eddy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ydy, a Scottish form of the mid-15th century,^[2][3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse iða (“eddy, whirlpool”),^[5][6][4][7] although the OED calls its history unknown and only compares the Norse word.^[8] Klein explains the Norse word as "that which flows back", from the prefix ið- (“again”),^[6] which belongs with Old English ed- (“again, back”), Old Saxon ed-, Old High German et- and Gothic 𐌹𐌸 (iþ, “and, but, however”),^[6][9][7][3] and is related to Latin et (“and”) and Ancient Greek ἔτι (éti, “yet, still”).^[9][4][7] Etymonline traces the prefix to Proto-Indo-European *eti (“above, beyond”).^[3] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive the word instead from the Germanic base of the Old English prefix,^[10][11] and Dictionary.com and Wiktionary from an Old English compound of ed- and ēa (“water”),^[12][1] which Wiktionary gives as edēa.^[1] Johnson (1755) had already derived it from the Old English words for "backward, again" and "water".^[13] Etymonline compares Old English edwielle (“eddy, whirlpool”),^[3] Hoad compares Middle High German itwæge (“flood, whirlpool”), whose second part matches wǣg (“wave”),^[9] and Ayto mentions a suggested Old English *edwǣg as the missing link.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Water running against the main current, a small whirlpool: in Richard Holland's Buke of the Howlat (about 1448, in a manuscript of before 1525).^[8] Barnhart dates the Scottish form ydy before 1455 and the spelling eddy from 1553.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was used first of water;^[8] from 1815 it was extended to wind, fog or dust moving in the same circular way,^[8] while figurative use began in 1791,^[8] of a movement of thought or policy that stands still or runs counter to the main trend.^[4][15] Johnson (1755) defined it as water driven back against the stream by an obstacle or an opposing wind, and also listed an adjective, whirling, quoting Dryden's eddy winds.^[13] The verb was formed from the noun: transitive, to whirl round in eddies, in 1730 in Thomson's Autumn, and intransitive, to move in eddies, in 1810 in Scott's The Lady of the Lake.^[8][3] Merriam-Webster gives 1810 for the transitive sense.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1448 – ydy, a whirlpool, in Holland's Buke of the Howlat.^[8][2]
• 1553 – the spelling eddy.^[2]
• 1730 – verb, transitive, to whirl round in eddies.^[8][3]
• 1791 – figurative sense.^[8]
• 1810 – verb, intransitive, to move in eddies.^[8][3][4]
• 1815 – of wind, fog or dust.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A current of water or air running against the main current, especially one moving in a circle; a small whirlpool or whirlwind: Leaves spun in an eddy behind the boulder.^[15][4][8]
2. A movement of thought, policy or life that runs counter to the main trend or stands still, often a minor one.^[15][4]

Verb

1. To move in an eddy or in circles: Smoke eddied round the chimney pots.^[15][4][8]
2. To make something move in an eddy.^[4][8]

Word family

• eddy current

Usage notes

In Cheshire dialect an eddy, also neddy, was an idiot.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)