins, ghosts, and other spooks that haunt their dreams and make them toss and turn at night. If this is the case, the only thing obsolete about the first meaning is that it describes the villains of these bad dreams as women or monsters. Sometimes, and a few of us can agree, men can be the subject of our worst nightmares as well. Moving to combinations, they are actually less rare from the other words I have chosen to look up. One such combination that I have heard of is "nightmare-laden" which roughly translates to being weighed down by bad dreams.
Nightmare was different from the other words because what I was curious about turned out to be the primary definition of it. What vocabulary we are taught has different meanings that we are unaware of. This was how my situation played out. As I was told, I thought the word nightmare was used to describe bad dreams. Then by seeing other sides of this word, it made me finally see the truth with the help of the Oxford English Dictionary. There is always more than what we think we know about language.
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