"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

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")

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!

on wiktionary

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