WORDS THAT FASCINATED ME

I was always fascinated by the way in which some words are formed in English language. People’s names, place names and many other names appear in the language in surprising ways.

 

I remember a time when my mother insists me to drink a cup of milk daily to stay healthy. When the packet milk comes, we use to check for the label ‘pasteurized milk’. Some people argue that pasteurized milk is good. While some others say raw milk is good, as it is stripped off many of its nutrients when it is pasteurized. And the debate goes on. Have you ever imagined that it was named after Mr Louis Pasteur who invented the process of pasteurization? 

We all shudder when we hear about an earthquake. The word ‘quake’ has a very interesting origin. The name is derived from a religious sect where they tremble in a fit of shaking while performing their rituals. The name of that religious sect was Quaker. Later shaking or trembling of any kind has been associated with this name. 

When I was doing my schooling, I could remember those bougainvilleas smiling at me from every corner of that convent school. Perhaps, they were the nun’s most favourite flowers. Do you know those brilliant red or purple flower brats were named after Mr Louis Anton de Bougainvillea, an 18^th century French explorer who discovered it? In fact, many of these words are named after its inventors. A Rubik’s cube has an important place in a child’s collection of toys as there is no modern game or puzzle which can challenge it. And this cube has been modelled by Mr Emo Rubik. 

You know there is a word which got its birth with the birth of a child. If a mother’s labour was a little complicated one, the doctor would suggest a caesarean section. The origin of this word was dated back to the time of the Emperor Caesar. He was the first baby to be born in that way. Today women would shiver at the very thought of putting a knife on their belly, if they imagined the pain Caesar’s mother had gone through. She succumbed to the same process decades before, when there was no anaesthesia or pain killer. I suppose they would run out of the operation theatre.

Hectic! Hectic! Hectic schedules! Nowadays, our breakfast has turned into some kind of sandwiches. Our sandwich too has a legend to talk about. The name is popularised by the Earl of Sandwich (John Montague). Once he had to spend hours on end at the card table, too busy gambling to stop for a meal, he then ordered the cook to bring him roasted beef between two slices of bread. So that he could eat without getting up from his seat and he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy as well, while playing cards. And others too started ordering the same calling out the Earl’s name ‘Sandwich’. It took on the Earl’s name. Thus, Sandwich was born.

The Earl was the most immoral man of the time. And it’s really queer to think that his name has been given to the most innocent item of dish on our breakfast table.

We cannot always take the literal meaning of a word for making sense because some words evolve from their relative meaning. As we wonder that Saint Valentine has anything to do with the business of romancing. We all are amused at the use of the word ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’ recently. It is interesting to know the history behind the making of a word.  I think a word is not only a name or meaning but rather a legend or history by itself.