# anyone know the origin of "news"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-origin-of-news/86914>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-origin-of-news/86914 "2001-10-11T22:44:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![epraz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/82dd89/32.png) [@epraz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epraz)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-origin-of-news/86914/1 "2001-10-11T22:44:33Z")

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Anyone happen to know how the word news came about to describe the detailing of current events? I always assumed the obvious…these things were new, thus they were dubbed “news.” But someone tried to tell me that it stood for “north, east, west, south.” I think that’s just dumb, but can anyone track this down?

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**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-origin-of-news/86914/2 "2001-10-11T22:50:01Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, **epraz**! This is an urban legend, debunked by [snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/news.htm).

Arjuna34

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**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-the-origin-of-news/86914/3 "2001-10-12T02:06:17Z")

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The _north, east, west, south_ origin is also dismissed by Brewer, who goes on to say:

'This supposition is destroyed by by the old spelling _newes_; it is from the French _nouvelles_…The word _news_ is now nearly always construed as singular (“The _news_ is very good”), but it was formerly treated as a plural, and in _The Letters Of Queen Victoria_ the Queen and most of her correspondents so treated it.

To the King of the Belgians, 20 August 1861:

_The news from Austria are very sad, and make one very anxious._