Word for Wednesday: Ruler

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Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is stationery. 

Stationery comes from the Latin ‘stationarius’ which means ‘tradesman who sells from a station or shop’. The word was first used to describe ‘the articles sold by a stationer’ in 1727.

So far we have looked at the words pencil and pen, and today's stationery-themed word is ruler. 

A ruler is a strip, usually made of wood, metal, or plastic, which is used for drawing straight lines and measuring lengths. Rulers are marked at varying intervals to indicate units of measurement like inches or centimetres.

The word dates to around 1400 and comes from the noun ‘rule’. ‘Rule’ is from around 1200 and comes from the Old French ‘riule’, from the Latin ‘regula’ which means‘straight stick or bar’ and is related to the Latin ‘reagre’ meaning ‘to straighten or guide’.
 


16 Sep 2020
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