Lumbering is not always a job

August 19th, 2008 at 07:00am Barry Wood

There are two kinds of lumbering, and both usually involve a lot of noise.

The origin of the “lumber” associated with wood products is a bit murky, but apparently it used to be a term for a pawnbroker’s shop or storeroom. Webster’s then uses three “hences,” which may be a record:

“Hence pawned articles in storage, hence stored articles, hence lumber.”

The first definition of “lumber” is still “miscellaneous discarded household articles, furniture, etc., stored away or taking up room.” (In my house, it’s called “the stuff in the basement.”)

The second defintion, the one most of us are familiar with, is “timber sawed into beams, planks, boards, etc., of convenient sizes.” It’s also the one that has given us “lumberjack,” “lumberman” and “lumberyard.”

The other “lumber,” also of hazy origin, is a verb for “to move heavily, clumsily and, often, noisily” or “to rumble.” Military tanks often are said to lumber.

The legendary Paul Bunyan would have lumbered in both senses of the word.

Entry Filed under: word origins