Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology

From linguist Liberman (Take My Word for It) comes a playful foray into the elusive origins of words. Hunting for each term’s antecedents, Liberman wends his way through many eras of history: for example, his investigation into the etymology of “conundrum,” which has stymied scholars with its imitation of Greek and Latin, touches on a theory that the term derives from a medieval headache cure; his study of “dude,” which perhaps originated as a shorthand for the early 19th century’s foppish “Yankee Doodle” character, tracks usage through the late 19th century, when Oscar Wilde on his visit to America was considered “the quintessential dude.” One part of the difficulty in sussing out a word’s origins, Liberman explains, is that “language constantly delivers freaks, [but] if they are accepted by the speaking community they begin to look like well-formed creatures.” Other challenges are posed by “migratory words” (those brought by new people to new places) and the leapfrogging of words like “buck,” as in money, over class barriers (“Words are like people,” Liberman writes, “and it is no wonder that some upstarts make their way into high society and become respectable”). What makes his account especially entertaining is Liberman’s energetic discrediting of lazy origin stories (“Mad as a hatter,” for instance, appears to have little to do with the profession’s susceptibility to mercury poisoning, despite widespread attribution). Logophiles will be delighted. (Apr.)