Origin of the Word News

It is apparent that, the word “news“ comes from the word "new”. As its name implies, "news" typically implies the representation or narration of new information. News is, in fact, information about current events. There is a myth that the word “news” is derived from the four cardinal directions.

It was said that the word is an acronym formed from the initial letters of the four cardinal compass points (north, east, west, and south), supposedly because news is information from all over the land. But, surprisingly, our word ‘news’ is derived from the plural form of ‘’new.’’

Before the onset of the 14^th century, instead of using the word “news”, the Englishmen typically used the term “tidings”, which more or less means, “event” or “occurrence.” The English word "news" developed in the 14th century as a special use of the plural form of "new." However, this is a somewhat rare instance of an English adjective becoming a noun when made a plural.

In all probability, it seems to have come from "nouvelles": a word that shows up in French Bibles as the translation from the original Latin word "nova”, meant, new things, originated from "novus" or new. Interestingly, ‘nova’ is now used by astronomers to describe a star that shows a sudden large increase in brightness