pseudo-etymology of "news"

[George Thompson]

Well, somewhat to my surprise, this proved of interest to someone here.

"Coincidentally to your newspaper quote about the spurious origin of
"news", a reader wrote in to ask if this were really the origin. I propose
to quote your find from the Morning Courier & New-York Enquirer of 23
April 1842 in the piece (which is scheduled for 29 December) but wonder if
you have more of the quotation available, preferably immediately before
the bit you cited?"  Michael Quinion, Editor, World Wide Words

So, here is the full 2 sentence text:
Origin of the word "NEWS"  [the headline]  "News" is not, as many imagine, derived from the adjective "New".  In former times, it was a prevalent practice to put over the periodical publications of the day the initial letters of the cardinal points of the compass, thus: --
             N
             |
     W---------E
             |
             S
importing that these papers contained intelligence from the four quarters of the globe; and from this practice is derived the term of newspaper.
Morning Courier & New-York Enquirer, April 23, 1842, p. 3, col. 2.

The headline is in italics, the words News and New int the text are in small capitals.

GAT

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

----- Original Message -----
From: George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2007 5:18 pm
Subject: Re: pseudo-etymology of "news"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


> Sorry, folks, for the various blunders here.  I posted this last
> night, evidently at a time when I would better have been tucking
> myself into bed.
>
> The chief blunder is to have forgotten to give the source of the NEWS
> etymology: its the Morning courier & New-York Enquirer, April 23,
> 1842, p. 3, col. 2.
>
> There's an explanation for how this came with a post from 2001, and a
> very pretty story it is, too, but I won't go into it.  Just another
> blunder by a little sleepy-head.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
> Date: Saturday, December 15, 2007 10:44 pm
> Subject: pseudo-etymology of "news"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > 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.
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org