OCR Text |
Show Origin or the Word "sits. It Is popular to say that tbe word "news" Is derived from the Initial letters let-ters of th tour point of the compass, arranged In a device In tba form ot a cross, and placed at the top ot aome of th earliest news sheets to Indicate that their content were derived from all quarters, but It Is easy to show that this Is purely (snclful, The earliest English newspaper dates from 11(2, yet we find the word "news'' exactly In Ita modern sens In Sheketpeare, who died fifty years earlier namely, In )(18. Thus we have In "Macbeth,' "How nowj What new!" In "Winter's "Win-ter's Tl," "Dul let time' new be brought" In "King John," "Even at that news he die " This list, which might be much prolonged, effectually disposes of tbe popular theory. |