Momentarily Miffed

I feel it necessary to mourn the passing of a good distinction in words. Momentarily, meaning “for a moment,” is being transmogrified into meaning “in a moment.” Like when I hear the scraping of fingernails on a chalkboard, I cringe whenever a United Airlines crew member (it must be in their “script”) says “we will be arriving momentarily” when our arrival will take place soon and last for more than just a moment, unless you define "a moment" as 45 minutes to an hour. Or they say “we’ll be waiting momentarily for takeoff,” and that moment can be anywhere from five minutes to hours.

Now, for those nitpickers who want to point out to me that momentarily has a secondary meaning of “in a moment” I would posit that the word was perfectly good at describing a short-term situation and words like soon, anon, apace, forthwith, and (in the U.K.) straightaway work very well at expressing something liminal. Momentarily was first used to mean “for a moment” in 1650. For over two centuries that is what it meant. Then in 1928 someone (probably drunk with illicit hootch during the days of prohibition) misused the word to mean “in a moment” and since then the bothersome practice has increased.

If you wanted to say something would happen soon you would use the word soon. If you wanted to add speed to its occurrence you would use the word apace. If you wanted to be a little less distinct than soon you would use anon, and if you wanted to say something closer to “in a moment,” meaning quicker than soon, you would use forthwith.

The distinction between “for a moment” and “in a moment” may be small to many people, but to me it makes a difference whether I have to get all my belongings and get off the plane quickly because it will only be at the gate for a short time or if I only have to wait a short time to get to the gate.

One more thing: what other word do we have in English to mean “for a moment”? Briefly comes close, but is less distinct. Temporarily has a slightly different meaning, as if the action taking place is on its way to another permanent situation. (“We’re in this area temporarily until our gate opens up.”) We have plenty of words – shorter words – for “in a moment.” Use them, and leave momentarily to express a short duration!

Okay, now for some etymology (from etymonline.com). Momentarily was formed from the word momentary which came to English in the 1400s from the Latin word momentarius that means “of brief duration.” Apace has been used in English even longer, from the mid-1300s, and means “at a quick pace,” pace meaning step and coming to English in the 1200s from both Old French (pas) and Latin (passum). Forthwith means “at once” or “immediately” and is the modern equivalent of the Old English forð mid. So it comes to English from English, as does soon (it was sona in Old English). Anon is also Old English, though it developed a sense of procrastination as early as the 1520s.  

I’ll get to the words briefly and temporarily anon. But it won’t be momentarily. It will be another long post.