![]() ![]() Long before the publication of The English Dialect Dictionary by Joseph Wright, a monumental work of perennial value, a correspondent to Notes and Queries (3/IX, 1866, p. Other than that, he stated without discussion that the noun is of Scandinavian provenance (his old point of view). In 1910, Skeat wrote a long article about the word trash, but his point was that alongside the noun trash “refuse,” the verb trash “to impede, hold back” exists, a word of French origin. bits readily cracked off, dry twigs that break with a crash or snap.” A crow and a crane, or sound imitation at its best. slå i kras, to break in pieces so that tr stands for kr, just as Icel. slå i tras, to break in pieces, the same as Swed. tros fallen twigs, half-rotten branches easily broken Swed. Skeat’s A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language: “The original sense was bits of broken sticks found under trees…. Be that as it may, The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966) removed the doubtful Scandinavian look-alikes and made do with the curt statement “of unknown origin”: safe but uninspiring.īelow, I’ll quote the entry trash from the latest (1911) edition of Walter W. However, a few Scandinavian words did make their way into English (or into English texts, which is not the same!) relatively late. Murray, the OED’s first editor, showed such restraint. Borrowing from Scandinavian into Middle English goes back to a much earlier period, and that may be the reason James A. The original OED did not commit itself to any etymology, though it did mention an array of similar Scandinavian words having approximately the same meaning. This word surfaced in English only in the sixteenth century. A case in point is trash, the subject of today’s blog post. What a sad process of degradation! (In semantics, this process is called the deterioration of meaning the amelioration of meaning is also known but occurs much more rarely, as is the way of all flesh.) A litter, but certainly not trash. ![]() Litter started its life in English with the sense “portable couch.” Next, we find “straw for bedding” (hence “number of young brought forth at a birth,” i.e., “a litter of puppies, kittens, pigs”), and finally, “trash.” The ultimate source is medieval Latin lectus “bed,” recognizable from French lit. Obviously, offal is something that falls off, but even this noun was borrowed from Dutch (and compare German Abfall). It is amazing how many words English has for things thrown away or looked upon as useless! The origin of some of them is transparent. ![]()
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