a noise annoys an oyster
Tuesday, 27 April 2004 09:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eEnglish is a weird language. Those who focus on 'correctness' in grammar and spelling make a huge historical mistake. The meaning, use, and spelling of words is constantly changing. That accumulation of errors is, paradoxically, its great strength so that it has become a poet's paradise. There is no other language with so many subtle shades of meaning for every possible concept.
The word noise comes from the same place as nautical. The ancient Greek word for a ship is naus. This produced nausea, literally sea-sickness. In Latin this was extended, though slang, to mean unpleasant and noisy situations.
But noisome which can be foul, sickening, and disgusting, seems to come from another source. It comes from the Middle English anoien which is to annoy, from the Old French anoier, from Late Latin inodiare, from Latin in odio meaning "in hatred", and also gives us the word odious.
The word noise comes from the same place as nautical. The ancient Greek word for a ship is naus. This produced nausea, literally sea-sickness. In Latin this was extended, though slang, to mean unpleasant and noisy situations.
But noisome which can be foul, sickening, and disgusting, seems to come from another source. It comes from the Middle English anoien which is to annoy, from the Old French anoier, from Late Latin inodiare, from Latin in odio meaning "in hatred", and also gives us the word odious.