Mythful Meanings

In the English language, many meanings come from myths. This blog considers many of those words.

Myths are stories people tell to explain the great mysteries of life, such as birth and death, why the sun rises and sets, and why the moon changes in a predictable pattern.

I decided to start over from the end of the alphabet and work toward the beginning. I have a stack of index cards with information typed on them, all in alphabetical order. When I started this blog, I started at A, because I didn't realize that all the entries would be pushed down.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Dwarf

From Anglo-Saxon, a dwarf is an animal or plant that is much below the normal size of its species or kin. Dwarves are known in many folk tales, notably "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Like gnomes, they do good work for humans if they like the humans.

English word: The word dwarf, and its plural, dwarves, are common in English. They both refer precisely to the Anglo-Saxon root, "
an animal or plant that is much below the normal size of its species or kin." The words may refer to an unusually small species of plant or animal, or they may refer to humans born with genes that express as dwarfism.

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