July 2009

  • Juggernaut

    By lisala on 7/29/09 1:52pm
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    We often see juggernaut used in product names, like Pyramid Brewery's Juggernaut Red Ale, but we don't really think about the implications behind the word. The definition from the AHD is:

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  • Venison

    By lisala on 7/26/09 4:57pm
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    The AHD notes that venison is:

    1. The flesh of a deer used as food.

    2. Archaic The flesh of a game animal used as food.

    Etymologically speaking, venison entered Modern English by way of Middle English veneson, from Old French venetio, from Latin venatio, venation-, hunting, from venatus, past participle of venari, to hunt.

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  • Ye Olde Shoppe

    By lisala on 7/7/09 12:55pm
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    We've all seen store fronts with signs proclaiming them as "Ye Olde [fill in the blank] Shoppe. It's an effort to look quaint, old fashioned, and charming. It is not, however, at all historically accurate. In fact, if we think about it, it doesn't really make sense. "Ye" is actually the older form of "you," not "the." Here's what happened. Way back when, the word the was written using a character called a thorn and derived from Old English runes. The thorn character (þ) represents a th- sound, as in the in Old and Middle English, and was written thus: þe.

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