When is Father's Day 2022

Why the way we name fathers reminds us we spring from the same well.

Tracking the linguistic evolution of modern “father,” we find it as far back as written English goes – with references to “feadur” or “fadur” or “fædor” in Old English texts from the seventh to 11th centuries. This means that the word “father” likely came from a long-dead source language, estimated to date back some 6,000 years. These changes likely started out as dialect variants that became more distinct as groups of speakers were separated and new languages evolved – with the shifted sounds. But the similarity in terms used for “father” doesn’t stop with this Germanic forefather. Indeed, had the big reveal been “I am your fader” it would have made a nice play on the heavy-breathing villain’s name with a nod to an old Dutch term for “father.” The true origin story of Vader’s moniker is not as cool as the myth.