{"id":20161,"date":"2020-11-14T11:58:33","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T11:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20161"},"modified":"2020-11-14T11:58:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T11:58:35","slug":"fairs-and-carnivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=20161","title":{"rendered":"Fairs and Carnivals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An interesting Dutch word I learnt recently is <strong>kermis<\/strong> [\u02c8k\u025br.m\u026as], which means a carnival, fair, fairground, funfair or amusement park [<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/dutch-english\/kermis\">source<\/a>]. I remember it by linking it to Kermit the Frog, and thinking of him going to a fair.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/carolienc\/4954815427\/in\/photolist-8xQJ1c-8xTKnS-8xTK6A-8xQHfi-CiJRrB-8xQH6g-8xQGZ6-mDKuE-8xTJch-8xTJsq-mb2FBD-8xTJXA-8xTHnW-8xTJjJ-5mp2Cz-cjrTwW-cjqy83-5mtiuJ-5mthYN-cjqMCw-5mp37a-MjEuGs-5mtiEy-cBNznA-6w8GZt-6thkHj-eXmLqE-5mtiKb-5mp3yi-5mtify-cjs4RE-5mtibG-4Pm8kD-7iXCWC-cjsCEU-LK5LnQ-6wcUVG-5mp32R-6w8Hog-5mti5A-6wcUYy-6jCbkw-cj5M5u-ahL2fm-cBssNu-4KwG1L-8xQG62-8xQEJV-5hST8v-8oeHbo\" title=\"Opening Leuven kermis 2010\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4130\/4954815427_0626b8bc61_z.jpg\" alt=\"Opening Leuven kermis 2010\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It comes from the Middle Dutch <em>kermisse<\/em>, a contraction of <em>kerkmis<\/em>, from <em>kerk<\/em> (church) and <em>mis<\/em> (mass) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/kermis\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Some related expressions include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>kermisklant = funfair worker, carnival worker, carny, funfair customer<\/li>\n<li>kermistent = an attraction at a carnival or a fair<\/li>\n<li>kermisattractie = fairground attraction, fairground ride sideshow attraction<\/li>\n<li>kermiskraam = fairground booth\/stall<\/li>\n<li>kermisterrein = fairground, midway, carnival<\/li>\n<li>het is kermis in de hel = the devil&#8217;s beating his wife (&#8220;it is a funfair in hell&#8221;) &#8211; said when a sunshower* occurs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*sunshower = a rain shower which occurs while the sun is shining<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kermis<\/strong> is related to the German word <strong>Kirmes<\/strong>, which in parts of western and central Germany means a fair, funfair or fairground, but originally referred to a solemn mass held annually to celebrate the anniversary of the consecration of a village church &#8211; such masses are now known as <strong>Kirchweihfesten<\/strong> (parish celebrations). In time the <strong>Kirmessen<\/strong> became major village festivals [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Kirmes#German\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ksg_fotografie\/43425704592\/in\/photolist-29ao63G-ay7NoN-2YZy6-ay7PyE-yXzN6t-4DaLBt-97WLoX-8xcBiB-xc2a4i-4uJLB-2iK5Yz9-KDMqih-24wQUHq-QGkavt-pvZvTj-M78i6g-M7qjh1-2iZFeBh-2aejEo4-JvUsDS-eu8hZM-iaG3S-Q82g3f-eubstA-4uJLg-4uJLU-ai2KGM-eu8iee-5bL8Kw-5bFTfi-5bL7vu-8xcBkT-56XwE7-56TmMP-5jzgQg-y6A4CU-xRhnHL-97ZUso-AosAjv-xbTfkC-7idm9-2i9VLEz-LT4rN3-Aeuw9x-2cL1W1k-cJcZZY-7dN6Pd-xMUYDY-oLAn6g-286VVYf\" title=\"Kirmes\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1770\/43425704592_3f5dc17688_z.jpg\" alt=\"Kirmes\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>kirmiss<\/strong> was borrowed from Germany and\/or Dutch, and in parts of the USA apparently refers to an indoor entertainment and fair combined [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/kirmess#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>This word was also borrowed from Dutch into French as <strong>kermesse<\/strong> (f\u00eate), and from French into Italian as <strong>kermesse<\/strong> (social event, gathering, meeting or gala) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/kermesse#French\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>fair<\/strong>, as in a funfair or (travelling) carnival, comes from the Middle English <em>feire<\/em>, from the Old French <em>foire<\/em> (celebration), from the Latin <em>f\u0113riae<\/em> (holy day, festival, holiday, vacation)  [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/fair#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>carnival<\/strong> comes from the French <em>carnaval<\/em> (carnival), from the Italian <em>carnevale<\/em> (carnival), possibly from the Latin <em>carnem lev\u0101men<\/em> (&#8220;meat dismissal&#8221;) or from <em>carnu\u0101lia<\/em> (meat-based country feast) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/carnival\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An interesting Dutch word I learnt recently is kermis [\u02c8k\u025br.m\u026as], which means a carnival, fair, fairground, funfair or amusement park [source]. I remember it by linking it to Kermit the Frog, and thinking of him going to a fair. It comes from the Middle Dutch kermisse, a contraction of kerkmis, from kerk (church) and mis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,104,107,111,116,128,10,15,182,26,34,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-german","category-italian","category-language","category-latin","category-middle-dutch-dietsc-duutsch","category-middle-english","category-old-french","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20161"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20176,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161\/revisions\/20176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}