Category: Words and phrases

Baliffs, Catchpoles and Tipstaves

By Simon

Yesterday I learnt an interesting French word – huissier [ɥi.sje], which means baliff, usher, process server, catchpole or tipstaff.

It is an abbreviation of huissier de justice, an officer of the court who serves process and notices, seizes and auctions off property, and executes garnishments, levies, and evictions.

It comes from the Vulgar Latin *ustiārius, from ostiārius (porter, doorman), from ostium (door, entrance, estuary).

Related terms include:

  • huissier d’armes = sergeant at arms
  • exploit d’huissier = writ
  • constat d’huissier = bailiff’s report
  • huissier audiencier = court usher
  • envoyer l’huissier = to send in the bailiffs

You may be wondering, what’s a catchpole or tipstaff? I certainly am. I know a family called Catchpole, but don’t know what the word means.

Catchpole is an obsolete word for “A taxman, one who gathers taxes; A sheriff’s officer, usually one who arrests debtors.” It comes from the Old French chacepol (one who chases fowls).

Tipstaff is “A ceremonial staff, with a metal tip, carried by a constable or bailiff etc as a sign of office; An officer, of a court etc. who carries such a staff.”

Sources: Reverso, Wiktionary

Come to mind

By Simon

One way to say remember in Swedish is komma ihåg, which literally means “to come to mind”. It also means to recall; to recollect; to retain, or to bear in mind.

Komma [ˈkɔmːa] means ‘to come, arrive, move nearer’. It comes from the Old Norse koma (to come), from the Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (to come), from the Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (to step).

ihåg [ihoːg] means ‘to (one’s) mind’. håg means ‘mind, mindset, temper, inclination’, and comes from the Old Swedish hogher, from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (mind; thought; sense; understanding), which is also the root of the English words high, how, Hugh and Hubert.

Related words include:

  • ihågkomma = to memorialize
  • ihågkommande = recollection; reminiscent
  • hågkomst = to recall; recollection; remembrance
  • håglös = apathetic; grey; indolent; listless
  • håglöshet = apathy
  • hågad = agreeable; inclined; minded

Other words for remember include:

  • minnas = to recall; to remember; to retain; to come back; to recollect
  • erinra sig = to place; to recall; to recollect; to remember
  • lägga på minnet = to memorize; to register; to remember
  • dra sig till minnes = to remember

Are these words for remember used in different contexts?

Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary

Bundles and bark

By Simon

Have you ever wondered what you call the long stringy white bits you remove from bananas before eating them?

I haven’t thought about this before, but today I discovered that they are called phloem bundles. They are structures that transport nutrients from the leaves to other parts of plants.

In trees they are the innermost layer of bark, and the word phloem [ˈfləʊ.em / ˈfloʊ.em] comes from the Greek word φλοιός (phloios), which means bark. The word bast is also used as an alternative for phloem.

Source: Huffington Post, Wikipedia, Cambridge Dictionary

Snail houses and creeping things

By Simon

Snigelhus

An interesting Swedish I learnt recently is snigelhus, which means shell, or literally “snail house”. Snigel is a snail or slug, and hus is house, case or residence.

The word snigel comes from the Old Norse snigill (snail), from the Proto-Germanic *snagila (snail), from the Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (to crawl, creep; creeping thing), which is also the root of the English words snail and snake.

Some related words include:

  • snigelfart = snail’s pace, e.g. att gå framåt i snigelfart = to proceed at a snail’s pace
  • snigelpost = snail mail
  • snigelaktig = snail-like
  • snigelgång = snail time
  • snigeltempo = snail pace

Another name for snail is snigel med skal (snail with shell), and another name for slug is snigel utan skal (snail without shell).

So it seems that skal is another word for shell. It also means coat, paring, rind, jacket or peel. A snail’s shell is not snigels snigelhus but snigelskal.

Other Swedish words for shell include:

  • balja = shell, tub, tubful, bowl, pod
  • snäcka = shell, helix
  • musselskal – clamshell, scallop, shell
  • snäckskal = scallop, scollop, seashell, shell
  • ärtskida = shell
  • ärtbalja = shell

Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary, Online Etymology Dictionary, and Linguee

Word Monkey

By Simon

My nephew enjoying an icecream at Knowsley Safari Park

I spent the past few days with my sister and her family. Her son is just over 2 and a half years old and is speaking a lot more than the last time I saw him at Easter this year.

