Noun: Someone who is not a person's friend (one's enemy)
Verb: To remove a person from your friend list on a social networking site
This word, according to dictionary.com, the word unfriend, or "enemy" is recorded from late 13th century. The word originated in the Scottish culture, and was still in use in the 19th century. When social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook became popular, around 2007, this word gained another meaning. Unfriend, because of these sites, also meant to remove someone from your friend list that you were once friends with. This is very similar to the original meaning, since you would be removing someone you are no longer friends with.
The prefix "un" means not, so combining this prefix with friend, the word means not a friend. Students should know about the prefix "un," and that it changes any word to mean the opposite of its intended, original meaning.
In Old English, unfriend was unfriþmann, and in Middle English it was unfreond. Eventually, "freond" became friend by changing the vowel "o" to an "i," and that is how we have unfriend.
2. EYE
Noun: The organ of sight
Verb: to fix the eyes upon
Eye evolved from the words ey and ye in Middle English. Both of these words contain "y" and "e," which is very similar to the word we have today. The words for eyes in Middle English are eyen, eien, and yen, according to paws.wcu.edu. The Middle English words, particularly "eyen," are most similar to the spelling and pronunciation of eyes or eye that we have today. The vowels and consonants are in the same places, but the "n" was eventually dropped.
The verb "to eye" was first recorded in the 1560s, but the Old English use of "yghe" was used until the 14th century.
To teach this concept in the classroom, I would make sure that the students know the difference between "eye" and "I" by showing picture representations or having the students point to their own eyes, this concept could be demonstrated. The students should also know the long i vowel sound, even though it is produced by the letter "e."
3. DANGER
Noun: Exposure to harm or injury
Danger evolved from the French influence and the French word "dangier." In Middle English, during the years 1175-1225, danger was spelled "daunger." Eventually, people dropped the "u" sound in "daunger," making it danger. The original word was daunger, which almost sounded like dawn-ger. This was very different than the French word. The modern day spelling of danger, is more similar to the original French word.
Students should also know that danger is pronounced with a long a sound in the beginning.
4. DOUBT
Noun: A feeling of uncertainty
Verb: To be uncertain about
In Middle English, the word for doubt, according to paws.wcu.ede, was "drede." "Douten" and "doute" were also present in Middle English, which are both more similar to the pronunciations and spellings of doubt that we have today. In Latin, dubitare means to waiver, similar to the definition of doubt, but it is in this Latin spelling that the silent "b" was introduced. The "b" was dropped during the Middle English spellings but reintroduced in the 14th century by scribes, hoping to imitate pieces of the Latin language (dictionary.com).
When students are learning about the modern spelling of doubt, this silent "b" can sometimes be difficult for them, especially since it is in the middle of the word. This is also increasingly challenging because other words that rhyme with doubt, such as pout and shout, do not follow this same pattern. We could talk about other words that have a silent "b," such as "thumb," and them move on to how this rule could apply in the word "doubt."
5. POOR
Adjective: Having little or no money
The word "poor" stemmed from the French word "pauvre." The Old French word, "paure," began circulating around 1200. The pronunciation of "paure" and "poor" are very similar. "Paure" stemmed from the French word "pauvre," and then "poor" developed from "paure." As we began developing vowel patterns in English, "oo" actually makes the "oooo" sound, which is very similar to the French sound "aure." We were able to manipulate the sound in an easier way to create this word, which is why the spelling changed to "poor" from "paure."
With students, I would focus on the "oo" vowel pattern and investigate the sound that it makes. We could look at words such as book, look, and cook to talk about what the students notice about the "oo" sound right next to each other. We could even look at words with blends in the beginning, such as shook, to make this more complex. Although poor doesn't rhyme with these words, this will help them think about these sounds. Because poor ends with that closed "r" sound, I could also look at a word like door that follows the similar phonetic pattern.
References Used and Consulted:
www.dictionary.com
http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/history.htm
http://paws.wcu.edu/bgastle/42
Melissa-
ReplyDeleteI love that you chose to research the word “unfriend” and how you tied it to its most current usage in social networking. It is always interesting to learn the origin of a word and learn how its meaning has evolved over time. This word in particular was interesting because it originally is a noun but now is used as a verb, as well. It also became more widely used in its current, newer definition. I would argue that I have never, or rarely, heard someone use this word to mean “enemy” but have heard it multiple times in reference to social networking sites.
It is also different because only certain populations of people would know this word as the definition of “removing from your friend list”. I am curious where you looked up this word and found that definition. While I was aware that it is one of the definitions for the word, I know other highly-educated adults, my mother being one of them, that would not be familiar with this term. This word is just proof of how our language continues to develop of years and new words are introduced, and previously existing words gain different meanings.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYour words are very interesting! The way you explain the origins and the transformations was very clear and made them easy to understand. If you were to give any of your explanations to your students, I'm sure they would benefits.
The word I found the most interesting was "unfriend". When facebook and myspace first starting becoming popular, I had always assumed that "unfriend" was something that had been recently made up to suit a growing need. It was very interesting to find out that it had a previous meaning and usage.