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I get the Merriam-Webster “Word of the Day” email newsletter. (Which is very cool. You can subscribe here.) Each day you get a new word, definition, example sentence, and etymology.

As you’d expect, most of the words are traced back to an original Greek or Latin source. However, sometimes the history of the word is surprising. For example, today’s word:

tawdry \TAW-dree\ adjective

: cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality; also : ignoble
Example sentence:
Tom and Pam found themselves in an unfamiliar section of the city, walking by tawdry storefronts and shady bars.

Etymology
In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position for the veil of a nun. She was renowned for her saintliness and is traditionally said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace called “St. Audrey’s lace,” which by the 17th century had become altered to “tawdry lace.” Eventually, “tawdry” came to be used to describe anything cheap and gaudy that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.

Here’s another memorable one:

scapegoat \SKAYP-goat\ noun

1 : a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur
2 a : one that bears the blame for others b : one that is the object of irrational hostility [This sense used in example sentence below.]

Example sentence:
The financial advisor was a convenient scapegoat for some of the ill-fated business ventures that the company has undertaken over the years.

Etymology
The history of “scapegoat” is based on a linguistic misunderstanding. On Yom Kippur, the ancient Hebrews would sacrifice one goat for the Lord and lead another one into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people. The ceremony is described in Leviticus, where it is said that one lot shall be cast for the Lord and one for “Azazel.” Modern scholars usually interpret “Azazel” as being the name of a demon living in the desert. But ancient biblical translators thought “Azazel” referred to the goat itself, apparently confusing it with the Hebrew phrase “Ez ‘OzEl,” meaning “goat that departs.” The mistranslation was carried through Greek and Latin into a 16th-century English translation, where the goat was rendered as “scapegoat”; that is, “goat that escapes.”

Words are cool.

posted by peebo on Tuesday, August 10th, 2004 at 10:15 am
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