Transcript of “Do For a Spell”
Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.
Thank you, I appreciate it. My name is Nancy Hastie, and I live in North Carolina.
Hi, Nancy, welcome to the show.
What can we do for you, Nancy?
I live in Appalachian Mountains, and we had a phrase that I grew up with, a spell.
It was like, well, what is a spell? And it’s like, well, you go visiting for a spell.
You set down a spell. If you’re tired, you’re having a sinking spell. Talking about the weather,
You might have a dry spell or a wet spell. And it wasn’t any definite period of time,
But growing up, we just kind of knew what a spell was. And I was just curious about that
Because spell doesn’t have anything to do with spelling a word.
Yeah, we’re talking about the word S-P-E-L-L, spell.
And as you said, it’s completely different from the spell meaning to put together letters to form a word.
It’s different from the spell in spelling bee or to cast a spell on somebody.
The spell that you’re talking about, a period of time, is an entirely different word that just happens to look like those other words.
And here’s the story behind that.
That kind of spell, the kind of spell you’re talking about, it comes from a very old Germanic family of words that includes the old English word spalla, which means substitute.
And in the 16th century, spell meant to take the place of somebody, to substitute for somebody doing a task.
And to let the other person rest.
And you still hear that today, right?
You say, here, let me spell you for a while.
You’re raking leaves or something, right?
And you say, here, hand me the rake.
Let me spell you for a while.
And over time, it came to mean simply a continuous period of work.
Oh.
-huh.
Like sailors on a ship who are taking turns, you know.
Some of them are above deck and below deck.
And then they switch.
They’re spelling each other.
And they’re doing it for a spell of time.
And by the 18th century, a spell simply meant a period of time.
And as you said, it could be like a hot spell or a cold spell, you know, or set a spell.
And I also wonder if you’ve heard spell used to mean, you know, just a little ways up the road.
Only if it were somebody walking a spell.
Oh, walking for a spell. Yeah.
Yeah. All right. Yeah.
Because I know sometimes in Appalachia, you might say, oh, it’s just a spell up the road.
So your instincts were absolutely right.
That is so interesting.
Sounds like Martha has left you satisfied.
We’re glad that you called.
Okay, and you don’t have anything to add.
Martha took this one.
She covered it 100%.
Well, you can take a break.
Go have a cup of coffee.
I’m just going to sit here and spell while Martha does the job.
Oh, okay.
Well, you said a spell then.
Okay.
Well, we’re glad that you’d spend a spell with us.
Nancy. Thank you, Nancy. Bye-bye.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
Why don’t you take a break for a spell
From whatever you’re doing and give us a call
Or
Type your message and email words
At waywordradio.org.
