Derive & Drift

While on holiday, my friend Jonathan Caws-Elwitt took the following linguistic excursion. Although he didn't hit paydirt, he dramatizes beautifully what it means to be an etymological speculator. As with others kinds of journeys, getting there--or not getting there--is half the fun. Speaking of fun, I recommend Jonathan's humorous article on do-it-yourself etymology available at http://www.amazon.com/Chaucers-time-do-yourself/dp/B000FJA7JK/ref=sr_1_1/102-8099513-7404102?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184713955&sr=1-1

Jonathan, by the way, has joined me in writing a book—ENGINEERING YOUR LIFE. For more on this effort, please visit www.engineeringyourlife.com, where you too can get involved.

Now about "Derive & Drift," Jonathan writes:

In a small museum in New Brunswick, I noticed that the French version of a display about continental drift used the word "dérive" for "drift." I got a little bit excited about the possibility that "drift" and (the English word) "derive" might be words of a feather. But the Online Etymological Dictionary (www.etymonline.com) shows "derive" as coming from Latin (via French) and "drift" as coming instead from the Germanic side of the street, namely, from Old Norse or Middle Dutch (and being related to "drive").

The French use of "dérive" for "drift" seems to play on the concept of diversion (as in diverting a body of water--(or, in this case, a body of land). One can therefore think of aeons of continental drift as the planet's attempt at creating a diversion—perhaps so that we wouldn't notice that Magnetic North was not exactly North.

I hope you find this information diverting, assuming it's not old news—which, after all, is exactly what continental drift is.