The recent bad weather in England has got us thinking about the word flood. A flood is when water overflows and submerges land that is normally dry. While the word is normally used in reference to the weather, it can also be used to describe an overwhelming amount of something fluid or intangible (for example, memories, information, or tears). Flood comes from the Old English ‘flōd’ which in turn comes from the Proto-Germanic ‘floduz’ meaning ‘flowing water or deluge’. The word has been used metaphorically to mean ‘sudden abundance’ since the mid-fourteenth century. From floods of tears, to being flooded with memories, to o...
Although it may be June, here in England it doesn’t feel like summer. With flood and thunderstorm warnings, and disruption on our roads and railways, this rain is more of a downpour than a shower. Still, it got us thinking about the word shower itself. While most of us probably associate showers with bathing before we do with rain, the word didn’t take on this meaning until 1859 (when it was first used as an abbreviation for shower-bath – a word attested from 1803). Shower comes from the Old English ‘scur’ meaning ‘a short fall of rain, storm, tempest; fall of missiles or blows; struggle, commotion; breeze’. It has been used metaphoricall...
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