tributary - word of the day
From: Charles Hodgson
Length: 00:03:19
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Piece Description
Charles Hodgson's "Etymology Moment" is a series of two to three minute pieces exploring the history of common English words. Intended to be played as a series, either daily or less frequently, each episode talks about a single word, the different meanings it might have had through history and related trivia such as an interesting historical character who used the word early on. The series already has hundreds of episodes to choose from and more are being added each week. Listener endorsements for Charles Hodgson's work include: "A staple of my daily listening, always interesting, kind of relaxing and educational to boot! I love it." (Russell Jenkins) "Mr Hodgson's dry wit and gentle delivery entertain, inform, and calm me down a bit after a hard day's work. A treasure I found months ago and it keeps on giving." (Hamilton UCI) "This is a daily must-listen." (Laurence Simon) "We love this program. It is a great way of learning, one word at a time. Charles has a unique way of pronouncing and interpreting the words. And we love his soothing voice." (Roland Popp) In addition to his "Etymology Moment" Charles Hodgson has written a book (publication August 2007) entitled CARNAL KNOWLEDGE - A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia. Richard Lederer, host of NPR's A Way With Words says of the book: "Master etymologist Charles Hodgson offers a passionate lesson...illuminates how just about every part of the amazing human chassis got its name." Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves says: "Delight your friends (or lose them rapidly) with this fabulous new knowledge presented with deftness and wit."
Broadcast History
content posted in different format as a podcast
Transcript
This is the etymology moment, and I'm Charles Hodgson. Today we'll hear the story behind the word tributary. Some years ago I took a canoe trip in the arctic. We paddled down a river called the Mara and then into another called the Burnside. So the Mara was a tributary of the Burnside. William Shakespeare used the word tributary with this meaning 400 years ago and he was the first to do so. But more than 200 years before that a tributary was someone who paid tribute. Today we hear all the time about one person paying tribute to another, but usually what this means is that they are paying them complements, not paying them money. When both the words tributary and tribute arrived into Middle English from French they had a meaning closer to paying tax. When one powerful nation took over another, the done thing was to demand tribute. So the poor underdogs would have to cough up valu...
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Bill Anderson
Posted on December 20, 2006 at 02:49 PM | Permalink
Review of tributary - word of the day
I like the simple and tasteful intro. I enjoyed being surprised by the "word of the day" meanings but it was a bit much to digest in 3-short minutes. Perhaps through more inflection and use of pauses and other delivery techniques I would have gotten even more nourishment. Still, pleasant listening that respects me as a listener.