No word for needing a pee
The RobWords Newsletter
Welcome to another RobWords newsletter. Coming up:
ETYMOLOGY ROULETTE - outrage
VOCABULARY EXPANDER - micturient
FOLK ETYMOLOGY
And more.
I hope the following word facts and language fun will be enough to quell your anger.
OUTRAGE
A maddening mix-up
Despite appearances, the word outrage comprises neither out nor rage.
It entered English from Old French, in which it was sometimes written ultrage. That’s because its roots are in the Latin word for excess, ultra. An ultrage was an instance of excess.
Pronounced ool-TRAZH, the word’s spelling transformed into oultrage, then outrage.
Once it entered English, speakers quickly – and wrongly – re-analysed it as a compound of out and rage.
Here’s Willy Shakes contributing to the confusion:
SHAKESPEARE
“I feare some out-rage, and Ile follow her.”
- King John, A3 S4
Now we pronounce it as if it is just such a compound.
In my opinion, this is an etymological oo-TRAAJ.
MICTURIENT
MEANING: Needing to pee
Earlier this week, I received the following enquiry via Bluesky:
Rob, I’ve been bothered for a while by not knowing if there is a specific word for the feeling of having to wee.
We have Hungry, Sleepy, Thirsty. Any ideas?– Frederich Schulz
In response to Frederich’s desperate plea, I did some research and also failed to find a word in modern usage that expresses the need to “spend a penny”. We have “busting” but that doesn’t quite cut it.
However, I did turn up a word from centuries past that has sadly slipped out of our lexicon: micturient.
It’s derived from the Latin micturīre meaning “to desire to urinate”. Indeed, English used to have the word miction as an alternative to urination.
Here’s micturient being used in the 17th century:
1654
“Which..gave Sancho to perceive his condition very micturient, and cacaturient.”
- E. Gayton, Notes upon Don Quixote
The less said about micturient‘s second-in-command (or, “Number 2”) cacaturient, the better.
So next time you’re sitting cross-legged at the cinema and someone asks what’s the matter, tell them you’re uncomfortably micturient.
Then get thee to a lavatory, sharpish.
USE IT TODAY!
What is ‘sport’ short for?
In the latest Words Unravelled, Jess Zafarris and I make a sport of tracing the origins of the words behind our favourite games.
⚾️ What is the word “sport” short for?
🏉 Why does American “football” barely involve your feet?
🏏 What do Brits mean when they say something “isn’t cricket”
Expect Victorian public schools, Indigenous ball games, and a few linguistic own goals. Watch or listen below.
Listen HERE.
Can you pick the correct definition of the word below?
ARENATION
Expansion of a theatre
Removal of the kidneys
Covering the body in hot sand
The early makings of a country
I’ll put the answer at the end of the newsletter.
FOLK ETYMOLOGY
The word outrage has fallen victim to something called ‘folk etymology’.
This occurs when a widespread misunderstanding about a word’s origins triggers a change in its spelling or pronunciation.
Most commonly, it results in words borrowed from foreign languages being reimagined as English-language compounds.
An excellent example is how Spanish cucaracha became English cockroach (despite neither roosters nor fish being involved).
Here are a few more folk etymologies and their original forms:
FEMALE – From Old French femelle, reshaped to pair with male.
CRAYFISH/CRAWFISH – From Old French crevice.
WOODCHUCK – From a North American native language. Either Cree otchek or Ojibwa otchig.
HANGNAIL – From Old English angnægle which meant “painful nail”.
WORMWOOD – From Old English wermod, unrelated to worms or wood. It is, however, related to vermouth.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE – The Jerusalem bit is a corruption of the Italian for sunflower, girasole.
BRIDEGROOM – The word was originally the Old English compound brydguma, where guma meant man (so, “bride-man”). As that element fell out of wider use, it was replaced with grome, which meant “servant”.
ARENATION
Covering the body in hot sand
Spreading hot sand on the skin was once seen as a potential remedy for leprosy. The arena bit is the same as the word for an amphitheatre. Both come from the Latin arena, meaning “sand”. Arenas were so called because of their sandy floors.
A regular reminder that I am indebted to David Parfitt from Times Word Watch, whose format I shamelessly pilfered.