"offal" + "awful" (+ "awesome")
only one of these is truly "trash" while another is merely "bad"
2025-10-05 11:42 // updated 2026-03-04 22:05
it looks like "offal" (trash) and "awful" (bad) could share a common forefather, but no:
offal
- Old English of- ("off") + feallan ("fall"), i.e. that which "falls off"
- Old Norse affall [af ("from") + fall ("fall")], cognate with:
- Swedish avfall
- Danish affald
- German Abfall
- Dutch afval
- Old Norse affall [af ("from") + fall ("fall")], cognate with:
awful
- Middle English awfull or awe-ful [awe ("feeling of fear") + ful ("full")]
- borrowed from Old Norse agi ("terror")
- Proto-Germanic *agaz ("terror")
- PIE *h2egh ("fear")
- Proto-Germanic *agaz ("terror")
- borrowed from Old Norse agi ("terror")
thus, the word "awe" has to do with "fear" but today, with "awful", it's not fear, but "disgust"! So, what is "awesome"?
- well, from the same source: "awe" means "a feeling of fear"
- …but it can also mean a "feeling of wonder"
- …as things that once gave a sense of wonder, were also feared!
- …but it can also mean a "feeling of wonder"