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News

Posted by ESC on September 20, 2000

In Reply to: The orgin of the word News? posted by Bob on September 19, 2000

: : What is the orgin of the word News and who created it.

: It's a word that dates back to the 1400's, and derives from the word new, as in new information. No, it is NOT an acronym for North East West South, a folk etymology with no basis in fact.

Right you are. "...'News is conveyed by letter, word or mouth; And comes to us from North, East, West and South.' Contrary to the old rhyme above, which helped popularize the myth, the word 'news' wasn't coined from the first letters of the points of the compass. The word was originally spelled 'newes' and derives from the Old English word 'niwes,' meaning 'new.' The legend possibly originated with old newspapers printing a replica of the globe with compass points in their masthead. But the word is much older than the earliest newspapers." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997).

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