Yesterday Chet had trouble with these homophones.
"Bare" in the sense of having no covering is derived from the Old English baer referring to plants or trees with no foliage. At some point we get the Middle English "bald" referring to persons with no hair. Old English also used calu in the sense of no covering. Modern English derives "callow" from that. It means immature. However, it also refers to a young bird who is featherless.
"Bear," referring to the animal, is derived from Old English bera. When used to mean carry, we go back to the Old English beran which also had the form geberan meaning to produce a child. The word "birth" is derived from this as well in the Old English form birP. (The "P" represents the Old English "thorn" which carried the "th" sound.)
Sorry Chet, but they still sound the same.
Have to go anonymous because I can't get up the stairs.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that "Bear" coming from the Old English bera and also for bearing children make sense to me. With both of my guys, I was a bear and then since both were 10 lbs it was like having bears!
Melanie
Melanie: All I can say is "ouch!"
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