Quietly discussing noisome

Here’s an interesting bit from today’s Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day:

Noisome is often misconstrued as meaning “noisy; loud; clamorous.” In fact, it means “noxious; malodorous.” The word is related etymologically to “annoy.”

Here’s the etymology for noisome from the American Heritage Dictionary: “From the Middle English noiesom : noie, meaning harm (short for anoi, meaning annoyance, from Old French, from anoier, meaning to annoy)” + “the Middle English -som, from the Old English -sum, meaning -like.”

And the AHD etymology for annoy: “From the Middle English anoien, from the Old French anoier, ennuyer, from the Vulgar Latin inodiāre, meaning to make odious.”

You can subscribe to Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day here.