Variations on the word "worry"

[luzula]

1) I had meant to go to my parents today after a week of quarantining as best one can in an apartment with other people, but I feel a very slight tickle in my throat, which could be my imagination, but it makes me worried. Better wait a day and see. /o\

2) Occasionally I realize I've been using a word that is not allowable in 1750 and have to go back and edit it out of all my Flight of the Heron fic. Today's word is "worry" in the sense of "feeling anxious or troubled". Sigh, that word was a transitive verb meaning "to annoy or vex someone" back then (from an earlier stronger meaning of "to slay, kill or injure by biting and shaking the throat"), and I have now replaced it with variations of concern/trouble/fret/fear, which are all fine. I make copious use of the Online Etymology Dictionary. I mean, it's not that I imagine myself to actually be writing as they did in 1750, nor is that necessarily my goal, but at least I can try to avoid anachronisms.

And indeed, there is not a single use of "worry" in canon! Yeah, Broster did her research. But hey, she was born in 1877, and the intransitive use of "worry" to mean "feeling anxious or troubled" is actually only attested from 1860, though the use "to cause mental distress or trouble" is attested from 1822.

Another error I've recently discovered is that Anglicans/Episcopalians do not pray for the souls of the dead! This is/was a Catholic thing to do. Ugh, I have a character do this at least at one point, I suppose I should fix it. I should thank Naomi Mitchison for this discovery.

Comments

[regshoe]

Ooh, examples—I remember 'contact' as a verb meaning 'communicate with/send a message to' was one (etymonline has that going back to 1927 in America!). 'Move on' (in the emotional sense) was another that came up in one of my fics—I clearly wasn't thinking of it as recent when I used it, but when my beta reader pointed it out I thought, oh yeah, of course that's modern.

Etymological histories are so fascinating—I love seeing how meanings shift over time, and the sorts of logical progressions that can end up making a word mean something completely different from what it used to.

I did like it that he prayed for the men that he killed as well.

Yes, that was a lovely detail! A suggestion—perhaps he could pray for their families, who are still alive and will grieve them, and who might want prayers for their welfare?

[luzula]

One of my favorite examples is "anyway" (in the sense "regardless"), because it's so common, but I weaned myself from that one early. That's from the 1850's, before that it just meant "in any way".

A suggestion—perhaps he could pray for their families, who are still alive and will grieve them, and who might want prayers for their welfare?

Oh, that's perfect! Thanks. : )

[regshoe]

That's a good one! I'm not sure that I was actually aware of it, but I think I prefer 'in any case' in historically-set writing anyway.

Oh, that's perfect! Thanks. : )

Oh good :D