Etymology
The word is correctly pronounced with a short "i" to rhyme with "tinned", rather than to rhyme with "finding". It has been suggested that the word derives from the practice of using the prevailing wind to assist with the turn, but no verifiable reference has been quoted for this suggestion. However, nowadays, both pronunciations are in use. In German the term for turning a vehicle is "wenden"; this suggests Germanic origins of the pronunciation.
Read more about this topic: Winding Hole
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)