Today, fathom either serves as a word meaning "understand" or as a nautical unit of measurement equal to six feet, with both senses coming from the Old English word fæðm, meaning "embrace". The verb definition emerged from a notion of comprehension being a sort of envelopment, like a hug. The unit came about because, at one point, fæðm could also refer to a "length of outstretched arms", which is about six feet wide. Now that all that's explained, the word comes from Proto-Germanic faþmaz (also "embrace") and ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root peth, meaning "to spread out". The Proto-Germanic word has an f because of a regular sound change from PIE, but some related words on the Latin side of English include expand, petal, and patent.
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AUTHORHello! I'm Adam Aleksic. I have a linguistics degree from Harvard University, where I co-founded the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and wrote my thesis on Serbo-Croatian language policy. In addition to etymology, I also really enjoy traveling, trivia, philosophy, board games, conlanging, and art history.
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