How, why, and whence does a word gain advent into the English vocabulary? That question has hundreds of thousands of vivid, sometimes funny answers. In At the Wording Desk, author Bill Casselman, one of Canada’s leading etymologists, shares a collection of some of the more colorful and interesting word origins. With a dose of lively humor, he offers an explanation of a plethora of words and gives the historical Latin and Greek roots and their meaning as spoken and written throughout history. In At the Wording Desk, he: explains that the word “travel” comes from trepalium, a Roman torture device; examines the origin of English words which end in the pejorative suffix –ard such as coward, dullard, lubbard, and sluggard; discuss how canopy first meant mosquito net; defines the meaning of wind-rose, advection, and a host of other interesting words; and tells why carpe diem does not mean “seize the day.” From thaumaturgy to clavis, xanthopterin , and more, Casselman offers an extensive look at the history of a variety of rare words.
At the Wording Desk
Notes Nimble and Spry about the Origin of Words
By Bill CasselmanTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2016 Bill Casselman
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4907-7214-1Contents
Dedication, v,
List of My Published Books, xi,
Introduction, xvii,
Chapter 1 Our Word Travel comes from Trepalium, a Roman Torture Device, 1,
Chapter 2 Tournure: Rare but Elegant Noun, 4,
Chapter 3 Epaulettes, Spatulas & Spades, 6,
Chapter 4 Wind Words like Simoom & Williwaw, 9,
Chapter 5 You Bastard! Coward! Dullard! Lubbard! Sluggard!, 14,
Chapter 6 That Namby-Pamby Narcissus — and Garden Advice Too!, 20,
Chapter 7 The Fiery Sheen & Lustrous Tincture of Copper, 27,
Chapter 8 It is, M'Lud, in Point of Fact, a Tort!, 31,
Chapter 9 Lawn: a Word Headed for Oblivion? & Grass: a Word That Will Survive?, 35,
Chapter 10 Heavens! Obscure Words for Heaven like Welkin and Firmament, 38,
Chapter 11 Alarm! A Militant Order, 45,
Chapter 12 Cruising for a Bruising, 49,
Chapter 13 Hammada, Erg & Médano: Lost in the Desert?, 51,
Chapter 14 Canopy First Meant 'Mosquito Net', 56,
Chapter 15 Apothecary & Derivatives like Boutique, 59,
Chapter 16 The Hubbub over Haboob, 63,
Chapter 17 A Vault of Ninnies, 66,
Chapter 18 Dross Words: Scoria, Dregs, Recrement, Scobs, Slag, Draff, Lees, Offscourings. Do You Know Them All?, 71,
Chapter 19 Dolphin Words, 79,
Chapter 20 Pukka, Sahib! Top-Drawer!, 84,
Chapter 21 Solstice or "Sun! Stand Thou Still!", 86,
Chapter 22 What is a Wind-Rose? What is Advection?, 88,
Chapter 23 Spissament: A Cooking Term Chefs May not Know, 90,
Chapter 24 Hysteria: The Just Death of a Loaded Word, 94,
Chapter 25 A Plenitude of Amplitude, 101,
Chapter 26 Chthonic, 104,
Chapter 27 Carpe diem does NOT mean 'Seize the Day.', 108,
Chapter 28 Lost Mud Words like Lutulent, 112,
Chapter 29 Cuddle, Chowder, Chauffeur, Caldera, Coddle an Egg: All Related Words!, 115,
Chapter 30 A Note Concerning the Pejorative Simile "Whited Sepulchre" Meaning 'Hypocrite' or 'Impostor', 120,
Chapter 31 Cord versus Chord: Hypercorrection & Archaism, 123,
Chapter 32 "The Sun is God," said J.M.W. Turner, 126,
Chapter 33 Noise & Confusion, 130,
Chapter 34 Rootching Around, 134,
Chapter 35 School is a Leisure Word!, 136,
Chapter 36 Punch-drunk, 140,
Chapter 37 Some Laughs & Smiles, 143,
Chapter 38 Reft, to reave, rift, riven, bereft, to rive, 148,
Chapter 39 Hiemal, Brumal, Algid: Wintry Adjectives Worth Knowing, 150,
Chapter 40 Eyot, Brae, Ghyll, Tarn, Toft & Co, 155,
Chapter 41 O Tenebrous Night, Descend not!, 160,
Chapter 42 Are They Culpable? Then, Guards, Seize Them!, 163,
Chapter 43 What Vertigo & Impetigo Share as Medical Words, 166,
Chapter 44 Siren, 172,
Chapter 45 Woods Words, 175,
Chapter 46 Tarragon: Its Spicy Word Origin, 180,
Chapter 47 Water in Motion: Words like Tide, 183,
Chapter 48 Sheriff: Medieval Etymology of a Modern Word, 187,
Chapter 49 Words of Wonder, 189,
Chapter 50 Ridiculous Words like Ridibund & Rident, 193,
