It is not an unknown fact that many words have interesting etymologies. Some words employed in our discourses represent relatively new inventions, while others, surprisingly, have accompanied us for so long that their origins are no longer clear. Some of our basic expressions are in fact metaphors that have lost their strength, whereas some represent instances of metonymy. In this article, we are going to present a few words that have an unexpected linguistic history.
Network, broadcast and firewall
Some of the words that we use today when we talk about different subjects specific to the domain of technology have interesting unexpected origins.
One such example is the word “network” which was first attested in the 16th century. Originally, it described the system of nests that was used by fishermen to catch fish. It was only in the 20th century that this word acquired a new meaning.
“Broadcast” is another term which changed its meaning. Initially, it was an agricultural term, which appeared in the 18th century and meant “sown by scattering”.
“Firewall” which is employed today to describe the security system that protects our computers from unauthorized access, literally designated a wall built to prevent the spread of fire.
Melancholia vs Nostalgia
The word nostalgia, term that describes our longing for something that can no longer be reached, appeared in our vocabulary quite late. Coined during Early Modernity, more precisely in the second half of the 17th century by the medical student Johannes Hoffer, nostalgia encompasses two Greek roots: “nostos” ( νόστος), and algo (ἄλγος ) . “Nostos” means “homecoming” and is also a Homeric concept ( first introduced in “The Odyssey”), while “algos”, means “pain”. Therefore, nostalgia epitomizes “the pain of not being able to return home”.
Melancholia, on the other hand, is a very old term. Introduced in 5th century BC, “melancholia” was an ancient Greek medical term, employed by Hippocrates in his humoral theory. Made up of the two roots: melan- (“black” or “dark”) and chole (“bile”), the term designated the black bile. And for a long period of time, melancholia had been considered a disease.
Words and figures of history or mythology
Words could be based on names, as well. The word “atlas” is one such example. Atlas was a mythological figure, a titan more precisely, condemned by Zeus to support the earth on his shoulders for his act of rebellion against the Olympians.
The simple word “guy”, is actually based on the name of Guy Fawks, one of the conspirators who tried to blow up the Parliament in 1605 (conspiration known under the name of The Gunpowder Plot). Today, every year on 5th of November, the date of the failed regicide, the skies are illuminated by fireworks and people light bonfires and burn effigies of this historical figure. In the movie “V for Vendetta”, there are many references to Guy Fawkes.
A funny case is represented by the word sandwich, which actually comes from John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an English nobleman who, refusing to abandon his card game, ordered his valet to bring him roast beef between two slices of bread.
