• Scooter411@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well, the first three letters of news is new - it’s not new, so it’s not really news. I’m happy it happened, but it doesn’t belong.

    • explodes@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s a coincidence. The word “news” is made from the initials of North, East, West, and South.

      • 0x029a@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        https://www.etymonline.com/word/news

        late 14c., “new things,” plural of new (n.) “new thing” (see new (adj.)); after French nouvelles, which was used in Bible translations to render Medieval Latin nova (neuter plural) “news,” literally “new things.”

        The odd and doubtful construction probably accounts for the absurd folk-etymology (attested by 1640 but originally, and in 18c. usually, in jest-books) that claims it to be an abbreviation of north east south west, as though “information from all quarters of the compass.”

        • sugar_in_your_tea
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, the N, E, W, S construction absolutely sounds like a bacronym.

          To me, it was always a short form of newspaper, which was a distributed paper with the latest events. So I was probably not far off, just not as old as the actual etymology (I’m guessing “news” was a thing far before paper was a thing in the west).