| tickle your fancy |
[14 Dec 2009|04:48pm] |
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tickle your fancy
-This idiomatic expression is used when something pleases you or strongly engages your interest, though it can also be used as a euphemism for sexual pleasure or attraction, especially in women. If you break down the phrase, tickle is used to mean 'to excite or stir up in a pleasing manner' (think of the smiling, laughing reaction of a person being physically tickled), and fancy as a noun that means 'a notion or whim, a fantasy.' Dating at least from the late 1700's, tickle your fancy's original definition may have originally been closer to our modern euphemistic approach. One of the earliest known references comes from Abraham Tucker's 1774 In the Light of Nature Pursued, the author tells of animals "whose play had a quality of striking the joyous perception, or, as we vulgarly, say, tickling the fancy." After World War II, British English speakers began using it in a rhyming slang expression that associated a Nancy (a male homosexual) with tickling your fancy (arousing you sexually or performing sexual acts with you). An alternate version is found in strike your fancy.
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| dragon |
[11 Dec 2009|03:58pm] |
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dragon, n. [drag-uhn, drăg-ən]
-There are as many kinds of dragons as there are myths about these creatures: some dragons have giant wings, some small; some breathe poison, some breathe fire; some live in tall mountains, some live in big lakes or oceans; some are evil, some are good; some have legs, some do not. What most Indo-European words for dragon have in common, though, is a link to snakes. The first known reference in English to a beast similar to our modern conceptualization is Middle English dragun, which comes from about 1250 CE. Prior to this, the Middle English word meant the more general 'a huge serpent' and was also used as a surname. It was taken directly from Old French dragon, itself a learned borrowing of Latin draconem (draco being the nominative form) 'a serpent, a dragon.' Per usual, the Latin version came from Greek drakon 'serpent, sea fish,' which had the literal translation of 'the one with the (deadly) glance.' Drak-, the stem of drakon, is also part of the Greek verb derkesthai 'to see clearly' and is derived from the prehistoric Indo-European root derk- 'to behold.' These ancient versions of dragons are akin to the Greek basilisk, a huge serpent-like creature who could kill a man with its gaze (and breath).
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| doom |
[10 Dec 2009|11:03am] |
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doom, n. & v. [doom, dōōm]
-Not only is it a creepy-as-hell video game, but doom is also one of those words that sounds like its meaning, especially if said in a dramatically deep voice. The noun form of doom first appeared in Middle English in the early 14th century CE as dome, dom 'a decision or judgment' from Old English dōm 'judgment, law.' The Old English version stemmed from Proto-Germanic domaz, which also created Old Frisian and Old Saxon dom 'statute, law, judgment,' Old High German tuom, Old Norse domr 'judgment,' and Gothic doms 'honor, fame, decree.' Proto-Germanic domaz is thought to have descended from the prehistoric Indo-European root dhe- 'to set, to stay put,' which is also the ancestor of the Sanskrit base dhaman- 'law,' Greek themis 'law,' and Lithuanian dome 'attention.' Our modern primary definition for doom, 'an adverse fate or destiny,' is first found to be associated with the word in manuscripts dating from around 1600.
Side note:
We need more requests!
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| ombudsman |
[08 Dec 2009|04:36pm] |
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ombudsman, n. [om-buhdz-muhn, ŏm-bŭdz-mən]
-An ombudsman is an official who investigates complaints and mediates fair settlements, especially between parties of uneven authority, such as private citizens and government offices or officials. The word was adopted into English in 1959 directly from Swedish, where it literally meant 'an agent, a commissioner' but was used in the sense of 'a deputy who looked after the interests and legal affairs of a group such as a trade union or business.' The Swedish version was developed from Old Norse umbodhsmadhr 'a trusty manager, a commissary,' a doubly compound word formed from madhr 'man' and the compound word umbodh 'a commission,' itself formed from um- 'around, regarding' and bjodha 'to offer, to command.'
