Ever look at a word or phrase and think - what the heck does that mean? Time to have a little fun. Each week I'll post a word or phrase that either must have interesting etymology or is just plain peculiar. Then you post your best guess at what the word or phrase actually means. Or, be creative and see if you can come up with a plausible but completely wrong answer to throw us all off track. If you have suggestions for the "Word of the week", please email me.
OK - this week's question is, "why is it called 'real estate'?"
We've had two people weigh in with their answers so far:
Kerri:
real (adj.)
1448, "relating to things" (esp. property), from O.Fr. reel, from L.L. realis "actual," from L. res "matter, thing," of unknown origin. Meaning "genuine" is recorded from 1559; that of "actually existing" is attested from 1597; sense of "unaffected, no-nonsense" is from 1847. Real estate is first recorded 1666 and retains the oldest Eng. sense of the word; Realistic "true to reality" (in art, etc.) is from 1856; meaning "having a practical view of life" is attested from 1862. Noun phrase real time is from 1953; get real, usually an interjection, was U.S. college slang in 1960s, reached wide popularity c.1987.
Lynzey:
Because it's a tangible (real) inheritance within a person's will (estate).
Obviously, these two are vying to see who can come up with the right answer. Let's see some creative alternatives!
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3 comments:
In spite of the name, real estate has no connection with the concept of reality (in other words, the law does not consider real property more "real" than personal property). It derives instead from the feudal principle that in a monarchy , all land was considered the property of the king. Thus originally the term real estate was equivalent to "royal estate", "real" originating from the French "royale", as it was the French-speaking Normans who introduced feudalism to England and thus to the English language; cognate to Spanish "real".
It's called real estate because "Bother-me-all-the-time-then-vanish-before-the-ink-is-dry-on-the-sale-agreement-never-to-be-heard-from-again-except-when-you-send-me-irritating-and-poorly-designed-marketing-materials Agent" doesn't fit well on business cards.
Kristina
I have no idea what real estate means, and personally dont' care, as I have just sold some and got a whole bunch of money out of it!...
BUT... I do have a new phrase for everyone to play with...
Is anyone familiar with Circlocryogenic Theory?
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