So here's a fun bit of philology I learned today: "
nickname" had the word
eke in its forefront until people added the "n-" syllable because that happens with words that start with vowels sometimes. "Eke" means "to lengthen," but in contemporary English it's always used in the phrase "to eke out a living," so, to stretch. Well, people stretch names sometimes too, adding to them something of their own.
It's from the a, an. A naeddre, a snake, became an adder. A napron* became an apron. An eke-name went the other way, with the n migrating forward instead of backward.
ReplyDelete* See also "napkin," little apron.