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From
Mark:
Fruition derives ultimately from the same Latin source, and in the early 15th century, when it first appeared in the written record, it referred to "the act of enjoyment" or "the pleasure arising from possession." Indeed it retained that meaning into the 19th century. However, in 1885 we find the word, in Harper's Magazine, used with the meaning "the state or process of bearing fruit": "The greenish nuts, ripened as always from the flowers of the previous year and now in their full fruition." It's easy to see how the word was thought to mean "the bearing of fruit." Etymologically that meaning is quite correct. Interestingly, the OED notes that this usage error was not caught by lexicographers, and the new, erroneous meaning, stuck, supported by the word's derivation from Latin frui. It's unclear if Harper's was the first to use the word in this sense, or if it had been used before and they simply picked up on it, but the Harper's example is the earliest known (so far) usage with the "bearing of fruit" meaning. However, the word with this "new" meaning was popping up in newspapers all over the U.S. by 1886, suggesting it had been around for a while before the Harper's article. |
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From D:
Actually, razor
means "razor" here. Ockham's razor is not something that a man called It is also known as the law of parsimony, or the law of economy, rendered in Latin as lex parsimoniae. While we're here, we might as well look into razor. English adopted it from Old French rasor, which ultimately came from Latin radere "to scrape" - which is exactly what one does with a razor - scrape off beard or hair. It turns up in the English written record in about 1290 in the form rasores (plural), which shows the French connection. |
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From Carl:
After 1929, the next example of the phrase cited by the OED comes from 1955, but we found it in the Winnipeg [Canada] Free Press of March 10, 1944: "Miss Deutsch has another motto which has to do with the writing of cinematic drama. It also is on the wall where she can't miss seeing it, and it says: 'When in doubt, cut to the chase.'" Probably good advice for a movie script writer! |
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Good one! That's a common
mistake. Hone means "sharpen" while home in means
"to be guided to a The phrase home in is first recorded in 1956, but the sense of homing "be guided to a target" arose around the time of World War I, when aircraft were homing in on beacons and signals. In fact, Wireless World of 1920 says, "The pilot can detect instantly from the signals, especially if "homing" towards a beacon." So be careful when using hone and home in. Don't get those two confused, or you'll confuse your listeners! |
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From Rebekah:
Well, it does have something to do with livery, but not in the horse sense [no pun intended!], which is a later development. Delivery is the noun form of the verb deliver, which came to English from Old French delivrer. There were cognates in many of the Romance languages. The word came ultimately from late popular Latin delibrare, having the same sense as Latin liberare "to set free". It first turns up in writing in English with this meaning in about 1325 as delyveryd. The sense was "to set free, liberate, release, rescue, save." Think of the Our Father: "Deliver us from evil." Delivering a baby carries the same sense and also dates from around 1325. Interestingly, the sense of giving or distributing letters or goods dates from 1297! Keep in mind, however, that the word was probably in use with these senses for some time prior to its appearance in the written record, so it's unclear what the first meaning was in in English. The word may have had all of these meanings from the beginning, having been borrowed from French.
The horse sense arose a century or more later. To be at livery meant the horse was stabled, fed and groomed for a fixed fee paid by the owner. This practice still exists today, where horses are stabled and cared for by third parties who are paid by the horses' owners. Such stables were known as livery stables, though the term is not seen much these days. The sense here is one of the horse's feed and care being "delivered" by the stable owner. |
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