He has trouble pronouncing certain sounds, such as r and consonant clusters like st, but at long as you listen carefully, you can usually work out what he’s saying.

He also invents new words, or gives words new meanings. For example, he has several toy monkeys (see below), and calls one ‘monkey’ or ‘daddy monkey’, another ‘other monkey’ or ‘mummy monkey’, and a smaller one he calls monkeykey, which I thought was very cute. He also calls playing cards, dominoes and other parts of games current buns. I’m not sure why.

Up-date: it turns out that I misheard the name of the monkey – it’s actually Monkey Keith not monkeykey.

Monkeys / Mwncïod

Bittersweet

By Simon

Chutney

When looking for the French word for chutney last night we discovered the word aigre (sour), and realised that vinegar, or vinaigre in French, must be wine (vin) that is sour (aigre). This is indeed the origin of vinegar and vinaigre.

Vin (wine) comes from the Latin vīnum (wine, grapes, grapevine), from Proto-Italic *wīnom (wine), from Proto-Indo-European *wóyh₁nom (wine).

Aigre (sour, sharp, acid, shrill) comes from the Old French, from Vulgar Latin *acrus / *acrum, from the Classical Latin acer / acrem (sharp, sour, bitter), from Proto-Italic *akris (sharp, sour), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós (sharp).

Chutney is a sauce made from fruit and/or vegetables preserved with vinegar and sugar. The word comes from the Hindi चटनी (catnī / chatnee – to lick). In French it is chutney, épice or salade piquante, and is defined as “condiment aigre-doux” (bittersweet condiment), which is where I found the word aigre.

Average dainty sandwiches

By Simon

Recently I learnt the Swedish word genomsnitt [jèːnɔmˌsnɪt], which means average or approximately. I thought I’d write about it as I like the way it sounds.

It comes genom (though, across) and snitt (a cut, an average). Genom comes from the Old Norse gegn (through), and snitt comes from the Proto-Germanic *snit (cutting, pruning, harversting).

Genom also appears in other words, including:

  • genombrott = a breakthrough, a breakdown
  • genombruten = openwork, lace, laced, transparent
  • genomföra = carry out, realize, accomplish, execute
  • genomgående = throughout
  • genomgång = a walkthrough, a briefing, a summary
  • genomskinlig = translucent; transparent
  • genomslag = impact
  • genomsnittlig = average, mean

Genom also means genome.

Snitt also means dainty sandwich, fashion, incision, cut, section.

Related words, and other words containing snitt include:

  • snida = to carve
  • snidare = cutter
  • snideri / snidande = carving
  • snitta = averaging, dollar cost averaging, to gash
  • snittning = averaging
  • kägelsnitt = conic section
  • avsnitt = section, part, sector
  • kejsarsnitt = cesarean
  • tvärsnitt = cross section
  • träsnitt = woodcut

Sources: bab.la, Wiktionary

The Foreshortening Dark

By Simon

December in various languages

In many languages this month is known as December, or something similar, which comes ultimately from the Latin *decumo-mēnsris (of the tenth month) – the Roman calendar started in March (mārtius) [source].

However in some languages December has a completely different name:

In Welsh December is Rhagfyr [ˈr̥aɡvɨ̞r], which means the ‘foreshortening’, from rhagfyrhau (to foreshorten), from rhag (a prefix with various meanings) and byr (short, small) [source].

In Breton December is miz Kerzu [miz ˈkɛʁ.zy] – which means ‘very dark month’. The Cornish for December is similar and has the same meaning: Mys Kevardhu [source].

In Scottish Gaelic December is Dùbhlachd, From dubh (dark), so it’s a dark time [source].

In Irish December is Mí na Nollag (the month of Christmas). Nollag is the genetive of Nollaig, which comes from the Old Irish Notlaic (Christmas), from Latin nātālīcia (a birthday party), from nātālis (natal), from nātus (born) [source].

In Finnish December is joulukuu (Christmas/yule moon) [source], which was also the meaning of the Old English word for this month: Gēolmōnaþ.

