The word was first recorded in English in 1398, from Latin. John Trevisa, translating De Proprietatibus Rerum, a medieval encyclopaedia, used it to describe the vital moisture believed to nourish an onion through its many layers.
Latin gave English the word directly, without passing through French. By around 400, the Christian theologian Augustine had already used the Latin word, in a general sense meaning 'original, or primary'.
Behind the Latin word lay a noun meaning 'root'. That noun traces to a Proto-Indo-European root, *wrād-, meaning 'branch, or root'.
RAMUS and RADISH share the same root. RAMUS entered English in 1803, from Latin, describing a branch or branching part of an anatomical structure. RADISH entered English around 1000, borrowed from Latin radix, a sharp-tasting root of a plant of the mustard family.
By 1783 the word was being applied to political reformers who wanted change from the roots of government. In 1819, the novelist Walter Scott called it one 'in very bad odour', used only to describe a set of disreputable troublemakers. Some of these reformers were known for wearing a distinctive white hat at public meetings. Within a generation, the word had lost its sting, becoming a title its supporters wore with pride.
