Whee! A solid month of not having to think up new posts
etymology! I couldn’t be more excited. Well, I could, like if I sold a book or
something. But barring that, yeah, this is pretty tops.
Today’s word: aim.
Aim first showed up in the early fourteenth century,
with the verb form coming just before the noun. It comes from the Old French aesmer, rate or estimate, and the
classical Latin aestimare, appraise. And if you’re thinking, “Boy, that word sure
looks like estimate”, that’s
because it is the origin word for estimate (and esteem,
for that matter).
One word down. And the adventure begins!
Sources
That is a lot of history for a very short word :) Thank you for the education.
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
Hi, I'm just visiting from http://olivegroveview.blogspot.gr/ where I'm doing the A to Z Challenge. I love finding out about words and how they came in to being. Even little words have their own history. I look forward to the next 25! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI guess aim and estimate are connected. Sort of.
ReplyDeleteI love your theme!
ReplyDeleteOh cool! I enjoyed this last year. Glad you're doing it again. I "aim" to visit every day. :)
ReplyDeleteI love learning about the history behind words. :)
ReplyDelete-Chrys Fey
Tremp’s Troops - A to Z Co-co-host
Write with Fey
I didn't know it was connected to those other words.
ReplyDeleteAim = estimate? I guess that makes sense. As much as any of our language does.
ReplyDeleteI waiting for the word that you can say it didn't come from anywhere. Some guy named John make it up in 1471 and it spread from there.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the last comment: well, if you go far enough back, somebody DID just make up every word in every language. But I'm guessing (and nobody can prove me wrong) that most of them were women, because they had better communication skills.
ReplyDeleteI was not thinking that word looked like estimate at all.
ReplyDeleteFabulous! I love etymology. Look forward to reading the rest of your posts this month :)
ReplyDeleteAesmer looks like the kind of word Tolkien would use.
ReplyDeleteAIM rocked great start ... like your theme and the way you presented it #Blogging from A-Z swinging by to meet and greet. I am 471 and 472 in the long list, with MOVIES & What's in a NAME Hope you swing by to 4covert2overt and Defining Ways. Hope to meet up everywhere @M_C_V_Egan
ReplyDeletehttp://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/
http://mariacatalinaegan.com/
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It's cool that aim and esteem are connected!
ReplyDeleteAs an archer, I approve of this word. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy A to Z!
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
LOL. You do crack me up :) Hooray for etymology!
ReplyDeleteInteresting aim and estimate related, I don't see the connection, but maybe that's why I'm not a wordsmith :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Aims should be estimates, we might miss, but then we can try again!
ReplyDeleteYay! I LOVE etymology. :D
ReplyDelete- Carrie Butler, A-Z Minion