Question: Why is the word "midwife" used for a woman who assists at births?Answer: In Old English "wif" was the word for "woman." There were also the compounds "wifhad" which meant "womanhood" and "wifcyn" which meant "womankind." While "wif" quite early on developed the specific meaning "a married woman," even in Middle English the terms "housewife" and "goodwife" meant the mistress of a household or even of an inn, with "married" merely implicit and "wife" still largely reflecting the more general "woman" sense. This sense is also seen in the old terms "alewife," "costerwife" and "fishwife," for women who sold ale, costards (apples) and fish.
The combining form that was used with "wife" for a woman who assisted at births was not so specific as "ale" or "fish," but it too gave to its "-wife" compound the sense of a woman who engaged in some activity. "Mid" meant simply "with" -- a midwife being the woman who is "with" the mother giving birth (who, in Middle English terms, was "mid childe").
Incidentally, the word "wif" was pronounced with a short "i" (rhyming with "tiff") rather than the long "i" of our present-day "wife," and this old pronunciation is still reflected in one common pronunciation of the noun "midwifery," which is often pronounced "mid-WIH-fuh-ree."
Question: The word "promise" is sometimes used in a way that puzzles me. In a sentence like "I promise you I have recovered completely," is "promise" being used correctly?
Answer: The subject of your question has long been a matter of controversy for students of the English language. Some commentators have held that using the verb "promise" in sense of "assure" is incorrect, and that the correct use of "promise" must be prospective -- that is, it must refer to the future. Thus, you could say without flinching, "I promise to rest so that I will recover," using "promise" in its perfectly ordinary sense.
Yet the use of "promise" to mean "assure" has been a part of English since at least as far back as 1469. William Shakespeare used it in the 16th century; Joseph Addison and Henry Fielding used it in the 18th century and William Thackeray used it in the 19th century. Since Thackeray's time, however, this sense of "promise" seems to have pretty much disappeared from literary prose. It seems fair to say, then, that the use of "promise" to mean "assure" has receded into spoken English only. In fact, even in the works of the authors mentioned, "promise" appears in passages with speechlike qualities, such as fictional dialogue. This old sense is not incorrect, but its informality makes it unsuitable for much writing.
Question: Here in Pennsylvania Dutch country, we have lots of colloquialisms we use without ever thinking about them. One example is "penny-dog," which means "follow constantly." Can you help us solve the mystery of where this intriguing expression comes from?
Answer:It may surprise you to learn that although German settlers have given our language many useful words and phrases, this is not one of them. Rather, the verb "penny-dog," meaning "to follow incessantly," originated as part of Scottish dialect in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Back around 1680, a Scottish poet wrote "His wink to me hath been a Law, He haunts me like a penny-dog." It is believed to be a corruption of the word "pirrie-dog," used to describe a dog who follows at his master's feet. The name "pirrie-dog" itself comes from the Scottish verb "pirrie," which means "to follow closely behind; to dog." The verb "pirrie," in turn, derives from the adjective "pirr," which describes a springy, tripping gait.
This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster's "Collegiate Dictionary," Tenth Edition. Send questions to: Merriam-Webster's Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102. Merriam-Webster Inc. Dist. by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service