A.W.A.D. - Words Formed By Contraction

Could the word fugetaboutit -- a contraction of "forget about it" -- find its way into dictionaries some day? It sounds unlikely, but that sort of thing happens all the time in languages.

The everyday word "goodbye" was earlier "god be with you". By association with greetings such as "good day", god morphed into good and the whole phrase became goodbye. Another such term is the informal greeting "Howdy" which in its former life was known as "How do ye?" or "How do you do?"

This week we'll look at five terms that were once longer phrases but are now condensed.

druthers
(DRUTH-uhrz) noun
One's own way; preference

[Plural of druther, contraction of "'d rather", as in "I/he/etc. would rather ..."]

prithee
(PRITH-ee) interjection
Please (used to express a request)

[Contraction of (I) pray thee.]

willy-nilly
(WIL-ee NIL-ee) adverb, adjective
1. Whether willing or not
2. Haphazardly

[From contraction of "will ye/he/I nill ye/he/I", from will (to be willing) and nill (to be unwilling).]

blimey
(BLY-mee) interjection
An expression of surprise, dismay, etc.

[Contraction of "blind me" or "blame me", from "God blind/blame me"; sometimes heard in the form gorblimey or corblimey.]

hidalgo
(hi-DAL-go) noun
A member of the lower nobility in Spain.

[From Spanish, contraction of hijo de algo (son of something). A similar term of nobility in Portugal is fidalgo, from Portuguese filho de algo.]

Comments

CrystalChick said…
Where have you been my dear Aislinge?? Looking forward to pictures of the house soon!! :)
17 April 2008 at 07:14
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