WEBVTT

00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:08.473
Mysteries of vernacular:

00:00:08.473 --> 00:00:13.277
Bewilder, to confuse or puzzle completely.

00:00:13.277 --> 00:00:14.797
The root of the word bewilder

00:00:14.797 --> 00:00:18.542
can be traced back to the Old English word wilde,

00:00:18.542 --> 00:00:20.402
which was used to refer to something

00:00:20.402 --> 00:00:22.752
that was in a natural state,

00:00:22.752 --> 00:00:24.230
uncultivated,

00:00:24.230 --> 00:00:26.423
or undomesticated.

00:00:26.423 --> 00:00:28.838
Over time, the word wild was often linked

00:00:28.838 --> 00:00:31.913
to the Old English word deor.

00:00:31.913 --> 00:00:33.968
Deor, which was derived

00:00:33.968 --> 00:00:36.515
from an early Indo-European root

00:00:36.515 --> 00:00:38.023
that meant breathe,

00:00:38.023 --> 00:00:39.866
was initially used to describe

00:00:39.866 --> 00:00:43.195
any untamed animal or beast.

00:00:43.195 --> 00:00:47.054
This eventually morphed into the modern word deer,

00:00:47.054 --> 00:00:51.210
meaning a ruminant of the family Cervidae.

00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:53.295
The two Old English words,

00:00:53.295 --> 00:00:54.881
when mashed together,

00:00:54.881 --> 00:00:57.121
became wilderness,

00:00:57.121 --> 00:00:59.922
meaning a tract of uncultivated land,

00:00:59.922 --> 00:01:04.168
primarily inhabited by undomesticated beasts.

00:01:04.168 --> 00:01:05.714
From the word wilderness,

00:01:05.714 --> 00:01:08.584
the word wilder was born.

00:01:08.584 --> 00:01:11.762
To wilder someone was to lead him astray

00:01:11.762 --> 00:01:14.396
or lure him into the woods.

00:01:14.396 --> 00:01:18.085
In the 1600's, the prefix be,

00:01:18.085 --> 00:01:19.774
meaning thoroughly,

00:01:19.774 --> 00:01:21.602
was compounded with wilder

00:01:21.602 --> 00:01:25.676
as a way of tacking on a little extra punch.

00:01:25.676 --> 00:01:27.874
Someone who was bewildered

00:01:27.874 --> 00:01:30.501
was thoroughly lost in the wild.

00:01:30.501 --> 00:01:32.672
From this winding background,

00:01:32.672 --> 00:01:36.917
bewilder eventually evolved into our current definition,

00:01:36.917 --> 00:01:39.915
to be completely confused.