Etymology - Undergird

2.Undergird

I had to include this, because though I only came across the word for the first time in my Interdisciplinary research methods class, and whilst I extrapolated the correct figurative meaning for it from a combination of context and the similarity to underpin, the actual basis for the metaphorical transition is slightly different, and somewhat less comical than mine.

The word didn't acquire its current spelling until the mid 19th century, previously having a variety of different spellings, linked to the Flemish ondergerden which translates as securing or fastening a ship, with chains. Public awareness of its usage was so heavily centred on the book of Acts, that a 19th century writer referred to undergirding St Paul fashion.

A strong metaphor then which sits alongside words such as underpinning, shoring up, even strengthening, which base themselves of the metaphorical construct of an argument or theory as a building. Not quite as strong a metaphor as the one I had in my head.

I thought of girders. Which do, of course, come from a similar term gird, which also has biblical roots and wraps round things. But girders to me are steel, and Irn Bru (a nasty soda) is “made in Scotland, from Girders”. So these interdisciplinary writers, were for me, busily propping up (there's another one) their arguments with large steel beams, whilst drinking soda in a manly way.