![]() ![]() Here, the OED cites the theological journal, the Princeton Review: “In our position, on the true watershed of nations and of history, we may in truth exclaim, India is west of us and thitherward the course of history is pointing.” That is, for Christian and commercial expansion, that is, a la Manifest Destiny. Its metaphorical extension emerges no later than 1854 -and it’s based on the idea that some event changes the course of history, culture, a person’s life, just as a watershed changes the course of where water flows. Whatever the word’s particular development in English, watershed is first attested in its geological sense in English in 1764, according to the OED. As for English, the late 15th-century Scots word shed could refer to a “portion of land.” A somewhat ambiguous shed for a “ridge of high ground dividing two valleys” surfaces in the 1530s. There’s evidence for Wasserscheide in the 14th century. It can mean “sheath,” too, just as the Latin source of our word vagina originally meant “sheath” or “scabbard.” (Because metaphor. Wasserscheide is literally a “water border” or “water divide,” but be aware: Scheide also means “vagina” in German. That ancient * skei- also shows up in the German sheiden, “to divide.” Many etymologists suspect that the English watershed is a calque (borrowing a foreign word and then translating into its native equivalent) of a German compound featuring that verb: Wasserscheide. * Skei- appears in lots of other familiar words, like the Latin-based science (knowledge as distinguishing), the Old Norse-based ski (snowshoes originally being cut from wood), and the good, old Anglo-Saxon shit-which has nothing to do with that apocryphal yarn of Ship High In Transit, but all about separating turds from our butts. They both come from the Old English sceadan, originally meaning “to divide” or “split” and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *skei-, “to cut.” ![]() ![]() The shed in water shed is actually related to the the shed in a “dog shedding fur” or “a minimalist shedding belongings.” Mostly lost is the noun form shed, which long ago meant a “distinction” and referred especially to the part in the hair. Well, at least you’d get the water part right. In American English, we often talk about living in a particular watershed, e.g., Delaware River watershed, and we might understand this as a region of land where all the water drains down into a common point, with the boundary marker-the actual watershed-being those high points separating water from flowing down into one basin versus another.īecause watersheds direct various water sources into a common basin, it’s tempting to parse a watershed as a shed holding water. A watershed is an “area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas,” as the New Oxford American Dictionary defines its. Today’s etymological lesson begins with some geology. We so often describe “defining moments” of “important change” as “watershed moments.” But what it so pivotal about a watershed? Which way will the water go? ( Pixabay) And I think it needs to be a defining moment in this country.” I think this is a defining moment in this country. And in the world we live in today, we won’t tolerate abuse of power and position in any form from anyone.Īcross chambers, and across the aisle, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan echoed Gillibrand’s sentiments and language to National Public Radio: “We are having a watershed moment in this country. I think we are in a watershed moment where it’s going to be an important change for our women, for our daughters, for men and for society about what we deem is acceptable. On Thursday, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand commented on the ongoing allegations of sexual harassment against prominent men in politics and entertainment, notably including Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor just this week:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |