So, what did they search for? Glad you asked.

the meaning and +dreivation of the word shit

I did some digging. (No pun intended, but I’ll take it!) Apparently there is an email going around that claims shit is an acronym, but it is inaccurate. The noun is from Old English scitan, meaning “split, divide, separate”. It’s linked to science and conscience, interestingly enough.

It seems to have a fairly shady background and it’s a little hard to trace the original uses. It was taboo and vulgar. But The Online Etymology Dictionary places it c. 1600. They say it was omitted from some dictionaries as recently as 1970!

What you’re really looking for:

Extensive slang usage; verb meaning “to lie, to tease” is from 1934; that of “to disrespect” is from 1903. Noun use for “obnoxious person” is since at least 1508; meaning “misfortune, trouble” is attested from 1937. Shat is a humorous past tense form, not etymological, first recorded 18c. Shite, now a jocular or slightly euphemistic variant, formerly a dialectal variant, reflects the vowel in the O.E. verb (cf. Ger. scheissen). Shit-faced “drunk” is 1960s student slang; shit list is from 1942. To not give a shit “not care” is from 1922; up shit creek “in trouble” is from 1937. Scared shitless first recorded 1936.

So, how do you use it? Is it still vulgar? Or, has it’s use/overuse taken away the vulgarity? What say you?

References:

The Online Etymology Dictionary

Image via Creative Commons

First up:
Welcome seems a fairly standard word. It comes from Old English wilcuma, exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (n.) “welcome guest,” lit. “one whose coming is in accord with another’s will,” from willa “pleasure, desire, choice” (see will (v.)) + cuma “guest,” related to cuman (see come). Cf. O.H.G. willicomo, M.Du. wellecome. Meaning “entertainment or public reception as a greeting” is recorded from 1530. You’re welcome as a formulaic response to thank you is attested from 1907. Welcome mat first recorded 1951; welcome wagon is attested from 1961. The verb is O.E. wilcumian.

Old English dialects evolved from the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons when they migrated into what is now Great Britain from Germany, Holland, and Denmark. Not surprisingly their words for welcome are; German – wilkommen, Dutch – welkom, Danish – velkommen.

Trivia: Hospitate is an obscure word that also means welcome; v. – welcome; be guest. hospitation, n. Now you can see where hospitality and hospital come from.

References: