Handsome is as Handsome Does
Is there really a hand in handsome? If so, how?
Let’s examine the -some part first. It was an Old English suffix (-sum) used primarily to form adjectives from nouns, and occasionally from other adjectives and verbs.
So the suffix -some added to hand meant pertaining to a hand. Let’s follow the evolution of the word, starting in 1435 A.D., through the eyes of the Oxford English Dictionary.
• Easy to handle or manipulate, or to wield, deal with, or use in any way.
• Of action, speech, etc.: Appropriate, apt, dexterous, clever, happy: in reference to language, sometimes implying gracefulness of style.
• Proper, fitting, seemly, becoming, decent, courteous, gracious.
• Of a sum of money, a fortune, a gift, etc.: Considerable. Now in stronger sense: Ample, generous, liberal, munificent.
• Having a fine form or figure (usually in conjunction with full size or stateliness); ‘beautiful with dignity’; ‘fine’. (The prevailing current sense.)
So, “attractive because easy to handle” eventually lost the hand but retained the attractiveness.
Most people will recognize some of the other surviving -some forms:
adventuresome: seeking risky activities
awesome: inspiring awe; prodigious
bothersome: causing bother
cumbersome: unwieldy and clumsy
fearsome: causing fear; timid
fulsome: offending through excess; insincere
gruesome: horrible; grisly
loathsome: abhorrent; offensive
lonesome: suffering from lack of company
meddlesome: given to interfering
noisome: foul; disgusting; harmful
quarrelsome: contentious; belligerent
wholesome: salutary; sound; healthful
winsome: of an attractive nature or disposition
SIDEBAR: Handsome Devil
Comments