Grant's Response

Alas, no, Melissa, it's not right.

It's not an acronym at all. In fact, there is no record of an acronym
from before about 1900, so you can be sure that if someone claims
that a word with a long history is one, that it isn't. I'm using the
strict definition of "acronym," by the way, meaning that the letters
that stand for each word in the phrase are pronounced as a word and
not spelled out. Otherwise, you could count SPQR and perhaps ICHTHUS,
which I am just counting as initialisms.

According to my reference books, "news" is from the Middle English
"newes," the plural of "newe" meaning "new thing." That in turn is
from the Old English "niwe" or "neowe" (the vowels following each "n"
are long). Even further back, the same root shows up in Old Norse, in
Greek, and, originally, in the Latin "novus," which, of course, just
means "new."

So, it's probably best to keep that book in the bathroom and use it
for bum-fodder. :)

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Now you've got me singing that song from the Bob Hope movie "The
Paleface": East is east and west is west...buttons and bows, dah di
dah...


Grant Barrett
Co-host, "A Way with Words"
http://waywordradio.org