Tag: language

Rustling Frou-frous

By Simon

The word frou-frou came up last night at the French conversation group and I thought I’d find out more about it.

March 1860 Godey's Lady's Book Fashion Plate

In French, frou-frou [fʁu.fʁu] refers to a rustling sound, as of silk fabric. It also means rustle, frilly, frilliness or frills. Related words include froufrouter (to swish, rustle), and froufroutement (rustle, scroop, swish) [source]. It is of imitative origin [source].

Scroop? Apparently it means a rustling sound like that produced from friction between silk fibres; to produce a harsh scraping, grating sound, as of friction; to make sounds such as of a chair on the floor or chalk on a blackboard; or to produce a rustling sound, like that from friction between silk fibres, and is of imitative origin [source].

Frou-frou [ˈfɹuːfɹuː] was borrowed into English and means:

  • A rustling sound, particularly the rustling of a large silk dress.
  • Liable to create the sound of rustling cloth, similar to 19th-century dresses.
  • Highly ornamented, overly elaborate; excessively girly.
  • Unimportant, silly, useless.
  • To move with the sound of rustling dresses [source].

It has also been borrowed into Portuguese as frufru, where it means overly decorated or colourful, or a ruff, rustle or rustling (of fabrics) [source], and into Spanish as frufrú (rustle, rustling (of fabrics)) [source]

Other ways to say rustle in French include:

  • froissement [fʁwas.mɑ̃] = rustle, rustling, crumpling, wrinkling (of paper, fabric, etc)
  • bruissement [bʁɥis.mɑ̃] = rustling (of paper), murmuring, swish
  • bruire [bʁɥiʁ] = to rustle, rattle, roar, murmur, whisper, hum, swish
  • froisser [fʁwa.se] = to crease, wrinkle, rustle, ruffle (feathers), strain (a muscle) hurt, offend, take offence [source].

If you want to talk about rustling cattle or other animals, the word voler (to steal, rob, fly) is used in French, and the French equivalent of to rustle up (to prepare quickly) is préparer en vitesse (“to prepare / make hurriedly”).

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Knotted Knitting

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.

Knot finished yet

A knot [nɒt, nɑt] is:

  1. 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
  2. A tangled clump of hair or similar.
  3. The whorl left in lumber by the base of a branch growing out of the tree’s trunk.
  4. 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].

King Canute

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].

Bluetooth

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].

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Dog Days

By Simon

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

Canicule

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.

Dog Days of Summer

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].

Dogwalk in the rain

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].

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Piecemeal Time

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?

Party food buffet

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].

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Calm Heat

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.

Afon Cegin, Porth Penrhyn

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].

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

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].

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Jolly Jaunts

By Simon

Do you like to go on a little jaunt? Maybe you do now, but in the past, maybe not so much.

Jaunting Car
a jaunting car going for a jaunt

Jaunt is [ˈdʒɔːnt / dʒɑnt] refers to a short excursion for pleasure or refreshment, a ramble or a short journey; and to jaunt means to ramble here and there, to stroll or to make an excursion [source].

In the past it meant a wearisome journey, to jolt or jounce, to ride a jaunting car, or to tire a horse by riding it hard back and forth. That doesn’t sound like so much fun.

To jounce means to jolt or shake, especially by rough riding or by driving over obstructions. It is possibly a blend / portmanteau of jolt and bounce [source].

A jaunting car (see photo above) was a kind of low-set horse-drawn open vehicle, used in Ireland, in which the passengers ride sideways, sitting back to back. They are still used to give rides to tourists in some places, apparently, and the name is used for similar horse-drawn passenger vehicles [source].

The origins of jaunt are uncertain – it’s possibly a version of daunt (to discourage, intimidate, overwhelm), which comes from Middle English daunten (to subjugate, overwhelm, domesticate), from Old French danter, donter (to tame), from Latin domitō (to tame), from domō (to tame, conquer), from Proto-Italic *domaō (to tame, subdue), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (to domesticate, tame). [source].

Related words may include jaunce (to prance, frolic, jolt shake; a jaunt) in English [source], and jaunder (gossip, to talk idly) in Scots [source].

Incidentally, the word jaunty, which means airy, showy, dapper, stylish or ostentatiously self-confident, is not related to jaunt. Instead, it’s related to gentle, genteel and gentry, and comes from French gentil (helpful, kind, pleasant), from Old French gentil (noble, courteous), from Latin gentīlis (belonging to the same family, tribe, clan, etc), from gēns (clan, tribe), Proto-Italic *gentis, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis (birth, production) from *ǵenh₁- (to produce, beget, give birth) [source].

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