Ill!
When ill first showed up in the
early thirteenth century,
it had nothing to do with health. Back then, it was just evil, hurtful,
difficult, or unfortunate. The “unwell” sense of the word didn’t show up until
the mid-fifteenth century, over two hundred years later, possibly changing
meanings due to the influence of an Old Norse idiom. Old Norse is actually where we get the word from; it’s illr in that language, and that’s as far
back as the word can be traced. And I don’t know if this needs to be said, but
ill has nothing to do with words like illegal or illicit. The il- prefix there
actually comes from the word in-.
They just dropped the n.
Coincidence is never more prevalent than in looking up the histories of words.
Sources
So technically it should be nillegal?
ReplyDeleteIt's intriguing that the word and the prefix have nothing to do with one another.
ReplyDeleteI knew that word was evil. I just knew it! :)
ReplyDeleteI think it should be inlegal if that's the etymology. Weird....
ReplyDeleteYou're going to end up revolutionizing the English language by the end of the month. =)
ReplyDeleteIiir sounds like Icelandic or some kind of norse origin. In fact, we have the same word in some dialects, and in the form "ille" which means bad >:)
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven
I recall hearing the word used in the sense of evil or bad, so it's not a surprise that it would have that root.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly see how "evil, hurtful, difficult, or unfortunate" got to sick. But, nillicit? Really??
ReplyDeleteWell, of course. Before there was a theory of disease, people thought diseases were caused by evil spirits.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the word and the prefix have completely different roots is interesting. You come up with the most fascinating things to share on your blog.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late comment, been nill all day:(
ReplyDeleteinteresting...love the history of words :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting that it comes from that. I did think it was related to il-.
ReplyDeleteThat's intriguing! Thanks for sharing this awesome information!
ReplyDeleteI'd just gotten over being unwell, and while in that state, I was feeling unfortunate and probably a very difficult person to be around. :-)
ReplyDelete