The Word History of an Explosive Performance

Hello,

I’ve previously written about how fiasco is a word originally in the theatre, but I never thought I’d have something similar to say about explosions.

Explosive – a disarmed sea mine from the Irish National Maritime Museum

Explode originally joined English in the 1500s from the Latin verb explodere which meant to drive out by clapping, hissing, or hooting. It wasn’t a dangerous wild animal that the Romans were driving away, it was an unfortunate actor who had failed to reach audience expectations. Apparently Greek audiences behaved in a similar way.

You can catch a glimpse of this meaning when we speak about exploding a theory. We’re not blowing it up, we’re rejecting it.

The word can also be broken down into ex (out) and plaudere (to clap the hands). Plaudere gives us other words like applause, plausible, and plaudits. More on these later.

With time the English meaning of explode changed somewhat. By the 1700s, the idea of the loud noise was retained but became associated with something disintegrating in a loud fashion. By the 1800s you might speak of an explosion of activity or the types of explosions we know today (gas, bombs, gunpowder etc.), and by the 1950s of a population explosion, which presumably wasn’t so audible.

But how does plausible fit in? It literally means that an idea is worthy of applause. Presumably if your theory was implausible you’d be hissed off the stage. As for plaudit, those ancient Roman actors would shout plaudite! at the end of their show to ask for applause from the audience. This association led to plaudits being associated with praise for a performer, a meaning we recognise today.

Until next time happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)

p.s. Want more Wordfoolery? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter “Wordfoolery Whispers”. Sign up to avoid missing out! Don’t forget to click on the confirmation email, which might hide in your spam folder.