:welcome: Let’s give a warm Southern Fried Chica welcome to author Amy Ruttan!

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I recently had to do some etymology research for some edits.

My first reaction when I asked was to pull the hair out by the roots, fling open the door and run naked up my suburban street.

I decided to save my neighbors a scare and did what my wonderful, kind and generous editor asked me to do (by the way I’m totally buttering her up so I never have to do this again.) *cough cough*

Etymology, as it turns out (and trust me at first I didn’t know) is the origins of words. This can be especially important if you’re writing a historical. What did I discover was that people must not have talked prior to 1800 because most of our phrases and words today are after 1800. (I’m kidding by the way, we’ve all read Shakespeare). We’re talking about things that sound old.

There was no Faschizel my nizzle in my 18th Century manuscript. My words were not modern. I didn’t have any split infinitives and the like. The words I chose were words I had read countless times in other historical romances; but still the call of the editor takes precedence. There would be no getting out of it, it had to be done.

Blast! Cracking my knuckles I went to work. I found the online etymology website and went to work.

At first it seemed tedious, mind numbing stick a fork in me I’m done kind of boredom. Then I found my groove, and I found some fun stuff. Here’s a bit of sampling of words I found.

Mime~ “A buffoon who practices gesticulations” [Johnson], 1603 Fr. Ok, that’s freaking hilarious; but see if you’re writing a romance about a mime in 1585 who falls in love with a woman outside his invisible box. It’s not going to swing. However, buffoon or jester was first used c.1549.

Clitoris~ Ah, you think fairly modern. Clit was coined in the 1960’s but our dear friend the Italian anatomist Mateo Renaldo Colombo claims discovery over it. A man, that’s right kind of ironic. He called it the amor Veneris, vel delcedo or “the love or sweetness of Venus.” Awwww. But clitoris or kleitoris is Greek first coined c. 1615, known as to sheathe. To be inclined towards pleasure or tickling was a German word der Kitzler, or the tickler. I think I like the Italian version of it.

Ironic~ There’s a black fly in your chardonnay, well if you were singing this song before 1502 A.D., you would be considered a mad person.

Pump~ As in a low shoe without fasteners. You’ll be surprised if you guessed after 1800, it was actually first used c.1555 and Arabic.

I could go on forever but why deny you the pleasure and fun. Here’s the link to have your own fun.

So next time you use a word think about where it came from and when, you’ll be surprise.
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Check out Amy’s new releases from Ellora’s Cave and Cerridwen Press! Love Thy Neighbor is due out on May 22, followed by Fox’s Bride on May 29!

Amy Ruttan’s Website