In Czech December is prosinec [prɔsɪnɛt͡s], which comes from prosinoti (flashing, shining) [source].

In Polish December is grudzień [ˈɡru.d͡ʑɛɲ], from the Proto-Slavic *grudьnъ, from *gruda (heap, lump) & *-ьnъ [source].

Are there interesting names for December in other languages?

Hatlings, benders and beer tokens

By Simon

In one of the songs we sang at the Welsh session last night, there’s an interesting word – hatling, which means ‘mite, half-farthing; modest contribution, all that a poor person can afford’.

It’s a word I haven’t come across before, but from the context I guessed it was term of affection. This is how it’s used:

Fy hatling offrymaf dros enaid dan glo,
Fy nghanwyll offrymaf yn eglwys y fro,
’R offeren weddïaf saith seithwaith yn daer
Er cadw ei enaid anfarwol.
Myn Mair, Myn Mair

Which means:

My penn’orth I’ll offer for a soul in prison,
My candle I’ll offer in the church in the vale,
The Mass I’ll pray earnestly, seven times seven,
To save his immortal soul.
O Mary, O Mary.

You can hear the whole song here:

So it seems it doesn’t mean what I thought. I can’t find any information about its origin, but my guess is that it’s a perhaps a nickname for a half-farthing. This is a coin that was first minted in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1828, and used in the UK from 1842. It was worth an eighth of a penny.

Some other nicknames and abbreviations for British coins include:

– Bender = a sixpence, known as such because it could be bent, due to its silver content. A one time you could get very drunk for a sixpence, which is the origin of the phrase ‘to go on a bender’.

– Bob = a shilling. Possibly related to bell ringing, as a bob can also be a tune played on church bells.

– Tanner = a sixpence. Possibly from the Romani word tawno (small one).

– Groat = four pence (fuppence). From the Dutch word groot (great).

– Ha’penny = half penny

– Tuppence = two pence

– Thruppence or Thruppenny bit = three pence

– Quid = £1

– Beer token = £2 (a pint of beer cost about £2 when this coin was introduced in 1998).

Only the £1 and £2 coins are still used.

Do you know of any other interesting nicknames for coins or bank notes?

Sources: Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru – A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Ireland, Wales and Europe – Poems, History and Language, Royal Mint

Comrades and companions

By Simon

The other day a Manx-speaking friend posted a photo on Instagram of a boat with the name Cumraig, with a note saying that it means comrade or companion:

Cumraig – comrade / companion #Manx #Gaelic #gaelg #culture #identity #isleofman

A post shared by Adrian Cain: Greinneyder (@greinneyder) on

I wondered if Cumraig is related to the Welsh word Cymraeg (Welsh language), and whether the other Celtic languages have similar words.

In Manx the word cumraag means companion, comrade, fellow, mate, pal, escort – Cumraig seems to be a variant form.

Cumraag appears in phrases like:

– cumraag caggee = brother-in-arms
– cumraag marrey = shipmate
– cumraag scoill = schoolfellow
– cumraag shamyr = roommate

In Welsh there are a number of words that are probably related to cumraag, although I cannot find confirmation of this:

– Cymraeg [kəmˈraːɨ̯ɡ] = Welsh; the Welsh language; of the Welsh language; Welsh-speaking
– Cymreig [kəmˈrei̯ɡ] = Welsh; of Wales or the Welsh culture (but not of the Welsh language)
– Cymro [ˈkəm.rɔ] = Welsh person; Welshman
– Cymraes [kəmˈraːɨ̯s ] = Welshwoman
– Cymry [ˈkəm.rɨ̞] = the Welsh (people); Welshmen
– Cymru [ˈkəm.rɨ̞] = Wales

These words come from the late Proto-Brythonic *kumroɣ [kɵmˈroːɣ] (compatriot), from *kombrogos, a compound of *kom- (with) & *brogos (country).

*kombrogos is also the root of the Breton keñvroad / keñvroiz (compatriot), and of Cumbria, Cumberland, and Cambria, the Roman name for the region now known as Cymru / Wales.

Sources: Fockleyreen, Wiktionary, Encyclopedia.com, Y Ddraig