Word-Hoard...Waist and Waste

Nancy brought up these two homophones. Interestingly, one is derived from Old English and one is not.

"Waist" is from Old English waestm meaning growth, figure, plant, offspring. (A variety of meanings.) It is akin to Old English weaxan from which we get modern English "wax" in the sense of increase in extent: The moon is waxing. The Old English word also meant to be fruitful. It seems to me that we can see a link etymologically between growth and reproduction. I would conclude that "waist" came about from the fact that a woman's waist grows during pregnancy. (You never know where language will take you!)

"Waste" is derived from Old French which in turn is derived from Latin vastus meaning desolute, empty, immense. We get the term "vast" from it which does not necessarily mean desolute. The Latin word may also be connected to vaco from which we derive "vacant" which does mean empty and possibly desolute.  "Waste" did not enter the English vocabulary until after the Norman Conquest and became the Middle English wast.  The "e" was added on the end at some point, probably after the Great Vowel Shift, to indicate that the "a" was a "long vowel."

Curiouser and curiouser.