Wall Street Journal: “As the ‘weird’ wars continue, it’s worth considering how the word could end up becoming politically weaponized in the first place. ‘Weird’ is being used as a pithy label to describe opinions or behavior considered creepy or bizarre. But that meaning is relatively new in the word’s history.”
“The origin of ‘weird’ is in the Old English word ‘wyrd,’ a noun meaning ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ that appeared in some of the earliest Anglo-Saxon written records. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, classical learning became highly prized, and the word ‘wyrd’ got applied to the Fates from Greek and Roman mythology, personified as three sisters who ensured that humans lived out their destinies.”
