Q. My new neighbor is from Sweden. When she saw a dog-grooming shop, she asked what "grooming" had to do with a "groom" at a wedding. We came up with two theories: 1) the need to clean up the future husband for the wedding ceremony, or 2) a "groom," meaning someone responsible for keeping horses in top shape. Is either one correct? — Cyndi Jones, Columbia, S.C.

A. Having known a couple of bridegrooms who needed serious sprucing up before their nuptials, I'm sorely tempted to go with No. 1. As for No. 2, the "groom" that means "a keeper of horses" IS connected to the wedding "groom," but in a very strange way.

Our modern "groom," meaning "a man being married," is a contraction of "bridegroom," which derives from the Old English "brydguma," a combination of "bryd" ("bride") and "guma" ("man"). So a "brydguma" was a "man for the bride."

Later, in Middle English, "brydguma" became "bridegome." But during the 1500s, folks started to insert an "r" into "brydgome," making it "brydgrome."

Why? People were already well acquainted with the common word "groom," derived from the Middle English "groma" and meaning "a caretaker of horses." So it seemed only natural to turn the similar syllable "gome" in "brydgome" into the more familiar "grome."

This would be like TV-sated kids today hearing the word "anvil" and rendering it as "Advil." (Come to think of it, both are related to pounding, "not tonight, dear" headaches.)

So the horse-keeping "groom" is indeed related to the wedding "groom," but only because the "groom" sound of the first replaced the "gome" of the second.

(By the way, this insertion of a new letter into a word is quite common in English. "Belfrey," for instance, was originally "berfrey," but, because of its association with "bell," its "r" became an "l." Similarly, "gridiron" was first "gridirne," but because many a gridirne was made of iron, its last syllable was turned to "iron," too.)

Returning to "bridegroom," not everyone accepted the insertion of the second "r" into this word. Noah Webster, for one, detested it. In his 1828 dictionary, he spelled it the old way: "bridegoom" and noted, "This word, by a mispronouncing of the last syllable, has been corrupted into "bridegroom," which signifies "a bride's hostler ... a man who takes care of horses."

Noah's "neigh"-saying aside, the bridle "groom" and the bridal "groom" are forever wedded by sound and spelling.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.