pseudo-etymology of "news"

[George Thompson]

do we collect historic false etymologies here?  they are quite as fascinating as eggcorns, really.  Some time ago I gave you the etymology of "humbug" from a fraud named Homberg, if I recall.

Well, wanted or not, here's another:

Origin of the word "NEWS"  [it's not connected with "news" -- it refers to the four compass points, North, East West and South, from an emblem carried by early newspapers.]  This last point isn't true, either, I don't think, at least of NYC and Boston papers.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Lynne Murphy <lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK>
Date: Monday, March 19, 2001 10:45 am
Subject: Bushonics speakers strike back (fwd)
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


> It's not every day that 'linguistics professor' is a major role in a
> satire.  Enjoy...  Lynne
>
> ------
> lynnem at cogs.susx.ac.uk thought you would be interested in this article
> at
> Salon.com http://www.salon.com
> lynnem at cogs.susx.ac.uk came from IP: 139.184.30.11
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Bushonics speakers strike back
> By Tom McNichol
>
> http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/03/19/bushonics/index.html
>
> We're mad as hell and we won't be misunderestimated anymore!
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Mon Mar 19 06:43:18 2001
>
>
> ---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
>
>
>
> M Lynne Murphy
> Lecturer in Linguistics
> School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
> University of Sussex
> Brighton BN1 9QH
> UK
>
> phone +44-(0)1273-678844
> fax   +44-(0)1273-671320

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