Monks, Monkeys & Coffee

By Simon

What links a New World monkey, a type of cloak, an order of friars and a type of coffee? Let’s find out.

Sons of Saint Francis

The word capuchin [ˈkæp.ə.tʃɪn] can refer to:

  • A monk of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a.k.a. a Franciscan.
  • A garment consisting of a cloak and hood, made in imitation of the dress of Capuchin monks.
  • A capuchin monkey.
  • A hooded pigeon.

It comes from French capuchin, from capucin (capuchin [monkey], Capuchin friar), from Italian cappuccino (Capuchin [friar], cappuccino [coffee]), from cappuccio (hood, cowl), a diminutive of cappuccio (hood, cowl, top, cabbage), a diminutive of cappa (coat, cloak, cowl, hood, cape, tarpaulin), from Late Latin cappa (cape, hooded cloak, cap), which possibly is related to caput (head) [source].

Related words include cap, cape, chapel, cope and escape in English, capa (clock, cape, cover) in Portuguese, cappello (hat) in Italian, czapka (cap) in Polish, and Kappe (cap, hood) in German [source].

cappuccino

The coffee gets its name from the friars, as it’s a similar shade of brown to their habits. The English word cappuccino comes from Italian cappuccino, which comes from Viennese German Kapuziner (Capuchin [friar]), an abbreviation of Kapuzinerkaffee / Capuzinerkaffee, a type of coffee that emerged in Vienna during the 18th century. The drink spread to northern Italy when it was under Austrian domination, and became known as cappuccino in Italian. The ingredients and the way the drink is made have changed over time [source].

Capuchin family

The monkeys are also named after the friars, as the Portuguese explorers who encountered them in the 15th century thought the colours of their fur made them look like little Capuchin friars [source].




Lightning Pastries

By Simon

What links a type of pastry with lightning, flashes and sparkles? Let’s find out.

eclairs

In English, and many other languages, an eclair / éclair is a small, chocolate-covered, creme-filled pastry puff in a general oblong shape [source].

Eclairs

The word comes from French éclair which can refer to the pastry, and also to lightning, a lightning bolt, a flash of lightning, a glint, flash, gleam or sparkle [source].

It is thought that the name of the pastry comes from the fact that it can be eaten quickly (in a flash), and/or because the glistening of the icing / frosting looks a bit like lightning. The éclair first appeared in Lyon in France in the 19th century, and was called pain à la Duchesse (“Duchess-style bread”) or petite duchesse (“little duchess”) until 1850. After that, the name éclair started to be used in French and in English [source].

The French word éclair comes from éclairer (to light up, brighten, shed light on enlighten, scout) from Old French esclairer (to light up), from Vulgar Latin *exclāriō, *exclāriāre, from Latin exclārāre, from ex- (out, away) and clārō (to brighten, lighten, illuminate, clarify) [source], from clārus (clear, bright, famous, upstanding, loud) from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (to call out to) [source].

Related words and expressions in French include:

  • éclair de génie = stroke of genius
  • fermeture éclair = zip (fastner), zipper
  • rapide comme l’éclair = quick as a flash
  • éclairé = well-lit, bright, illuminated, lit, knowledgable, well-informed, enlighted
  • éclairement = illumination
  • éclairant = illiminating, liminescent, clarifying, instructive
  • éclairage = lighting, illumination, perspective
  • éclairagiste = lighting specialist, lighting engineer, gaffer (chief lighting technician for a motion-picture or television production) [source].

Words from the PIE root *kelh₁- (to call out to) include acclaim, claim, clamour, clarify, clarinet, class, clear and council in English, klaar (ready, finished, done) in Dutch, exclamer (to exclaim, shout out) in French, coileach (cockerel, rooster) in Irish, hell (clear, bright, light, quick, clever) in German, and llamar (to summon, call, refer to, be called) in Spanish [source].




