What’s next? Next, of course.
Next comes from the Old English niehsta/nyhsta/nesta (it’s different
depending on which dialect you choose) which means nearest or closest and comes
from their word for nigh, neah/neh. I assume you pronounce that
like you live in New England.
So it comes from their word for nigh. Gee, I wonder if
that’s related? Of course it is. Nigh comes from the Old English neah/neh (it depends
on the dialect), which just means nigh or near.
And speaking of near,
it used to be the Old English…near.
See as it turns out, all these words used to be different versions of the same
word: nigh. They were like good/better/best, the regular word, its comparative, and its superlative, in this case nigh, nigher (near), and nighest (next). Can’t you hear it? But at some
point near and next split off and became their own words that we actually use
way more than nigh these days.
Pretty cool one this week. Don’t you agree? No? Just me
then?
Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Nigh's something we make little use of these days.
ReplyDeleteThat is pretty cool. And I can kind of hear it (even with my surfer California accent).
ReplyDeleteSo when they say the end is nigh, they mean it's next… Makes sense!
ReplyDelete