thoughts on words
In Modern English we have the word Nice. It means "pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory"
This word comes to us from the Old English word Nice which meant "shy; foolish"
This in turn came from the Old French word Nice which meant "silly"
The french got it from the Latin word Niscius which is the adjective form of the verb Nescire which is the negation of the verb Scire which means "to know." so Niscius meant "ignorant" and Nescire meant "to not know"
But it gets worse.
Scire in the Latin comes from the Indo-European word Skei which meant "to cut"
So, for all those who have followed along, Nice, meaning pleasant, comes to us from words meaning ignorant and cutting.
Isn't etymology fun?
By the way, Skei is still is use today in a slightly altered form. Yarn is sold is Skeins.
This word comes to us from the Old English word Nice which meant "shy; foolish"
This in turn came from the Old French word Nice which meant "silly"
The french got it from the Latin word Niscius which is the adjective form of the verb Nescire which is the negation of the verb Scire which means "to know." so Niscius meant "ignorant" and Nescire meant "to not know"
But it gets worse.
Scire in the Latin comes from the Indo-European word Skei which meant "to cut"
So, for all those who have followed along, Nice, meaning pleasant, comes to us from words meaning ignorant and cutting.
Isn't etymology fun?
By the way, Skei is still is use today in a slightly altered form. Yarn is sold is Skeins.