Etymythologies

There’s an article in the London Times about etymology again (YAY!) but this time focusing on the social, and sometimes political, myths that are commonly believed to be word origins but are wrong.  As an example Ben MacIntyre cites

As a rule of thumb, the more elaborate and widely accepted the explanation, the more likely it is to be wrong.

Take “rule of thumb”. For decades, it was widely believed to refer to the practice of wife-beating. One standard women’s studies textbook in the US states unequivocally “the popular expression ‘rule of thumb’ originated from English common law, which allowed a husband to beat his wife with a whip or stick no bigger in diameter than his thumb… [it] essentially allowed a man to beat his wife without interference from the courts”.

A pretty nasty little phrase, then, to be deployed with extreme caution and sensitivity. Except that “rule of thumb” has no such origin: it has never appeared in any statute book, and does not originate in legalised domestic violence. The first joint of the thumb is approximately an inch in length, so the rule of thumb allowed joiners to make rough measurements (the use of “hand” to measure the height of a horse is similar). It may also derive from the beer trade, as brewers traditionally tested the temperature of a batch of beer by sticking their thumb in.

Though no fault of its own, this innocent phrase became a semiotic battleground, with feminists using a false etymology as a stick to beat male chauvinists, and chauvinists debunking the word’s false origins as a way of getting back at feminists.

I certainly didn’t know that.  But, I also don’t much care.  If the question is indeed, “Who is to be the master?” then we have to understand thoroughly that words mean what we make them mean.  That’s why, in my heart, I’m such a mystic concerning words.  They are one of the most wonderful, beautiful, delicious powers on earth.  I learned early in life that not even guns can produce the harm that words can. Words can break a soul or mend it.  Words can send a person into spiraling depression or lift them to ecstatic heights.  They are wonderful in the fullest sense.  So you’ll definitely find me agreeing with the end of this article, that

In some ways, false etymologies — etymytholgies, as they are sometime known — are like family anecdotes. They may not literally be true; indeed, they may not be true at all; yet they contain a deeper kind of truth. The true origins of words is the archaeology of human culture; what we choose to believe about the birth of words can be just as revealing.

Oh, and I love this picture