That the word -news- is an abbreviation of all directons...N.orth, E.ast, W.est and S.outh?
2006-11-19 21:36:26 · 9 answers · asked by мooи sнiиe 5 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
No, it isn't. Unsupported opinion is not so valuable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_etymology:
The word news has been claimed to be an acronym of the four cardinal directions: (North, East, West, and South). However, old spellings of the word varied widely (e.g. newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.). It is simply a plural form of new.
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/news.htm:
Claim: The word news is an acronym formed from the words north, east, west, and south.
Status: False.
Origins: Some explanations are just too simple to accept. The notion that news -- information about recent events -- is the plural of the word new just doesn't sound right, so somebody cooked up the notion that the word is an acronym formed from the initial letters of the four cardinal compass points (north, east, west, and south), supposedly because news is information from all over the land.
It's not surprising this explanation sounds a bit odd to us, because new is an adjective and not a noun, so how can it have a plural form? Although adjectives don't generally have plurals in English, they do in other languages. In some Romance languages, for example, adjectives change to agree in number with the nouns they modify. So, in Spanish a white house is a casa blanca, but white houses are casas blancas. Likewise, in French a tall woman is a grande femme, but tall womEn are grandes femmes. When nouveau, the French word for new, modifies a plural (feminine) noun, it becomes nouvelles, which is also the French word for news.
Not so strange after all.
2006-11-19 21:46:10 · answer #1 · answered by sofarsogood 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Etymology of News
"News" developed as a special use of the plural form of "new" in the 14th century. In Middle English, the equivalent word was 'newes', based on the French 'nouvelles'.
It is not, as is often claimed, an acronym for "north, east, west, south".
2006-11-19 21:38:33 · answer #2 · answered by Ruthie Baby 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Dont be silly. It's just coincidental. We normally say north, south, east west and not as n e w s. We do get news from north-east, north-west, south-east and south-west too and how do they fit in?
2006-11-20 01:20:59 · answer #3 · answered by lim i 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
True
2006-11-19 21:37:59 · answer #4 · answered by Dr Dee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i just think of WE and then know north is up like on a map
2006-11-19 21:37:46 · answer #5 · answered by israeli_stuck_in_usa 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I find your question to be endlessly fascinating.
Ask another!
2006-11-19 21:43:04 · answer #6 · answered by Jeezuss Jan 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YES. It is no more 'NEWS' to any one. all 'OLD's
2006-11-19 21:37:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it is true.....
2006-11-20 01:40:20 · answer #8 · answered by bellefire016 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, it's what is new
2006-11-19 21:37:47 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