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Even the most common of words can have fascinating etymologies. It's truly a humbling experience to come to understand a word we take for granted in our everyday vocabulary, to realize the magnitude of its journey to its place in the dictionary. I had this realization once again while perusing the dictionary just a few minutes ago; I had gotten distracted while doing work and had somehow ended up on the entry of the word "cloak." A simple word indeed, but a glance at its etymology brought to mind the paths of several everyday words that I have traced in my studies. Take "cloak" itself, for example. What is fascinating about the origin of the word is that it shares an etymology with "clock." The letters and sounds could be likened to one another, but the meanings don't seem to have anything in common. In truth, both words can be traced back to an Old North French word, cloque, meaning "bell." A cloak is named as such |
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