sweetnpetite
Intellectual snob
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2003
- Posts
- 9,135
I love stuff about word origins
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http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971031
I've always been amused by the fact that Shakespeare calls the witches in "Macbeth" the Weird Sisters because I have one of those myself. Tell me, though, is it true there's a noun form of "weird?" Perhaps as a synonym of "witch?" If so, is it usable? Now that I think of it, this is a good Halloween question.
Excellent and timely question indeed. The development of the word weird is one of those questions that language people love to answer, because it's very interesting. And much of the blame for the word's history can be put on Macbeth itself.
Not only is it true that there's a noun form of weird, but the word was originally a noun. Weird meant 'destiny' or 'fate' in Old English, and it was also used as a noun referring to the three Fates, the goddesses of classical mythology who determined the course of human life. In Middle English (and later) it was chiefly a Northern or Scots word, and its other senses include 'a witch or wizard; soothsayer'; 'one's destiny (that is, one's own destiny, as opposed to the broad power by which events are determined)'; and 'an event or occurrence' (often in the proverb "after word comes weird").
From about 1400 on, weird was used in the phrase the weird sisters in reference to the Fates. In Macbeth Shakespeare used this phrase in his portrayal of the Fates as witches, and the phrase weird sisters became more widely known. The word also became interpreted as an adjective meaning 'concerned with or controlling fate or destiny', the same process that upsets so many people when applied to words such as fun.
By the early nineteenth century, this adjectival sense was extended to mean 'supernatural; unearthly; mysterious; uncanny; strange or unusual'. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley seems to have been rather fond of it; he used it many poems in various ways, and probably popularized it at the time. At present the 'strange or unusual' sense is the only one in general use; the senses referring to fate or supernatural involvement are either archaic (or becoming so) or chiefly Scottish.
-http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971031
I've always been amused by the fact that Shakespeare calls the witches in "Macbeth" the Weird Sisters because I have one of those myself. Tell me, though, is it true there's a noun form of "weird?" Perhaps as a synonym of "witch?" If so, is it usable? Now that I think of it, this is a good Halloween question.
Excellent and timely question indeed. The development of the word weird is one of those questions that language people love to answer, because it's very interesting. And much of the blame for the word's history can be put on Macbeth itself.
Not only is it true that there's a noun form of weird, but the word was originally a noun. Weird meant 'destiny' or 'fate' in Old English, and it was also used as a noun referring to the three Fates, the goddesses of classical mythology who determined the course of human life. In Middle English (and later) it was chiefly a Northern or Scots word, and its other senses include 'a witch or wizard; soothsayer'; 'one's destiny (that is, one's own destiny, as opposed to the broad power by which events are determined)'; and 'an event or occurrence' (often in the proverb "after word comes weird").
From about 1400 on, weird was used in the phrase the weird sisters in reference to the Fates. In Macbeth Shakespeare used this phrase in his portrayal of the Fates as witches, and the phrase weird sisters became more widely known. The word also became interpreted as an adjective meaning 'concerned with or controlling fate or destiny', the same process that upsets so many people when applied to words such as fun.
By the early nineteenth century, this adjectival sense was extended to mean 'supernatural; unearthly; mysterious; uncanny; strange or unusual'. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley seems to have been rather fond of it; he used it many poems in various ways, and probably popularized it at the time. At present the 'strange or unusual' sense is the only one in general use; the senses referring to fate or supernatural involvement are either archaic (or becoming so) or chiefly Scottish.
Fancy seeing if we can f*** some brains into each other
