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In a message dated 1/21/2002 6:14:57 PM Pacific Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Message text written by "The mining-history list." > >asked me why coal was called coal< > > Sure somebody will give much more detail (even chapter & verse) but > essentially, I believe, from charcoal - early distinction therefrom by > referring to stone coal, pit coal etc - and qualifiers dropped once coal > (per se) became the norm. But from whence cometh the suffix of charcoal, etc.? No doubt the OED contains the answer. Noel K.