Etymology

I’m in a musing mood, Dear Reader, having been in London all day and talking seriously. Not my natural state, when it finally happens heaven help anyone listening. I came across the phrase “brand spanking new” and it struck me how the word is often used so innocently. Now the whole phrase seems a bit weird, I’ve always assumed “brand new” came from the “brandmark” still being clear on a newly bought item.  It seems not – I’m assured it comes from removing a burning brand from a fire, it only being useful when new.

In modern parlance the “brand” bit has been dropped rather, and you just get a “spanking new” car (to be clear, it’s not my fault if you didn’t). So what’s with this adjectival spanking then? Funnily enough, it looks like the sort we are all familiar with is a warped version of this original meaning! The original meaning of the word spanking in the adjectival context is to be “striking” in appearance or action and comes from Scandinavian roots “spanke” = to strut. Maybe some brat strutted a bit too much one day and the striking bit was given a more physical interpretation If so, she has a lot to answer for.

I still can’t read the phrase “a spanking fine woman” without grinning though.  Maybe that’s why it’s died out. I won’t insult my Reader’s intelligence by pretending to debate who this description fits best; there can only be one candidate:

*the derivational views expressed in this post are the result of seconds years of googling study, and hence must be accurate. If you are an expert and disagree, keep it shut shorty.