Chapter 51 Swag, Pelf, Lucre & Raven, 196,
Chapter 52 Siesta: Awaken to its Origin, 201,
Chapter 53 Phyllo, Butter-Kissed Nutriment of the Gods, 204,
Chapter 54 Going Potty with Ceramics, Majolica & Faience, 206,
Chapter 55 Bible, Paper & Their Ancient Sources, 208,
Chapter 56 Lord and Lady, Take a Verbal Bow, 214,
Chapter 57 A Viking Mouse or Vole, 219,
Chapter 58 The Peanut is Not a Nut?, 224,
Chapter 59 A Swarm of Bee Words, 230,
Chapter 60 Circus to the Max!, 236,
Chapter 61 Forceps, 240,
Chapter 62 Yo! Coach! Check This Out!, 244,
Chapter 63 "Funiculì, Funiculà": Rope Songs & Rope Words, 248,
Chapter 64 Soap: A Bubble of Etymology, 251,
Chapter 65 The Sinuous Sinus of Medicine & Math, 257,
Chapter 66 Your Klaxon is Parping, Sir!, 261,
Chapter 67 Billet-Doux for Valentine's Day, 266,
Chapter 68 Juju: African Magic Word Materializes in English, 270,
Chapter 69 Hawaiian & Latin Breath Words, 274,
Chapter 70 Fishmonger, Meet Wordmonger, 279,
Chapter 71 Of Pygmies and Nuns and Amazing Nano-Scaffolds, 284,
Chapter 72 Deep-Sea Words like Abyss & Benthos & Pelagic, 290,
Chapter 73 Ocotillo: A Noise in the Desert, 296,
Chapter 74 Samara, Pappus & Other Seed Words, 300,
Chapter 75 Highbrow has a Low Origin, 306,
Chapter 76 Take a Holiday Word, 309,
Chapter 77 OASIS, 311,
Chapter 78 Eat These Words, 314,
Chapter 79 My Vocabulary has Lapsed, 316,
Chapter 80 Halcyon: Kingfisher Days, 320,
Chapter 81 Laundry & Latrine & Lavatory Share the Same Word Root, 322,
Chapter 82 GAZPACHO, 327,
Chapter 83 Legal Source of the Words Farm & Farmer, 331,
Chapter 84 Were You Shriven before Lent?, 334,
Chapter 85 Spindrift & Unda & Spinnaker., 336,
Chapter 86 Gehenna, Sheol, Tophet & Other Names for Hell., 339,
Chapter 87 Lemon & Lime Are the Same Word, 344,
Chapter 88 Origin of the Phrase 'Christmas Carol', 347,
Chapter 89 Whales, 351,
Chapter 90 Rock Snot: Annals of Fresh-water Algae, 354,
Chapter 91 Xanthic Means Yellow, 356,
Chapter 92 Red, 360,
Chapter 93 English Words Derived from Clavis, Latin for 'Key', 365,
Chapter 94 Magic Words, Appear! Magic Author, Disappear!, 370,
About the Author, 375,
CHAPTER 1
Our Word Travel comes from Trepalium, a Roman Torture Device
Our English word travel descends from travail in Old French whose first French meaning was le travail d'enfant 'the pain of child-birth,' so we're not talking about some trifling inconvenient discomfort.
The first meaning of travailler in Old French was to suffer real torture. The first English meaning of travail was painful corporeal toil or oppressive suffering. The word travel in its earliest English semantic outing also meant toil and trouble, even the travails and difficult labours of childbirth.
In Medieval French travailler implied odious and literally painful forms of transporting oneself. From these uncomfortable meanings evolved the modern English meanings of travel, which don't begin to appear in Britain until the onset of the fifteenth century. In French and Spanish, the derivatives came to signify hard work: le travail and el trabajo.
From 1080 CE we have record of travailler's ancestor, a vulgar Latin verb tripaliare 'to be tortured with a tripalium or trepalium, a device with 'three stakes' as the Latin name implies: Latin tres, tris, tri 'three' + Latin palus 'wooden or metal stake.' It probably involved impalement of the human body in some gruesome torture beloved of the Romans. The instrument of torture arose from trepalium's first Latin meaning, a farmyard and blacksmith's contraption with three stakes used to immobilize horses and oxen while putting on or changing horseshoes. If you have ever seen a drama depicting gladiatorial practice, you may have seen a junior gladiator swinging his gladius or short sword at a wooden dummy driven into the sand of the arena. This too was named palus by the Romans.
The Pale of Etymology
Latin palus gives several English terms. A well-known phrase in Irish history is 'beyond the pale.' A pale is a stick with...
