Gasting Flabbers

26 June 2025 By Simon

Is a flabbergast a gast that’s flabbered? Let’s find out.

A flabbergast is an awkward person, or an overwhelming confusion, shock or surprise, and to flabbergast is to overwhelm with bewilderment, or to amaze, confound, or stun, especially in a ludicrous manner.

Related words include

flabbergastion = bewildered shock or surprise; the state or condition of being flabbergasted
flabbergaster = a person, thing, fact or event that is flabbergasting, or that causes extreme shock; a state of surprise or fear
flabbergastly = surprisingly, astonishingly or amazingly

Flabbergast possibly comes from the Suffolk dialect words flap(py) (to strike) and aghast (terrified), or from Scots flabrigast (to swagger, boast, quite worn out, extremely fatigued). There are also versions of this word from Lancashire: flobbergrast and Northampton: flappergast [source].

Aghast means terrified; struck with amazement, or showing signs of terror or horror. It comes from Middle English agast, from agasten (to frighten or terrify), from Old English gǣstan (to frighten, gast, torment, afflict), from Proto-West Germanic *gaistijan, from Proto-Germanic *gaistijaną, which is related to *gaistaz (fear, terror, spirit, ghost, mind) [source].

Related words include ghost, ghast (an evil spirit or monster) and ghastly in English, gast (ghost) in Swedish, geest (ghost, spirit, mind) in Dutch, and Geist (spirit, essense, mind, ghost) in German [source].

Incidentally, gast is an old word in English meaning to frighten, and also comes from the same roots [source], as does the Old English word gāst (spirit, ghost, breath, demon), which became gost / gast / gaast / goost / goste in Middle English [source]. It acquired an h and became ghoost in the late 15th century due to influence from the Flemish word gheest, possibly thanks to Wynkyn de Worde, William Caxton‘s assistant [source].

Dwile Flonking

18 June 2025 By Simon

Have you ever flonked a dwile or gathered your girt in a snurd?

Dwile flonking is mentioned in a novel I’m currently reading, Fiends in High Places by D.C. Farmer, and as I had no idea what it meant, I thought I’d find out.

According to Wiktionary, dwile flonking is

“An obscure and intentionally preposterous sport in which teams take turns to dance while avoiding a “dwile” (beer-soaked cloth) thrown by their opponents.” It is also written dwile flunking, dwyle flonking, dwyle flunking. The first documented game took place in 1966 [source].

According to Wikipedia,

“dwile flonking, dwyle flunking or nurdling is a British pub game played by two teams, with one dancing around in a circle, while a player from the other team attempts to hit them by throwing a beer-soaked cloth. The game is associated with the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Although the game can supposedly be traced back to the 16th century, it is thought to have been invented in the mid-1960s [source].

Apparently dwile flonking requires a dwile, a driveller (a stick of some kind) and a bucket full of beer. The dwile is soaked in beer, then one team forms a snurd (circle) of girts, while a member of the other team, the flonker, stands in the middle holding a dwile on a driveller. The jobanowl (referee) yells let’s go t’gither, and the girts begin to girt (dance in a circle) in one direction, while the flonker turns in the other direction and attempts to flonk the dwile at or over the head of one of the girts. Participants dress up in local rustic attire, and drink rather a lot of beer before, during and after the flonking of the dwile. Other ridiculous rules apply. See TradFolk for details.

It sounds like an ideal sport for the Olympics, and is in fact included in the Cotswold Olimpick Games, and is played annually in Beccles and Lewes in East Sussex in the south of England.

Dwile used to refer to a cloth for wiping or cleaning, and comes from Dutch dweil (floorcloth, mop, worthless person, weakling), from Middle Dutch dwâle (cloth, towel), from Old Dutch *thwāla (towel, washcloth), from Proto-West Germanic *þwahilu (towel, washcloth), from *þwahan (to wash, bathe) from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną (to wash, bathe) [source].

