Okay, past the halfway point. Let’s do this.
What’s in a name? Literally. Where does name come from?
As a noun, name comes from the Old English nama/noma, which means either name or noun. No, that sentence is not confusing. As a verb, it comes from namian, which just means to name. Those words both come from the Proto Germanic namon and before that the Proto Indo European nomn.
That’s it? It’s got a really simple explanation? It barely even changed over the last eight thousand years. How boring.
Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Well, I', really disappointed...
ReplyDeleteThanks for making me smile. 'How boring', had me in stitches.
ReplyDeleteNamian sounds interesting. Like an old Celtic word.
ReplyDeleteI guess you'll have to invent your own etmyology then.
ReplyDeleteThe 'how boring' part made me laugh, too. :)
I guess not all words can be exciting.
ReplyDeleteIm blogging from Fill the cracks and Moondustwriter's Blog. Happy A to Zing!
Everyone is doing N is for Name today! Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeletePiper Presley
N is for Novel: Blogging from A to Z Challenge
http://www.presleyromance.com/blog/novel-blogging-from-a-to-z-challenge
Boring is okay once in a while. It would be so difficult to time travel and try to talk to the people with even such minor changes.
ReplyDeleteSusan Says
I guess not all etymology has to be labyrinthine...
ReplyDeleteWell, you're bound to find some etymology that isn't that interesting every now and then.
ReplyDelete~Ninja Minion Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author
Love the a-z blogging challenge. Education and entertainment all wrapped up together. Thanks for this, enjoyed your posts.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's because it's one of those words that we use all the time. It's just stuck in the same form all that time.
ReplyDeleteClearly everyone knew a good thing when they heard it and just decided not to mess with it. Highly unusual given human nature :)
ReplyDeleteTasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)