Etymology - Information Finding Championship - Season 1 : Round 24 entry
This is my entry for the Information Finding Championship (@ifc) Round 24, which has the hook Etymology. This competition is run by @apolymask.
Brain-storming
Well, first things first. I've made sure I copied "Etymology" into my clipboard, because I keep mispelling it. Every time I go to type "Etymology", my typing speed practically halts as my brain freezes.... Etymology Etymology Etymology!
So, with that out of the way. I was wondering where to start with this hook. My first thought was linked to my experiences with music, seeing as the music that I work with was tightly linked with the rhetorical and spoken arts of the time. The meaning of music has changed, and likewise, the meaning of many words have changed. But no, I didn't have the time and will to do this one....
Next idea to come up was the idea that I would try the Etymology of the word "Etymology"... in a sort of endless mirrors room sort of idea... however, it didn't end up working, I couldn't really make it into an infinite string of posts!
False Etymology
So, I stumbled upon this idea whilst trolling around looking for ideas. Etymology is the study of the "true" roots of a word or phrase or idiom. So, this is the reverse! Also known by the name "folk" Etymology, it is the idea that the given origins of a word/phrase/idiom has been mis-attributed, and this misunderstanding has gained the currency of truth via repeated tellings (mob truth) until it has become like a zombie urban legend. Unkillable!
Rule of Thumb
So, I had long believed and heard repeated quite repeatedly (especially recently), that the origins of this phrase "rule of thumb" lay in an old ruling or law that allowed men to legally beat a woman/wife with a rod that was no thicker than your thumb. I have heard this repeated often in podcasts and online, often with good intentions as it is often used in arguments that further women's rights and gender equality.
The phrase "Rule of Thumb" has been recorded in writings as far back as 1685, with the meaning being similar to the meaning in use today. That is, an estimation or approximation.
"Many protest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb (as we use to speak), and not by Square and Rule"
From sermons by Scottish preacher James Durham c.1685 quoted in O'Conner, Patricia T.; Kellerman, Stewart (2009). Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language. Random House. pp. 123–126. ISBN 978-1-58-836856-0.
"What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art"
Sir William Hope's The Compleat Fencing Master, 1692
The false Etymology for this phrase stems from the idea (in British common law in the 18th century) that it was legal for a man to chastise his wife (in moderation), like a child or a servant. By 1765, this practice was in decline, as noted by Sir William Blackstone in his "Commentaries on the Laws of England ". However, there was no proscription as to how the particular law was to be applied.
Apparently, in 1782, the British judge (Sir Francis Buller) was supposed to have made the statement "a husband may beat his wife, so that the stick with which he administers the castigation is not thicker than his thumb”. This led to many cartoons and writings lampooning him. However, there is no direct documentary evidence that verifies this claim.
In any case, this timeline definitely shows that the original (and perhaps only) source of the phrase "Rule of Thumb" was the same meaning that we hold today!
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I think "rule of thumb" should come under "estimology".
Shit, the word exists - kinda.
This post will be included in the next MAP Resteems post.
Ha ha, I was also surprised that words existed! Thanks for the inclusion!
Whew! I love etymology, and I astounded by the horrible origins of the phrase "rule of thumb". I will remember this for the rest of my life O.O
Ah, I think you got caught by the false one! The one that holds common belief but isn't true!
You might be interested in writing a post for the contest at @ifc (linked at the top).
That was great, and super that it attracted curie to your post. And now one day I will need to find the real meaning of rule of thumb, because I always thought it was from gladiatorial Rome days to signify life or death.
Oh, yes I've heard of that one too!
The false etymology thing kinda helped me realize that almost all etymology is false etymology because almost no one truly knows when almost any word started.. Most of it is guess work and there's still a lot of argument about where a lot of words came from.. To me it seems kind of similar to trying to decipher ancient picture written on cave walls, or in the Pyramids in Egypt for that matter.. Even with the Rosetta stone, how do we truly know what those symbols meant that were created so long ago? Many people have trouble proving things that happened last week or yesterday, the average person can't even remember what they ate for breakfast. So.. As exciting as it is to think you've stumbled on the "true" meaning of words, I think one should be careful to realize that... Our knowledge about such is very limited and who really knows what a lot of these words mean.
Also the rule of thumb controversy was something I didn't know before, thanks for sharing such a very interesting entry! :) Oh and congrats on the big payout you got on this one! That's awesome! :D
A couple of my IFC entries have picked up a curie of varying sizes (small ones!), so thank you @ifc and @apolymask for giving me the creative books to write the posts!
I have a feeling linguistic scholars would have a difference of opinion there! Although, like most academic scholarship, the finding and tracking of information is slow and not all fireworks. Sadly, the things that go viral or make it into public lore are not always the things that have the greatest backing in evidence. A honey sweet trap of 'common sense'.
But I think in part, at the extreme end, yes you are right. It is impossible to know for sure how words have evolved. But that is the way of the scientific method! Gather evidence to formulate an idea with falsifiable predictions and outcomes. That said, the non mathematics and physics fields are incredibly loose..
Agreed with pretty much everything you said including how most etymological studiers would disagree, but I think those at the higher levels of study would agree. Most of them anyways. Sort of like how most regular scientific people will claim something like the big bang being the start of our universe is an absolute fact without a question of a doubt. Yet at the higher levels you'll find most of them seem to agree that we don't really know and a number of them believe it was even earlier, so.. That seems sort of typical of the average students in almost any discipline.. They like to think they know almost everything, but when you get really deep into it, you tend to find we don't know as much as most people would like to think. Heh.
Also, glad to help offer some inspiration of subjects for you to post on! That's one of the things I like hearing the most and I hear it somewhat often now.. So it's awesome to know that this game is doing that. Thanks for the feedback! :)
Ha ha, Yes...definitely with any real study there is always endless questions and absolute certainty is something to be wary of. However, too often I see it used to cast doubt on things that are mostly tied up. (not that I think you were doing that!)
However, most of my study in science was in the abstract and theoretical. No bad influences from the real world allowed!