Most of us know what a Kindle is--it's an electronic book from Amazon, right? But did you know that "kindle" is an actual word in English? It means to ignite, to set on fire, and it comes from Middle English through Norse, from a verb meaning--of all things--to give birth.
It's an evocative word--meaning something more than just starting on fire. It also means to set a spark, and then nurture the flame. So it's often used metaphorically, as in the sentence "his words kindled a desire in me."
No wonder Amazon chose it for their ebook!
No comments:
Post a Comment