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TODAY'S WORD / PHRASE

It is interesting to know how the present day names, usages etc., have derived.

Trade Winds:
They are named in this way because they are always trading or trading in one uniform track.  It is a mistake to derive the word from trade (commerce) under the notion that they are ' good for trade.'  The correct derivation is (Anglo-Saxon) Treddle-wind, a treading wind- ie. wind of a specific beat or tread ( from the word tredan- to tread). In the northern hemisphere, the trade winds blow from the north-east and, in the southern hemisphere from the south-east, about thirty degrees each side of the Equator. In some places, they blow six months in one direction  and six months in the opposite. 

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