After I named a category 'Practicing out in the Boonies', I thought, hey, this is shortened slang for another slang term "boondocks". But where in the world did that word come from? I went to the bookmark for one of my favorite sites: Merriam-Webster Online. It is free and gives you a great interface for both a dictionary and thesaurus. I was in for a big surprise on this word's origins. Merriam-Webster shows the etymology as:
Etymology: Tagalog bundok mountain
1 : rough country filled with dense brush
2 : a rural area : STICKS
Well, the first thing I asked myself was, what language is 'Tagalog'?
Tagalog - Pronunciation: t&-'gä-"log, means
1 : a member of a people of central Luzon
2 : an Austronesian language of the Tagalog people -- compare PILIPINO
Central Luzon? Austronesian? My mind is on the wrong continent now - If the meaning is mountain, I picture a Swiss Alpine scene and someone saying "Bundok!" But that reference to 'Pilipino" and the 'nesian' on the end of 'Austro' starts my mind awandering elsewhere in the world:
Again from Merriam-Webster:
Etymology: Austronesia, islands of the southern Pacific
: of, relating to, or constituting a family of languages spoken in the area extending from Madagascar eastward through the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to Hawaii and Easter Island and including practically all the native languages of the Pacific islands with the exception of the Australian and Papuan languages
In middle English and in Norse, the term 'sticks' is applied to mountainous areas of dense brush and woods. This is a synonym for 'boondocks'. I am always fascinated at the number of unusual words we use with a precise vision of their meaning in our mind, but no consciousness of where they came from.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I watched one of the less covered 'sports' on ESPN - the national spelling bee finals. In fact, we enjoyed it so much, we tuned in when it was repeated several days later to see the part we missed. (Don't worry, we do get out once in a while, too.) We were very impressed with these 12 - 15 year olds standing under hot lights, spelling impossible words. They methodically asked questions of origins, meanings, pronunciations, and usage examples to derive the correct spellings in their mind - no paper or pencil allowed.
Perhaps their gift for understanding Latin, Greek, and other language forms will help them in medical school one day!
Comments