Re: Next word: "key"

Herman Miller scripsit:

> How does one word end up with so many meanings?
Here's my best effort to disentangle this mess.

1) "Key" is of unknown origin; its only cognate is Flemish _kei_.
The best guess is that it comes from Prim. Gmc. *ki- 'split, open', as
in G _keil_ 'wedge'.  So the central meaning is the opener of a lock.
This has been extended in three different semantic directions:

2) "Most important part".  Here we have the keystone, the top stone of
the arch which holds it in place.  "Key idea" is another example of this.
"Key" is also applied to cotter pins, probably by analogy with keystones.
Finally we have the "key", or free-throw area, in basketball.

3) "That which reveals".  Here belongs the cryptographic key and the answer
key to a test; also the map key (or legend) which explains what the
symbols mean.  When lighting a stage or movie, a "key light" is one
that shines directly on a particular actor; "low-key" meant originally
(and still, in jargon) using a key light of low intensity; by extension,
it became a synonym for "low-intensity" in general.

4) "Lever", because classical keys (the barrel-shaped type with a flag on
the side that opened ward locks) were basically levers.  This accounts
for the piano key, the telegraph key, and the typewriter key, which
latter gave its name to the computer key.  (Indeed, the use of old words
in new senses is a very noticeable quality of computer technical jargon.)

Somewhat related is:

5) The musical "key", a calque of F _clef_, which refers to some feature
of mediaeval musical description I don't understand exactly.  The clef
symbols (F, G, C) that show which note of the musical staff is which,
are technically doublets of this use of "key".  By extension from the
technical uses of "major key" and "minor key", we get the meaning "tone,
style" applied to non-musical things.

Unrelated are:

6) "Small island", from Spanish _cayo_, and there a borrowing from Taino.

7) "Wharf" (nowadays spelled "quay", mysteriously), which is from French
dialect, of Breton origin, and is cognate (of all things) with English
"hedge".

--
Verbogeny is one of the pleasurettes    John Cowan <jcowan@...>
of a creatific thinkerizer.             http://www.reutershealth.com
   -- Peter da Silva                    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

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