If I told you that the word “news” originated from the acronym for “north, east, west, south”, would you believe me?

Actually, I was wondering where the word "news" originated form. So I looked at an interesting etmylogical website.

News is not an acronym of "north east south west," as though "information from all quarters of the compass." That false etymology goes back at least to 1640, when it was a joke. News is "new things;" it's simply the plural of new "a new thing," a Middle English noun use of the adjective new. The specific English use of news probably is modeled on French nouvelles, which was used in Bible translations to render Medieval Latin nova (a neuter plural) "news," literally "new things."

English had news centuries before it had a newspaper (or a cable news network, or an internet newsgroup). That the word grows out of the New Testament shouldn't surprise anyone (look at the book's name).

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Where did the salutation “goodbye” come from?

“Goodbye” comes from the term “Godbwye” a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye” first used around 1570. 

The first documented use of the “Godbwye” appeared in an English letter.

As time went on, it is believed the phrase was influenced by terms like “good day” and “good evening”, transitioning then from “god be with ye” to god-b’wye to good-b’wy and finally ending in today’s blessing of goodbye.

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If you're learning English, here is an exercise that could help you develop your skills.

1 Go to this website: https://www.etymonline.com/

2 Find a word you think is interesting

3 Copy the explanation

4 Edit the explanation (make it more simple)

5 Post it in the Discussion section