Unraveling the Epic Origins of the Word “Clue”

Tuesday, January 104 min read

In a twisted tale of Greek mythology involving a labyrinth and a flesh-eating minotaur, a young man navigated a deadly maze using a simple tool: a ball of yarn or string, called a “clew.” The modern spelling of “clue” wasn’t popularized until the 17th century, but hints of its mythological origins are still present in the contemporary definition (“a fact or idea that serves as a guide or aid in a task or problem”).

It’s estimated that more than 150,000 English words are derived from Greek, including the word “clue.” Its origins go back to the fascinating tale of Ariadne, the Cretan princess devoted to her Athenian hero Theseus, and how she helped him escape from the clutches of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.

Following the “Clew”

The story goes something like this: King Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphae had a beautiful daughter named Ariadne. But the gods cursed Pasiphae with an insatiable lust for a bull, and with it she conceived a half-bull, half-human creature called the Minotaur. The beast was so monstrous that it had to be housed in an intricate labyrinth designed by master architect Daedalus. No one ever made it out of the maze alive, but the valiant Athenian Theseus was determined to slay the Minotaur. When he arrived on the island, Princess Ariadne fell madly in love with him and gave him a “clew” (a ball of yarn or string) to help him safely make his way out of the maddeningly twisted labyrinth. And so legend goes that Theseus managed to slay the Minotaur and make his way out of the maze using Adriadne’s clew.

So, how did we go from this epic tale of a “clew” (meaning “yarn” or “string”) to its modern iteration? For that we have to start with Old English, in which the word cliewen or cleowen was used to denote a ball of thread, which turned into clewe in Middle English (as seen, for instance, in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer). The definition still meant “a ball of thread, yarn, or cord,” as in Ariadne’s lifesaving tool, but around the 1620s the meaning evolved into a figurative sense of “that which points the way.” By 1948, there was an additional definition of ”something which a bewildered person does not have.” (Get a clue!)

As for the spelling, “clewe” and “cleue” were both seen in Middle English. While this was Germanic, other words borrowed from Old French around the same time turned endings of “-ue” and “-eu” into “-ew,” such as “blew” and “imbew.” Shifting from “-ew” back to “-ue” happened around the 15th century, with the first spelling of “clue” in the mid-15th century.

Detective’s Clues

By the late 19th century, the word “clue” was further popularized by a surge in crime and detective fiction. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales, the mastermind detective follows intricate threads of clues to solve crimes. According to LeRoy Lad Panek in his book After Sherlock Holmes: The Evolution of British and American Detective Stories, 1891-1914, “In addition to following trails or scents, finding a ‘clew’ or ‘clews’ almost universally described the path to the detective’s success.”

Only through logical and ingenious sleuthing, i.e., picking up a thread of clues and following where they lead, could a detective crack the case. By the 20th century, the detective story was understood as a kind of long riddle or puzzle, in which both the detective and reader are presented with a series of clues to unravel the mystery together.

We can also see ties to the original mythological origins in the 1949 game Clue, a whodunit-style board game set in a Victorian mansion, in which players have to collect clues to figure out who murdered poor Mr. Boddy. Players must be the first to guess the murder weapon, location, and suspect in the case file envelope, using a series of clues from other players. The ubiquitous board game has since evolved to include multiple spin-offs, such as card games, a British game show, updated editions with new characters, and the 1985 cult-classic movie Clue. One of the original murder weapons was a piece of rope or string, but it’s unclear whether the game’s creator Anthony Pratt had that “clew” in mind when he patented the game.

Unraveling the Clue

While the meaning of “clue” has taken on a wider range of definitions, the word is still used in the context of unlocking or unraveling the answer to a mystery. In spring 2021, pop icon Taylor Swift dropped a series of clues for her fans to decode on social media about which songs would be released on her new album. In one video on Instagram, she wrote in the caption: "The vault door is about to be as unhinged as you'll think I am after you watch this video. Level: Expert. Happy decoding!"

There seems to be a universal thrill in following clues to tease out an answer (think of the popularity of crossword puzzles and escape rooms), as well as a love of the mystery genre (from Agatha Christie’s oeuvre to films and TV shows such as CSI, Knives Out, and Only Murders in the Building). If you find yourself trying to unravel the answer to an intricate problem (or if you come face-to-face with a beastly Minotaur), maybe you’ll also find a “clew” to help guide your way.

Featured image credit: gremlin/ iStock

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