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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day records what appears to be a folk-etymology that influenced a word’s semantics:
“Crucible” looks like it should be closely related to the Latin combining form “cruc-” (“cross”), but it isn’t. It was forged from the Medieval Latin “crucibulum,” a noun for an earthen pot used to melt metals …. [T]he resemblance between “cruc-” and “crucible” probably encouraged people to start using “crucible” to mean “a severe trial.”
Could have knocked me over with a feathered spoon. I thought “crucible” had something to do with the cross.
Last edited by kem (2012-01-14 13:42:29)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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