r/etymology: perk
I've been staring at this word "PERK" for the past few days and after a while it started to look weird (we offer “perks” to our startups… longer story).
Anyway, I'd type and wonder if I was really spelling it right. I chose it because I was looking for a shorter-one-word term to replace "Deals & Discounts" which was just a lot of letters. As one does (or maybe just me), I started my etymological search to see if this really was the right word to use.
perk (n.) / purk /
1869, shortened colloquial form of perquisite
perquisite (n.) / pur-kwuh-zit /
an incidental benefit gained from a certain type of employment, such as the use of a company car
a customary benefit received in addition to a regular income
a customary tip
something expected or regarded as an exclusive right
Origin of Perquisite
mid-15c., "property acquired other than by inheritance," from Medieval Latin perquisitum "thing gained, profit," in classical Latin, "thing sought after," noun use of neuter past participle of perquirere"to seek, ask for," from per "thoroughly" (see per) + quærere "to seek" (see query (v.)).
General meaning "fee or profit on top of regular wages" first recorded 1560s.
The vowel change of -ae- to -i- in Latin is due to a phonetic rule in that language involving unaccented syllables in compounds. (← I didn't know this).
This 1560’s word “perquisite” was shortened in 1869 to “perk” this old word feels outdated, but Google Trends showed increased use of the word in the last 20 years.
Recent Popularity
At first, I was seeing trends in post bubble (2008) that might align with startups & startup benefits, but then I scrolled down...
All Related Topics & Queries are all Video Game Related. Strange. I don’t know these games well — so it led me further down the rabbit whole to Wikipedia…
"Perks" are special bonuses that video game players can add to their characters to give special abilities. The term refers to the general usage of "perk" as an abbreviation of "perquisite". Perks are a variation of the power-up mechanic, but are permanent rather than temporary and are progressively unlocked through experience points.
The first video game to use the term "perks" to refer to such a mechanic was possibly the 1997 role-playing video game Fallout.
This all ties into XP or Experience Points - a unit of measurement for an RPG to quantify a players progression through the game.
“Perquisite,” once the most popular version in the 1800s declines and the launch of Fallout, the RPG video game, the word “Perk & Perks” take off!
In Summary:
“Perk” is short for “perquisite”
a perquisite is an incidental benefit (and I like the video game definition "special bonuses.")
The video game "perks" term has been around since 1997 (Fallout Launch) and the term has grown exponentially since (beating out 1800's perquisite at it's height of popularity).
"perk" is much easier to spell than "perquisite"
It feels even more relevant to move to the word “Perks” instead of “Deals & Discounts.” We are a Sci-Fi accelerator after all.
New term adopted, "Perks" are special bonuses we offer our startups to help them "power up permanently."
The End. 👩💻
