Rifle & Rifle

[archbishop]

Rifle - a firearm. Rifle - rob,plunder etc. Why the same word for completely different things?

[molly]

Why the same word beam - light, & beam - piece of wood. Duck - bird, & duck - to bend down. Lie - untruth, & lie - as on a bed. Forth - as in go forth, & forth - as in Firth of Forth ? There must be hundreds.

[geofbob]

Because languages aren't invented and manufactured, but develop over thousends of years with many outside influences (especially English); because there are only a limited number of combinations of sounds in the English language, and there are a lot of words: because in most cases it doesn't matter, as the sense of the word will be clear from the context.

[Quizmonster]

Dear A/B, regarding 'rifle' as such...the firearm is so-called because its barrel has a groove or 'rifle' cut into it in order to impart spin to the bullet. That version is related to the word 'riffel', meaning 'groove' in Germanic/Scandinavian languages. In the sense of 'plunder' the word relates to the Old French verb 'rifler', meaning to 'scrape' or 'strip'...ie to remove. (The ideas of scraping and grooving are, of course, related, since both involve removing something.) Most similar word-pairings of the sort can be explained in the same sort of way; namely, that they entered English via different 'doors'.

[archbishop]

Thank you so much Quizzy.

[Roxy]

wow QM, you're bl**dy amazing

[gilf]

The man is a true God. They should rename the section, Quiz Monster's Phrases & Sayings

[Quizmonster]

Dear Roxy and Gilf, Please don't think me ungracious, but my computer has been down for the past five days. Accordingly, I have had no opportunity to thank you for your kind comments.