I have always been in love with words.

Reading them.

Writing them.

Creating them 😉

Discovering a word from long ago that we rarely hear these days.

And yes, researching words.

I have often found unusual or completely different meanings for words that we use in our everyday language.

For this section, Wholesome Whispers,

I consult several dictionaries, historical references,

and etymology resources.

I compare what I find,

follow the word as it leads down a rabbit hole of long-lost meaning

– and then, I share what I have learned,

here in my own words.

Yes, language history is a slippery slope.

It’s not always easy, nor correct, to assign a “first use”, or original, meaning to a word

– rarely were words recorded at “first use”,

only years afterwards.

Sources I commonly consult include:

Merriam-Webster

Dictionary.com

Online Etymology Dictionary

Word Hippo

Oxford English Dictionary

Cambridge Dictionary

Other historical/reference sources as noted in individual posts

*When a particular word’s story relies heavily on a specific source,

I will identify that source within the individual post.

I invite you to come along as I do some word archeology

– getting my hands dirty and my feet muddy 😉