Words from the same roots include þvo (to wash, do laundry) in Icelandic, två (to wash) and tvål (soap) in Swedish, tovaglia (tablecloth, cloth) in Italian, toalha (towel, tablecloth) in Portuguese, and towel in English [source].

Flonking possibly comes from flong, an old past tense form of fling, which comes from Middle English flyngen (to dash, rush, charge, fly, strike, throw, fling), from Old Norse flengja / ᚠᛚᛁᚾᚴᛁᛅ (to whip, ride furiously), from Proto-Germanic *flangijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- [source].

Stages & Balconies

12 June 2025 By Simon

What links the Italian word palco (stage), with words like balcony, plank and block? Let’s find out.

Palco [ˈpal.ko] means platform, stand, layer, (theatre) box, stage, antler in Italian. Related words include palchetto (shelf, sidebar, upper tier box), palchettista (boxholder – ticket holder for the gallery or an upper tier box [in a theatre]), palcoscenico (stage), sottopalco (understage (area), backstage), and spalcare (to dismantle scaffolding, to prune or lop [trees]) [source].

It comes from Lombardic palk (stand, stage), from Old High German balko (beam), from Proto-West Germanic *balkō (beam, balk), from Proto-Germanic *balkô (beam, balk), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (beam, plank), or from PIE *bʰelǵʰ- (to swell) [source].

The English word balcony comes from the same roots, via Italian balcone (balcony, floor-length window), Old Italian balcone (scaffold), Lombardic *balk(o) (beam), Proto-Germanic *balkô (beam, balk), etc [source].

Plank also shares the same roots, but arrived via Middle English plank(e) (plank, counter, tablet, prop), Old French planke (plank, board), Late Latin planca (slat, plank), from Latin palanca (slat, plank, stake), from phalanga (wooden roller, carrying pole), from Ancient Greek φᾰ́λᾰγγᾰ (phắlăngă – phalanx, battle order), from φάλαγξ (phálanx – line of battle, phalanx, main body, trunk, log, beam), from PIE *bʰelǵ- (beam, plank) [source].

Block comes to us from Middle English blok (log, stump), from Old French bloc (log, block), from Middle Dutch blok (treetrunk), from Old Dutch *blok (log), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk (block, log), from Proto-Germanic *blukką (block, log, beam), from PIE *bʰelǵ- (beam, plank) [source].

Other words from the same roots include balk, bulk, fulcrum and phalanx in English, balk (beam, solid support) in Dutch, Balken (beam, bar) in German, balcão (counter, balcony) in Portuguese, and folcire (to support, sustain, guide, direct), fulcro (fulcrum, pivot,crux, core, thrust) and falca (gunwhale) in Italian [source].

Knotted Knitting

8 May 2025 By Simon

What do the words knot and knit have to do with King Canute, and how do they connect to Bluetooth? Let’s find out.

A knot [nɒt, nɑt] is:

a looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops
A tangled clump of hair or similar.
The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree’s trunk.
A unit of speed, equal to one nautical mile per hour.

(other meanings are available)

It comes from Middle English knotte [ˈknɔt(ə)] (knot, tie, binding, link), from Old English cnotta [ˈknot.tɑ] (knot), from Proto-West Germanic *knottō, from Proto-Germanic *knuttô (knot), probably from Proto-Indo-European *gnod- (to bind) [source].

Words from the same roots in other languages include knot [knɔt] (knot, (hair) bun, skein) in Dutch, knútur [ˈknʉuːtʊɹ] (knot, lump) in Faroese, knude [ˈknuːðə] (knot, node) in Danish, knut [ˈknʉːt] (knot, an exterior corner of a (wooden) building) in Swedish, and maybe knead and node in English [source].

The English word knit comes from the same roots, via Middle English knytten [ˈknitən] (to wrap, secure, join, unite, fix, repair), from Old English cnyttan [ˈknyt.tɑn] (to tie, bind, knot, knit), from Proto-West Germanic *knuttijan (to bind, tie, knit), from Proto-Germanic *knuttijaną (to bind/tie into a knot), from *knuttô (knot) [source].

