Writers love words, and the English language is a rich challenge. Like the United States, the English language is a melting pot. In my undergraduate years at UConn, despite being a Business major (to please my father by pursuing a “technical” degree), I took many liberal arts courses, including one on Etymology, the origin of words.
English, the great melting pot
The roots of our native tongue are derived from many sources, including
—Latin (alibi, meaning elsewhere)
—Germanic (mother)
—Yiddish (schlep…one of my favorite words)
—French (seance….French for session)
—Old English, which has Germanic roots, of course (bread)
—Old Norse, short, punchy Viking-influenced words (egg)
—Ancient Greek (democracy)
just to name a very few examples.
In general, simple, practical, everyday words tend to come from Germanic roots, while more formal, flowery, or technical words come from French, Latin, or Greek. Go figure.
In addition, English deepens its layers by keeping multiple words for the same idea, such as ask (Old English), question (French), and interrogate (Latin), as well as lawyer (Norse) and attorney (French/Latin). Did you know that will comes from Germanic/Old English roots and testament from French ones? It makes me wonder who was in the room when it was decided to use both.
English was also influenced in a different way after 1066 (the Norman invasion of England). The French were nobility, and the English were working class, causing words about animals (such as pig) to come from the English, but words about the food (such as pork) to be French. To put it simply, the English were farmers who grew the food, and the French ate it.
One way to think about English’s evolution
The English language continues to evolve, incorporating other languages like Spanish (mosquito) and adding modern tweaks from hip-hop (Stan) and current-day inventions (google and meme). Sometimes it isn’t a new word, but a new definition for an existing word, that is evolves such as tweet, ghost, and lit.
I don’t pretend to be an expert in word origins. I’m just fascinated by it all. I’m also grateful to have English as my native tongue. I can’t imagine learning it from scratch as an adult. It’s hard enough to keep up with the cultural changes.
Let me know below how you keep up with the changing times, or if you have your own favorite word origin stories.
By the way, Merriam-Webster’s 2026 word of the year: Bed Rotting. Draw your own conclusions.
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Allison Keeton writes the Midcoast Maine Mystery series. Arctic Green, Book Two, is now available. She can be reached at http://www.akeetonbooks.com
