Etymology

There is something about etymology, the study of the history of words, which makes it difficult, once one has started to look up the origin of words, to stop. Perhaps it is because there is always another word that just begs to be looked up, and then another, and so on. Thus words tell stories: those that the writer wants to tell and those that they carry with them wherever they go.

Take “wormwood” for instance: it comes from Middle English wormwode or wormode. In Old English, it was wermōd which can be compared with German Wermut and the derived drink vermouth. There. I bet you didn’t know that.