Q&A: The origin of ‘disappointment’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, missing appointments..

Q: Hi AWC, I’ve been thinking about the word “disappointment”.

A: Have you just.

Q: Yeah, and normally with “dis–” words, it’s the opposite of something, like “disapproval” or “disappearance” etc. But this doesn’t seem to be the opposite of “appointment”. What’s up?

A: The English language is what’s “up”, or rather “evolving”. And this story actually begins with Old French – and their word “desapointer”. The original verb came to English during the 1400s and initially did indeed mean “to undo the appointment”.

Q: Like when my friends cancel on our night out?

A: Yes, exactly like that.

Q: So then I decide to go clubbing anyway by myself and I see them all there…

A: Ummm.

Q: I suppose you’re right. That WAS disappointing.

A: Well this initial meaning also meant “to remove from office” – the opposite of being appointed to something.

Q: Okay I guess that sort of makes sense.

A: The more generic meaning of feeling frustration came about a little later, around the mid-1500s – borne out of the fact that you are likely to feel disappointment when you’ve been dis-appointed.  

Q: So, it started out as the act of removing someone from a job or cancelling an appointment. But then ended up becoming the emotion itself.

A: Exactly.

Q: How curious. That “dis–” prefix sure is a busy one.

A: That’s right. The initial Latin prefix had a couple of meanings. Most fall into the “lack of, not, opposite” definition – words like disease, distaste and dishonest. But its other meaning was “apart, asunder” – as in to go in the two opposite directions.

Q: What are some of those examples?

A: Think about words like “discard”, “discord” or “distance”. The latter literally means stance/stand apart.

Q: There do seem to be a lot of orphaned “dis” words.

A: What do you mean?

Q: When you take away the “dis” part, it doesn’t make much sense. 

A: Ahhh yes. They’re often called “lonely negatives”.

Q: Like “disdain”. What exactly is “dain”?

A: Well in that case, it’s a spelling glitch. The “dain” got simplified from the Old French “desdeigne”, which meant the opposite of “deign” – to think worthy of. “Deign” kept the spelling, while “disdain” did not.

Q: That’s rather disappointing.

A: English is constantly full of disappointment.

Q: Oooh, that’s quite the “diss”!

A: Haha, okay, “diss” is a slang word meaning to criticise or insult. It is simply a shortening of “disrespect/dismiss” and has actually been around since at least the 1980s. Today, a musical artist might also create a “diss track” – a song or rap that insults another person.

Q: Do you have any more lonely negatives?

A: “Disgust” is another – turning up in the 1590s from the French “desgoust” – meaning “strong dislike, repugnance”. This one is a little easier to spot – the “gust” part coming from the Latin “gustare” meaning “to taste”, which later gave us the English words “gustation” and “gusto”.

Q: I thought of another – “dishevelled”? 

A: Yet another French word from the 1500s, “deschevele” – meaning “without dressed hair”. This originally meant to be bald, but later became “to disarrange the hair”. English then took this negative version only, while “chevel” – a Latin word for “hair” – was plucked from the history books.

Q: I think if I’m having a good hair day from now on, I’ll say I’m “shevelled”.

A: Haha, nice. And remember – like “travelled” and many other double-L words, in America they write it with just one “L”.

Q: One last one. What about a “disco”? Does that mean getting away from work for some good times and ABBA tunes?

A: Nice thought, but it’s short for “discotheque” – another word that came from French to English, but this time in 1954 as “a club where recorded music is played”. It has nothing to do with our “dis–” prefix. Instead, it was a mashup of “disc” for the phonograph records and “theque” which was a library. A library of music rather than books.

Q: Where no one says “shhhh” and the only fines you get are fine tunes!

A: Yep, sure. The shortened form “disco” was first used in 1964 by the way.

Q: Well this started out disappointing, but ended up with a visit to the dancefloor. 

A: Let’s hope your friends turn up this time…

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