Canute, a.k.a. Canute the Great, Cnut or Knut, was King of England (from 1016), King of Denmark (from 1018) and King of Norway (from 1028) until his death in 1035. His name comes from Middle English Canut, from Anglo-Norman *Canut, Kenut, from Old Norse Knútr, from knútr (knot, hump), from Proto-Germanic *knuttô (knot) [source].

How does this all connect to Bluetooth? Well, King Canute was the son of Sweyn Forkbeard (Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg), who was King of Denmark from 986-1014, and grandson of Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson (Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson), who was King of Denmark from c. 958-986 and King of Norway from c. 970-985/986. The Bluetooth wireless technology is named after Harald Bluetooth as it unites devices like Harald united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom. The Bluetooth logo is made up of the Younger Futhark runes for his initials ᚼ (H) and ᛒ (B) [source].

Dog Days

29 April 2025 By Simon

What does the word canicule have to do with heat waves and dogs? Let’s find out.

In French, canicule [ka.ni.kyl] refers to a heat wave or hot spell, the dog days of summer, or Sirius (Canis Major / the Dog Star). A heat wave is also known as une vague de chaleur. In English, it’s an old word for dog days. It comes from Latin canīcula (puppy), from canis (dog, hound), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (dog) [source].

Related words include caniculaire (scorching), chenille (caterpiller), chien (dog) and chiot (puppy) in French, and canine (of or pertaining to a dog), cynophile (a dog lover) and kennel (a dog house) in English.

What are the dog days (of summer)?

(archaic) The days following the heliacal rising of Sirius, now in early August at dates varying by latitude.
The unpleasantly hot days of late summer.
Any similar period of inactivity, laziness, or stagnation.

The expression dog days is a calque of Latin diēs caniculārēs (puppy days), a calque of Ancient Greek κυνάδες ἡμέραι (kunádes hēmérai – dog days). The return of Sirius to the night sky (its heliacal rising), occurred in antiquity around 25th July in Athens and 29th July in Rome, and was considered by the Greeks and Romans to herald what were considered the hottest, least healthy, and least lucky days of summer [source].

Bad weather is also associated with dogs in French: temps de chien (‘dog weather’) means bad, filthy, dreadful or awful weather. Similar associations are made in Italian: tempo da cani (‘dog weather’ – bad or rotten weather); German: Hundewetter (‘dog weather’ – bad weather), and Dutch: hondenweer (‘dog weather’ – particularly bad or rough weather, the kind of weather when it is raining cats and dogs) [source]. In Welsh, unsettled weather is tywydd llwynog (‘fox weather’) [source].

Is bad weather associated with dogs, or other canines, in other languages?

Incidentally, the letter R was known as littera canīna (‘dog’s letter’) in Latin because its trilled pronunciation sounds a bit like a dog [source].

Piecemeal Time

25 April 2025 By Simon

The word piecemeal means made or done in pieces or one stage at a time, but why meal? Does it have something to do with food?

Piecemeal is [ˈpiːs.miːl] comes from Middle English pēce(s)-mēle (in pieces, piece by piece, bit by bit), from pēce(s) (a fragment, bit, piece) and -mēl(e) (a derivational suffix in adverbs) [source].

Pēce(s) comes from Old French piece (piece, bit, part), from Late Latin pettia (piece, portion), from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (piece, portion), possibly from a non-Indo-European substrate [source].

Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots include piece in English, pièce (room, patch, piece, play, document) in French, peza (piece, fragment, part) in Galician, pieze (piece, part) in Spanish, peth (thing, object, material) in Welsh, pezh (piece, bit, room, part, what) in Breton, cuid (part, share, portion, some) in Irish, and cooid (certain, some, stuff, goods, part) in Manx – for more related words in Celtic languages see the Parts and Portions post on the Celtiadur [source].

