Kay Hudson

Grammar Gremlins: Forgotten Words

Have you ever, perhaps when writing about your ruthless, mustachio-twirling villain, wondered about that mysterious quality of ruth that he seems to be lacking? And your reckless heroine—how did she lose her reck? Or the feckless sidekick—was he born without feck?

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The Online Etymology Dictionary has the answers. If we go back far enough (listen up, writers of medieval romance), we find the ruthless villain’s opposite, the ruthful heroine. Back then ruth (or reuthe, going back to Old Norse ) meant pity or compassion, sorrow for the misery of others, repentance or regret. Yes, I’d say our villain lacks all that. And it’s a bit of a shame ruthful has gone out of use. We could definitely use more ruth in the world.

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Reckless has a similar history, deriving from the Old English reccan, meaning care, heed or consideration, or as a verb to care for, be interested in, or take heed of. (Reckon, on the other hand, comes from the Old English gerecenian, meaning to explain, relate, recount, or arrange in order, not the same etymology at all.)

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While I didn’t find a reference to reckful, it was at one time possible to be feckful. Back in the late 1500s, feck (a shortened Scottish form of effect) meant effect, value, or vigor. Today feckless survives meaning ineffective, incompetent, or futile, providing comic relief in a supporting character, but not a characteristic we want in a heroine or hero.

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Uncouth grew from the Old English word for unknown, coming to mean strange, unusual, unfamiliar, unfriendly, unkind, or rough, the last probably closest to today’s meaning. Couth, meaning known or well known, disappeared long ago, only to be resurrected as a back formation from uncouth in the late 19th century. Then it meant cultured or refined. Today it hangs on mostly in humorous contexts.

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And finally one that does not go back to old English: Nonchalant is the present participle of the French verb nonchaloir, to be indifferent to or have no concern for. That in turn comes from the French verb chaloir, to have concern for, but the equivalent form chalant never made it across the Channel into English usage.

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The Online Etymology Dictionary, which describes itself as “a map of the wheel-ruts of modern English,” is a guaranteed rabbit hole for the word nerd. It’s also a good source of information on the dates of early usage for those words we’re not quite sure our historical characters should know.