Criss means "a wooden stand with a curved top on which crest tiles are shaped." But when we combine "criss" and "crossed" (criss-crossed) it means "to move or exist in a pattern of lines crossing something or each other." Why is that? It seems that with this combination "criss" has lost its original meaning. Thank you 🙏!
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2 Answers
The origin of crisscross has nothing to do with the word criss.
From the Online Etymology Dictionary:
crisscross (n.)
also criss-cross, 1833, "a checked pattern in cloth," 1848, "a crossing or intersection," from Middle English crist(s)-crosse (early 15c.), earlier Cristes-cros (c. 1200) "the Cross of Christ," also "the sign of the cross," from late 14c. often "referring to the mark of a cross formerly written before the alphabet in hornbooks. The mark itself stood for the phrase Christ-cross me speed ('May Christ's cross give me success'), a formula said before reciting the alphabet" [Barnhart]. It has long been used without awareness of its origin.How long agoo lerned ye, 'Crist crosse me spede!'
Have ye no more lernyd of youre a b c,
[Lydgate, "The Prohemy of a Marriage Betwix an Olde Man and a Yonge Wife," c. 1475]It is attested from 1860 as an old name for tic-tac-toe. As an adjective, by 1846. As a verb, by 1818.
answered Jul 17, 2020 at 6:59
Criss-cross is an example of "ablaut-reduplication" the word is doubled with a change in vowel sound. Other examples of this include "zig-zag", "pitter-patter", "flip-flop" Notice that the first sound tends to be a high vowel like /i/ and the second is a low vowel like /a/
This reduplication was, no doubt, influenced by "Christ-cross", with the loss of the "t" to conform with the reduplication and for euphony.
