Language of Confusion: Endings

I did beginnings, so it’s time to do endings, too. Except for end and conclude, which were both covered at other times.

Close

Close is one of those annoying words with a million definitions and a pronunciation that changes depending on the context. Honestly, I’m just glad that all the different forms are related because I’ve had it up to here with words that randomly sound alike but are completely different. Anyway. Enough rambling. Close as in shut showed up in the thirteenth century, which was a century before close as in near. Both words come from the Old French clos-, the past participle stem of the verb clore, to shut (it took on the connotation of “closing a gap”, hence near). That word is from the classical Latin  clausus, closed, from the verb claudere, to close. That can be traced all the way back to the Proto Indo European klau- which means… hook? What?

Finish

Finish first showed up in the late fourteenth century, from the Old French finiss- the past participle stem (two in a row here) of fenir, to finish. It’s from the classical Latin finire, to limit or end, related to finis, end or boundary. It might be related to figere, the origin word for fix, but it’s definitely related to finite.

Final

Final is of course also related, just with a slightly different origin. It showed up before finish, in the earlyfourteenth century, from the Old French final and Late Latin finalis, concluding or final. And that of course is from finis. Yeah, this one shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

Cease

Cease showed up in the fourteenth century as cesen, to stop moving/acting. It’s from the Old French cesser, with basically the same meaning, and classical Latin cessare, which is just to stop. That’s from another Proto Indo European word, ked-, which is the origin for pretty much anything with -cess or -cede in it.

Terminate

Terminate showed up in the early fifteenth century from the classical Latin terminatus, terminating. That’s from the verb terminare, which is just to terminate. That one’s obviously related to terminal, which showed up in the mid fifteenth century from the Latin terminalis, the adjective form of terminare.

No great mysteries here. I’m kind of relieved. This one was pretty straight-forward.

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Google Translate

Omniglot

University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language

Orbis Latinus

Language of Confusion: Define

My last etymology post for 2012. Sunrise, sunset. [wipes tear] For this, um, let’s say “momentous” occasion, I decided to go with define as it seems like the only thing more meta to look up would be the word etymology.

Define showed up in the late fourteenth century with two meanings: to specify and to end. It comes from the Old French defenir, meaning to terminate or determine. Further back in classical Latin we have definire, which has the varied meanings of to limit, to determine and to explain. Funny how defining something can also give it limits : ).

The reason for the limit definition makes more sense when you look at the pieces of the word. De- is a prefix that in this case means completelyand finire means to limit or come to an end. Or finish. So why does an explanation for something attached to a word that means limit? Well, it’s just how the word was used. It started in the fifteenth century as the “essential nature” of something and from there progressed to the meaning of words and then what something means in general.

Oh, and yes, definite is from the same word. I guess when you’re sure about something, it’s “defined”. Aren’t words fun?

Happy New Year!

Sources

Online Etymology Dictionary

Orbis Latinus