Last week we discussed English words with double consonants. But just two words in the language have three consecutive double letters, the closely related “bookkeeper” and “bookkeeping”.
Such was my excitement on discovering this, I hardly slept that night. (I lead a quiet life). While I am at it, did you know that the dot on the letter “i” is called a tittle, or that “dreamt” is the only word in English to end in -mt? (Maybe I should get out more.)
Or that the oldest word in the language is “town”, from the Old English word “tūn” meaning an enclosure, homestead or village. This, inevitably, is disputed by other scholars, who suggest that the pronouns “I”, “we”, “you” are older, as are the numbers “two” and “three”.
However, those in the “town/-ton” camp insist that it has held its meaning most clearly and most consistently since Anglo-Saxon times.
RM Block
On the other hand, “baile”, the Irish word for “town”, is far from being the oldest word in Irish, a much more ancient language than (Johnny-come-lately) English. The oldest written Irish word is believed to be ”duine”, for “person”, found in fourth-century Ogham inscriptions, Ireland’s earliest script.
Irish is the oldest written vernacular language north of the Alps, spoken for about 2,500 years, and is at least 1,000 years older than English. Not that we boast about it, of course. That would be impolite.
Now, to that sensitive English word “testify”, which may now make a spectacular return as its meaning takes on added significance in this increasingly secular age when swearing an oath on the Bible to tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” in court cases may no longer carry the weight it once did.
The word originated at a time when men were required to swear on their testicles that what they had to say was indeed the truth. (What if they were lying? Let’s not go there.) Its meaning is derived from the Latin “testis”.
Application at court hearings in these more gender-equal, gender-fluid times could present obvious difficulties. Others, ever ready to spoil the fun, insist, however, that the root of the word “testis” may have more to do with “witness” or “testament” than male anatomy.
Still, the very thought frightens.
Word, from Old English “word”, for “speech, talk”