-mēle comes from Old English mǣlum (at a time), from mǣl (measure, mark, sign, time, occasion, season, the time for eating, meal[time]), from Proto-West Germanic *māl (time, occasion, mealtime), from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (time, occasion, period, meal, spot, mark, measure), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”) [source].

The English word meal can refer to food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity (as opposed to a snack), and food served or eaten as a repast, and used to mean a time or an occasion. It retains this last meaning in the word piecemeal. Related words include footmeal (one foot at a time) and heapmeal (in large numbers, heap by heap) [source].

Related words in other languages include maal (meal, time, occurrence) in Dutch, Mal (time, occasion) and Mahl (meal) in German, mål (target, finish, goal, meal) in Swedish, and béile (meal) in Irish.

In Old English, the word styċċemǣlum was used to mean piecemeal, piece by piece, in pieces, gradually, etc. It became stichmeal in early modern English. Related words include bitmǣlum (bit by bit), dropmǣlum (drop by drop), which became dropmeal, and stæpmǣlum (step by step), which became stepmeal [source].

Calm Heat

23 April 2025 By Simon

The word calm seems to a cool and collected kind word, but it possibly has roots related to heat or burning. Let’s find out more.

Calm is [kɑːm / kɑm] means:

Peaceful, quiet, especialy free from anger and anxiety
Free of noise and disturbance
With few or no waves on the surface (of water)
Without wind of storm (of weather)

It comes from Middle English calm(e) (calm), from Middle French calme (calm, still, windless), probably from Old Italian calma (calm, stillness, peacefulness), possibly from Late Latin cauma (heat [of the midday sun]), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma – heat, especially of the sun), from καίω (kaío – to light, burn, cause to be extremely cold); or possibly from Latin caleō (to be warm, heat, glow), from Proto-Germanic *kalmaz (coldness, freeze, frost), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (to be cold, to freeze) [source].

Other words from the same roots include cold, chill, cool, gel and jelly in English, koud (cold) in Dutch, kalt (cold, chilly, calm, restrained) in German, gelato (icy, frozen, very cold, ice cream) in Italian, and kylmä (cold, level, sensible) in Finnish [source].

In Old English, the word smylte was used to mean calm, and also quiet, tranquil and serene. This became smilte, smolt (quiet, still, gentle) in Middle English, and may be related to the modern English word smolt (a young salmon two or three years old) [source].

Incidentally, the famous poster featuring the slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” (see above), was produced by the Ministry of Information of UK government in 1939 in preparation for World War II. It was intended to raise the morale of the British public, and while 2.45 million copies were printed, in was never officially released, and most posters were pulped in 1940. A few did make it into the wild, and the poster became famous when a copy was rediscovered at a bookshop in Alnwick in the northeast of England in 2000 [source].

Strong Strings

12 March 202512 March 2025 By Simon

Are the words string, strong, strength, strait, stretch and strict related? Let’s find out.

String comes from Middle English streng (rope, cord, line, thread, string, ribbon, muscle, tendon, ligament, filament), from Old English strenġ (string, rope, cord), from Proto-West Germanic *strangi (string), from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (string), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (to twist; rope, cord), possibly from *sterh₃- (to spread, extend, stretch out) [source].

English words from the same roots include constrict, constrain, restrict, strong, strength, strain, strait, stress, strict, stricture and stringent.

Words from the same roots in other languages include stringere (to clasp, grasp, squeeze) in Italian, étreindre (to hug, clutch, grip) in French, streng (strict, severe, rigorous, unbending, cruel) in Dutch, sträng (strict, stern, severe) in Swedish, strangs (brave, brisk, fresh) in Latvian, rankka (burdensome, hard, intense, harsh, tough) in Finnish [source].

So, the odd one out in the list above is stretch, which comes from Middle English strecchen (to stretch out, spread, extend), from Old English streċċan (to stretch, extend, spread out, prostrate), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (to stretch, make straight), from *strak (stretched, straight), from Proto-Germanic *strakaz (stretched, straight) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg- (stiff, rigid).

