You got my curiosity up enough to look it up in my desktop dictionary (Merriam-Webster's New Collegiate). According to the dictionary, the word "step" as in "step-son" is actually a different word than the usual word that means to walk or the steps on a staircase, etc, which comes from the Old English "staepe". The "step" as in "step-son" comes from the Old English "steop" meaning related by virtue of remarriage, and not by blood. Merritt > ______________________________ > From: gotcher@ktis.net (Clyde E. Gotcher) > Hello out there. Was just wondering - How did > it come about that "step" became associated > children of another marriage ie "step son", > "step-father" etc,etc.. Seems to me that a > "stepchild" would be one that had been left on > a step/stoop by someone who didn't want them > rather than the issue of a bona fide marriage. > Nothing to do with the list - just a question > that I asked myself as I was reading. > Clyde >