Editor's Corner

Good day to you all!

I came across a list of words on Dictionary.com that made me smile because they remind me of my mom. She was also a language lover, and when I was very young, she used to make me laugh (and sometimes cringe) with her silly word jokes. For instance, she would often offer me a napple or a norange. Or when I was going out, she might tell me to have an ice time. Who said dads (and CEOs—y’all know who I’m talking about) are the only ones who can tell corny jokes?

The list of words I found came to English from other languages (usually French), but they were misheard and eventually had the wrong article (a or an) applied. This most often happens with words that begin with an n or a vowel, as you’ll notice in the following partial list. The word orange is actually on the list, so we’ll start with that one:

Orange: This word is derived from the Arabic word nāranj, which then passed into French through the Romance language of Old Occitan. The n at the beginning of the word nāranj disappeared because the French indefinite articles un and une end with an n sound (just like the English articles a and an)—so une nāranj eventually became une orange in French and an orange in English.

Apron: This word derives from Middle French (14th century) but the sound of the French word, naperon, caused confusion in English—again because of the articles a and an. English speakers began referring to this protective article of clothing as an apron rather than a naperon.

Notch: This is another Middle French word. It came to us as oche from France in the 16th century. It meant “an incision made to keep a record.” But it was misheard and misspelled, or maybe some silly jester like my mom got ahold of it and changed an oche to a notch.

Nickname: This word comes from Middle English, not French. The word eke meant also or in addition, and an ekename became our modern English term a nickname. The odd thing about this word is how eke turned into nick, which does not mean also,as eke does.It is simply a misheard sound that stuck.

Newt: This creature was originally known as the ewt (a word that derived from eft, an obsolete word meaning lizard). The same mistake with the articles a and an changed this creature’s name from an ewt to a newt. I don’t think my mom knew that, but she would love it.

Adder: This Old English word was originally nǣdre, but as with all the other words on this list, a nǣdre became a nadder, which became the venomous snake we know today: an adder.

That’s it for today. I’m a little tired and hungry now. I’m going to take an ice little break and eat a napple.

Donna Bradley Burcher |Technical Editor, Advisory | jack henry™

Pronouns she/her/hers

9660 Granite Ridge Drive, San Diego CA 92123

Symitar Documentation Services

About Editor’s Corner

Editor’s Corner keeps your communication skills sharp by providing information on grammar, punctuation, JHA style, and all things English. As editors, we spend our days reading, researching, and revising other people’s writing. We love to spend a few extra minutes to share what we learn with you and keep it fun while we’re doing it.

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