Why We Call it “The News”

The other day as we walked around the neighborhood, my husband told me that he had learned that the word “news” for the information we receive from articles and anchorpeople came from an acronym for the four cardinal directions. That is, “N”orth, “E”ast, “W”est, and “S”outh. Which made very little sense to me. When most of us speak the names of all four directions, we tend to say “North, South, East, and West,” or if we happen to be Pagans who call the Directions for a circle, we say, “East, South, West, North” or the opposite, “North, West, South, East.” So, if the story about the word “news” was true, it would be both an acronym and an anagram. I guess. <blockquote> But, of course, it’s not. It’s an urban legend. </blockquote> The word “news,” defined as “tidings, intelligence of something that has lately taken place” comes from as early as the fifteenth century. It was 1923 when the added meaning of “radio or television program presenting current events” came into use. When we hear the word, “news” we think of it as being a singular. For instance, we turn on one show and we watch “the news.” We run to someone and say, “Did you hear the news?” and then go on to tell about one thing that happened. According to the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/news" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Online Etymology Dictionary</a>, it was considered singular at least from the 1560s. A little research reveals that the word comes from Germanic sources that reveal a connection to an ancient Indo-European root. This root word led to Latin novus, which led to words like novel, novice, renovate, innovate, and novelty. The Latin feminine form nova is now used to refer to a star that shows a sudden large increase in brightness. <a href="https://medium.com/be-open/why-we-call-it-the-news-fb9a087eee14">Learn More</a>