Rice

By Simon

One word I learnt recently in Swahili is wali, which means rice, or more specifically, cooked rice.

rice
Wali (cooked rice)

Wali means cooked rice or cooked grain in Swahili. Other words for rice include mpunga (rice plant, raw unhusked rice), mchele (dehusked, uncooked rice), ubwabwa (ground rice), and mashendea (husked rice) [source].

rice field
mpunga (rice plant, raw unhusked rice)

Wali comes from Malagasy vary (uncooked rice), from Proto-Malayic *bəras (rice) amd Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *pajay (rice plant) [source].

Words from the same Proto-Malayic root include beras (uncooked rice, any grain) in Malay and Indonesian, and berau (raw rice) in Iban [source].

Words from the same Proto-Malayo-Polynesian root include palay (rice plant) in Tagalog, fary (sugar cane) in Malagasy, hare ([uncooked] rice, rice plant) in Tetum and padi (rice plant, paddy, unhusked grain) in Malay and Indonesian [source].

The English word paddy also comes from the same roots via Malay. As well as referring to a paddy field or rice paddy (an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown), it can also mean rough or unhusked rice, either before it is milled or as a crop to be harvested [source].

Japanese also has different words for rice in different states, which include:

  • ご飯 (gohan) is cooked rice or a meal
  • 飯 (meshi) is cooked rice, meal, food, one’s living or livelihood, or steamed rice
  • ライス (raisu) is rice (especially when served on a plate)
  • 米 (kome) is husked grains of rice, or a staple (product) or necessity
  • 玄米 (genmai) is unpolised rice, unmilled rice or brown rice
  • 稲 (ine) is a rice plant [source].

As does (Mandarin) Chinese:

  • 饭 [飯] (​fàn) is cooked rice
  • 米饭 [米飯] (mǐ​fàn) is cooked rice
  • 白饭 [白飯] (bái​fàn) is plain cooked rice
  • 白米 (báimǐ) is polished rice
  • 大米 (dàmǐ) is husked rice
  • 米 (mǐ) is uncooked rice
  • 稻 (dào​) is rice growing in a field or a rice plant [source].

How about other languages?




Hither & Thither

By Simon

If someone is described as having come-hither eyes, it means their eyes are seducitve or alluring. If you tell a horse to come hither though, what would you expect it to do?

Come Hither

The word hither [ˈhɪðə / ˈhɪðɚ] is a literary or archaic word that means to this place, to here or over here. So if you tell a horse to come hither, you’d expect it to come towards where you are, but this command actually means move to the left, apparently [source].

Hither comes from Middle English hider / hither (to here), from Old English hider (to here), from Proto-Germanic *hidrê (to this place, to here, hither), from *hiz (this) and *-drê (directional suffix) [source].

Related expressions include:

  • behither = on this side of (rare, obsolete)
  • hither and thither = to here and to here, one place after another, in different directions, in a disorderly manner
  • hither and yon = in, at or to various places (dated, literary)
  • hithermost = nearest to this side (archaic)
  • hithertofore = heretofore, so far, thus far (rare)

What about thither? It means to that place, or to that point, end or result, and is used mainly in the expression hither and thither, and in legal language [source].

There’s also whither, which means to what place, where, to what cause, to which place, in or to any place to which [source].




Numbering Houses

By Simon

When is a number not a number? Let’s find out.

Nyumba

The Swahili word nymba [ˈɲu.ᵐbɑ] looks and sounds a bit like the English word number, but actually means house.

It comes from Proto-Bantu *njʊ̀mbá (house) and is related to words such as nyumba (house) in Chichewa, Mwani and Tumbuka, and enyumba (house) in Kabwa [source].

Swahili words derived from nyumba include: nyumbani (home, at home, in the house), chumba (room) and kijumba (small house, cottage), which are diminutives of nyumba, jumba (mansion, large building), an augmentative of nyumba, uchumba (courtship, engagement), mchumba (lover, fiancé(e), partner), nyumba ya uzazi (womb, uterus, lit. “birth room”), nyumba ya dawa (pharmacy, drugstore), and unyumba (marital relations, married life) [source].

The word namba also exists in Swahili, means number, and was borrowed from English. It is a form of nambari (number), and appears in expressions such as namba hasi (negative number), sio na namba (numberless), and nambari ya simu (phone number) [source].