Wednesday, January 28, 2009

ALTERATIONS: Auburn, Tweed and Vanilla

The original sense of auburn was "yellowish white" until it became associated with brown.

Tweed
may be the result of a misreading of "tweel." The alteration was probably influenced by Tweed, which is a river that forms part of the border between England and Scotland.

Vanilla comes to us by way of Spanish from the Latin word "vagina." The current spelling was influenced by association with the French word "vanille."