Have you ever wondered where the word ‘helicopter’ comes from? I always thought it originated from the pairing of the words ‘heli’ and ‘copter’. After all, there are words like ‘heli-pad’ and ‘copter’ (or a ‘chopper’) that seem to support that interpretation. Turns out, that’s not true at all! Language has a funny way of taking a word and morphing it into something else.
Since I mentioned taxis in my last post, it feels only fitting to write about the origin of this word today. I have always been fascinated by etymology – the scientific study of the origin and evolution of words. I love to find out about the weird and wonderful connections that exist in languages. Especially as a history nerd, it is so cool to learn about how a word reflects the time and place of its origin. So, for whatever reason, I once started thinking about whether there was a connection between the words ‘taxi’ and ‘tax’.