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| dominoes |
[07 Dec 2009|11:52am] |
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dominoes, n. pl. [dom-uh-nohz, dŏm-ə-nōz]
-There's a lot of uncertainty in the etymology of dominoes, a game played with tiles (called dominoes), the faces of which are divided in half, with the halves either blank or decorated with a certain number of dots. In English, this word for the tiles first appears in 1801, borrowed from French domino (a singular noun first recorded in 1771). It's at this point that scholars seem to hit a dead end. To date, the only known possible trail leads to the black cloak and hood worn by priest as a symbol of their calling and also worn as a veil by women in mourning. In this use, domino ultimately comes from Latin domino, the dative form of dominus 'lord, master,' used in religious services as a name for God. The only link scholars can come up with between this hooded cloak and the game tiles are their coloring and design, as the tiles are separated in the middle with black dots on either side, similar to a black robe being tied at the waist.
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| starve |
[03 Dec 2009|02:22pm] |
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starve, v. [stahrv, stärv]
-As far back in history as scholars can peer, the ultimate ancestor of today's English starve is the prehistoric Indo-European root ster- 'rigid, solid, stiff.' This branched off into Greek sterphnios 'stiff, rigid' and sterphos 'hide, skin,' Old Church Slavonic strublu 'strong, hard,' and Proto-Germanic sterbanan 'to be stiff' and star 'to be rigid.' While star went on to become the ancestor of English stare 'to look fixedly (at something),' out of sterbanan came Old Frisian sterva, Old Saxon sterban and Old High German sterban, Middle Dutch sterven, and Old English steorfan 'to die.' (Interestingly, this same root also led to Old Norse stjarfi 'tetanus,' a medical condition where the muscle fibers in many parts of the body are continually contracted.) The link between 'rigid, stiff' and 'dead' is easily understood. The Old English word was likely in use prior to 1000 CE and could refer to any type of death; we find to starve of hunger* in 1124. By 1225 at the latest, was replaced by Middle English sterven, which added on to the original 'to die' the meaning of 'to kill.' Sometime around the 14th century, the meaning changed to 'to die of cold' - again, an easily understood connection to the original notion of 'rigid, stiff.' It is not until 1530 that we see starve used in its modern sense of 'to kill with hunger.' Our common expression to starve to death (c. 1910) would have sounded absolutely absurd to early English speakers, who might think we are idiots for saying someone died to death.
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| staid |
[02 Dec 2009|03:07pm] |
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staid, adj. [steyd, stād]
-No, that isn't a typo, though such a line of reasoning does actually bring us closer to the origins of today's word. In 1541 CE, the first written instance of staid as an adjective was recorded as meaning 'fixed, permanent.' It was taken from the past participle (originally written as staid or stayed) of the verb stay 'to remain.' Though our use of staid as a past participle died out, this spelling has stuck in the adjective form. By 1557, the now primary meaning of 'sober, sedate' was first recorded, coming from the sense that a person with a settled character is likely to be calmer and less prone to wild changes or mood swings.
Side note:
To the member who requested bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I'm sorry but I can't find anything conclusive on this. It supposedly dates back to the nineteenth century, but there is much division as to which animal this phrase refers to.
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| weird |
[01 Dec 2009|03:00pm] |
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weird, adj. [weerd, wîrd]
-The history of this common adjective starts with the prehistoric Indo-European base wer- 'turn, bend' and the subsequent PIE verb wert 'to turn, to wind.' These spread to Proto Germanic as wurdis, wurthis, which created words in many daughter languages: Old Saxon wurd 'fate,' Old High German wurt 'fate,' Old Norse urdhr 'fate, one of the Norns (supernatural female beings who control human fate in the Norse mythology),' and Old English weorðan 'to become' and wyrd 'fate, destiny (lit. "that which comes").' Such a significant change in meaning, from 'to turn' to 'fate, becoming,' would seem to require many steps. However, it seems that turning has long been equivalent to changing, at least in Germanic cultures (see English to turn into). Old English wyrd was in general use by approximately 725 CE, and the Middle English version werd, wierd by about 1400. The first known use of this later form comes from the weird sisters, or the three Fates. According to classic Greek mythology, these three goddesses control the span and content of human lives by spinning and cutting their life threads. Interestingly, there are many other European and even Indo-European goddesses or supernatural beings that are remarkably similar. The visual portrayal of these Fates gave them an other-worldly and often frightening or odd appearances. The association stuck, and by 1815 we find the first use of weird with the meaning 'odd in appearance.' From there it simply generalized to anything that was strange, not just appearances.
 A reproduction of Friedrich Paul Thumann's The Fates. Notice the string in the hands of the Fate in the middle.
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