965: moist and must Jul 31, 2017

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According to the BBC, the most unpopular word in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia is 'moist', so there is a good chance that many of you don't like the word; nevertheless, it does have an interesting etymology. The word ultimately comes from the Latin 'mucidus' meaning 'moldy', but it was also influenced by the word 'musteus' meaning ‘fresh’, even though those two ideas are not necessarily related. The word is also related to the noun 'must', both as it relates to grape juice and also dampness (but not the frenzied state of certain animals during mating-season). Concerning the former, 'must' meaning "grape juice before or during fermentation" comes from that same Latin word for 'fresh' while the other 'must', or to be more precise, 'musty' is thought to come from an alteration of the word 'moist', also influenced by the grape juice sense of 'must'. Despite that variety of words to which 'moist' is related, it should be noted that there is no connection between that word and 'mold' nor 'mist', which arguably have a more similar meaning to 'moist' that either of those aforementioned senses of 'must' in the way that people use them contemporarily.

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