In response to a number of request from our last "swim in the pool", I've researched the origin of the word bizarre. It is apparently an ancient word that comes to us from the Basque language. Basque is a rather obscure language spoken primarily by the people of the same name who reside mostly in Northeastern Spain, on the border with France. It is unlike virtually every other European language and its exact origin is largely unknown.
What is known is that in its original form, bizarra, in ancient Basque, meant beard. It was eventually adopted by the Spanish and Portugese who altered its meaning to handsome or brave. Sometime in the middle of the 17th century it began to be used commonly by the French who, for reasons unknown today, changed its meaning to its modern connotations: strange or grotesque. Linguists theorize that in the many years of conflict between the Basques and the French, the French altered the word's meaning to demean their opponents.
For whatever reason, how bizarre is it that what was once a word used in the affirmative (brave, handsome) came to be one with such a negative connotation (strange, weird, grotesque)? :)
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