Words from the same roots include stark in English, stark (strong) in German, strak (taut, tight) in Dutch, strække (to stretch) in Danish, and shtriqem (to stretch) in Albanian [source].

Here’s a tune from the music session I went to last night called The Bishop of Bangor’s Jig. It’s played on string instruments (fiddle, guitar and banjo), so is sort connected to the theme of this post.

You can find the dots: https://www.folktunefinder.com/tunes/94828

Go Climb a Tree

5 March 20255 March 2025 By Simon

Was the b in climb ever pronounced? Or was it added by interfering busybodies to make it more like a Latin root? Is it related to clamber? Let’s find out.

Climb comes from Middle English climben [ˈkliːmbən] (to scale, scale, soar, extend, reach), from Old English climban [ˈklim.bɑn] (to climb), from Proto-West Germanic *klimban (to climb), from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną [ˈklim.bɑ.nɑ̃] (to climb), possibly from *klibaną/*klibāną (to stick, cleave), from Proto-Indo-European *gleybʰ- (to stick, cling to) [source].

So the b was pronounced in Middle and Old English, and maybe it became silent when the word lost its en ending.

Words from the same roots include climbing, cleave, cliff and maybe clamber in English, klimmen (to climb) and kleven (to stick, glue, be sticky) in Dutch, kleben (to glue, stick) in German, and klífa (to climb) in Icelandic [source].

A word for to climb in Latin was scandere / scandō, which also means to ascend, mount or clamber. It comes from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (to jump, dart, scale, scan). Words from the same roots include ascend, descend, transcend, scale, scan, and possibly scandal and slander in English, ascendere (to go up, ascend, rise) in Italian, skandera (to chant) in Swedish, and esgyn (to ascend) in Welsh [source].

One of the tunes that was played at the music session I went to last night is called If you do not love me, go climb a tree (it may have other names) and goes something like this:

It inspired me to write this post. If you recognise the tune and know it by another name, do let me know.

Villainous Sharks

13 February 202513 February 2025 By Simon

In one of the Danish lessons I did recently, I learnt the word skurk, which means villain or baddie, and wondered where it comes from and what other words it’s related to. Let’s find out.

According to Den Danske Ordbog, a skurk [ˈsguɐ̯g] is a person who behaves in an unattractive, dishonest, or malicious manner, or a fictional character in a piece of fiction with the role of the hero’s evil counterpart and enemy or a person or thing that is or is made responsible for trouble or misfortune. In other words, a villain, baddie, wretch, cuplrit, reprobate or rogue [source].

It comes from Low German schurke (villian, scoundrel), from Middle High German schurgen (to shove, push, egg on), possibly from Old High German scuren (to stir, stoke up), from Proto-West-Germanic *skeran (to shear, cut), from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (to shear), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (to cut) [source].

Related words in Danish include skurkagtig (villainous), skurkeagtig (miscreant) and superskurk (super villain).

Related words in other languages include Schurke (villain, scoundrel) in German, skurk (crook, bad guy, rogue, villain) in Swedish, and skurk (crook) in Norwegian [source].

The English shark, as in someone who exploits others by trickery, lies, extortion, etc, also comes from the same roots, as might shark, as in a scaleless, predatory fish of the superorder Selachimorpha [source].

Another English word that possibly comes from the same roots is shirk, as in to avoid responsibility, duty, obligations, etc [source].

Incidentally, before the word shark arrived in English, such fish were known as dogfish or hayes, which comes from Dutch haai (shark, a ruthless or greedy person) or from West Flemish haaie (shark), from Old Norse hái, an abbreviation of hákarl (shark), from hár (shark) and karl (a man). Related words include Hai (shark) in German, haj (shark) in Swedish and Danish, and акула (akula – shark) in Russian, Belarusian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian [source].

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