Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A-to-Z Challenge: Net

We’re on the downswing now!



Today’s word: net.

Net has two definitions, netting and remaining (like net income after taxes). The first net comes from the Old English word net (believe it or not) and before that, the Proto Germanic natjan, and Proto Indo European [http://colfa.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html] ned-, twist or knot. The other net showed up in the early sixteenth century and originally it meant clean or neat (the monetary origin is probably from Italian influence as their word for neat, netto, meant “remaining after deductions). It comes from the Old French net (yes, this is different from the Old English one), which meant clean or pure, and classical Latin nitere, to shine. It also has a Proto Indo European origin word: nei-. Which leaves us to assume that the reason these two words are spelled the same is because people dropped the a in the neat when they were talking about deductions. Because things weren’t confusing enough.

Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center

15 comments:

  1. It's interesting reading about these multiple meaning words.

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  2. I've seen my paychecks - net is not neat.

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  3. I wonder if the word nerd came from this also. I love words and their meanings. I'm glad I found you. I'm doing the lesser known Greek myths over at TamaraDaresToWrtie.blogspot.com

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  4. LOL, yes, sometimes it DOES feel like people changed word meanings and spellings just to be confusing!

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  5. SO many meanings to one word..amazing. Never thought of it.

    Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  6. There's nothing neat and clean about my checkbook, which is usually what I use to record my spent "net" income. :)

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  7. I quite like the Latin root nitere... another word to keep in mind for a character or a place!

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  8. Net income is not neat, that's for sure. I find it interesting to see how the same word with its two different meanings came about in different ways. It's always a pleasure to come to your blog. I learn so many new things.

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  9. Words are so interesting, especially when you look at the background and derivatives of them. My friend in journalism used to say, "and the nutgraph..." meaning - the bottom line is... A little like the "net/net". Dropping by from the Blogging A to Z Challenge. www.dianeweidenbenner.com

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  10. This makes me think of something I saw on Facebook yesterday. About advertisements for things with unfortunate names in other languages. Like things that we wouldn't now eat because of what that brand name means in English.

    Coincidence of sounds, I guess.

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  11. I had no idea such a little word could have so many orgins.

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  12. I had no idea such a little word could have so many orgins.

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  13. Isn't it strange how we come up with words. When I did my letter "f" and use the word "fritter" I wanted to know were the word "fritter"
    Also I doing genealogy I'll use etymology to learn about a surname.

    Stop in from A to Z challenge.

    Coffee is on

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