This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. My theme for the month is A to Z of words in English with an Arabic origin.
My childhood was filled with magazines like Young Times, Reader’s Digest, Children’s Digest and comics like Tinkle and Archies and Enid Blyton books. Thus started my love affair with the written word.
Today’s word has by far the most interesting etymology and also shows us the way words change in meaning over centuries and borders.
Any Enid blyton fans here? Or old readers of Young Times?
I leave you with a front cover of an old issue of Young Times. Kids who grew up in the Middle East in the 90s would be aware of this magazine.
Interesting!
Thanks !
Reader’s Digest was read by all in my family when I was growing up. I read many magazines as an adult (still prefer that to online). “Magazine” is also a term for some type of ammunition. I wonder how that derivation ties into the ones you’ve provided.
Yes. One of the synonyms of magazine is “An ammunition storehouse”.
The first use of the word meaning “periodical journal” dates from The Gentleman’s Magazine, first published in London in 1731, which was so called from earlier use of the word for a printed list of military stores and information, or in a figurative sense, from the publication being a “storehouse” of information.
Thank you. Such a windy road those word meanings take. I think YOU are my storehouse of information 🙂
Interesting! In Swedish, “magasin” can still mean a store house or big store, and it is also used for a “magazine to read”. I didn’t know it’s an arabic word, so I learned something new here, thank you!
You are welcome !
Thank you for stopping by!
It’s interesting to see how the meaning magazine differ now. While I don’t consider myself a Reader’s Digest reader, I have read a few issues and really enjoyed them 🙂
I love reading Reader’s Digest. It’s a shame what happened to the New Yorker. 🙁