This is a book in the whodunit tradition, but not about murder- unless you think language has been murdered over the centuries. It is about the origin of English words, etymology. But written in a way that is part Wodehouse, part Hitchcock, and well, part (Frederick) Forsyth.
The most hilarious one I have come across so far is the one on the origin of testify. Apparently people in olden days swore on something with their hands either on their own testes or those of the high official before whom they swore! What could be funnier? Sounds like a Mel Brooks movie scene.
Disaster comes from misplaced planet, or dis-astro. And now, a story, the story of Frankfurt. Once upon a terribly long time ago, there was a tribe called the Franks. They invaded Gaul and Gaul became Franc(k)e. They oppressed the native Gauls horribly, forcing them to eat garlic. Only the Franks themselves were free. Thus they were enfranchised. They were able to speak freely or frankly, and everyone else was disenfranchised and not able to approve things just by franking them.
How did the Franks get to France? They had to cross the river Main. They did it by finding a ford to ford it. The place became known as the Frank-ford on the Main, or Frankfurt am Main. It may be noticed how the good things were named after themselves. It's an absolute truth of linguistics that bad things are foreign (Is the Shiv Sena/CPI(M) listening?)
In medieval times, black and white were often confused with one another, however implausible it may sound. The author's comment about this- "Chess must have been a confusing game (as a result of this confusion), but on the plus side, racism must have been impractical."
The blank in point blank means white, from the French word blanc, meaning white. When the white in the centre of the shooting targets is shot from a close range, it becomes point blank. Literally, it means you point (aim) at the blanc- the white spot, and not aim high, as when you shoot from a distance, and to account for gravity, aim higher than the target.
Another thing I gleaned from the book is that Milton (of Paradise Lost fame) invented hundreds of words. Apparently when he didn't find what he wanted, he just invented one. Like Etymologicon, used in the title of this book. Fascinating stuff!
The most hilarious one I have come across so far is the one on the origin of testify. Apparently people in olden days swore on something with their hands either on their own testes or those of the high official before whom they swore! What could be funnier? Sounds like a Mel Brooks movie scene.
Disaster comes from misplaced planet, or dis-astro. And now, a story, the story of Frankfurt. Once upon a terribly long time ago, there was a tribe called the Franks. They invaded Gaul and Gaul became Franc(k)e. They oppressed the native Gauls horribly, forcing them to eat garlic. Only the Franks themselves were free. Thus they were enfranchised. They were able to speak freely or frankly, and everyone else was disenfranchised and not able to approve things just by franking them.
How did the Franks get to France? They had to cross the river Main. They did it by finding a ford to ford it. The place became known as the Frank-ford on the Main, or Frankfurt am Main. It may be noticed how the good things were named after themselves. It's an absolute truth of linguistics that bad things are foreign (Is the Shiv Sena/CPI(M) listening?)
In medieval times, black and white were often confused with one another, however implausible it may sound. The author's comment about this- "Chess must have been a confusing game (as a result of this confusion), but on the plus side, racism must have been impractical."
The blank in point blank means white, from the French word blanc, meaning white. When the white in the centre of the shooting targets is shot from a close range, it becomes point blank. Literally, it means you point (aim) at the blanc- the white spot, and not aim high, as when you shoot from a distance, and to account for gravity, aim higher than the target.
Another thing I gleaned from the book is that Milton (of Paradise Lost fame) invented hundreds of words. Apparently when he didn't find what he wanted, he just invented one. Like Etymologicon, used in the title of this book. Fascinating stuff!
9 comments:
Does Milton have a word for "No words"!
Word'illa'?
Frank'fart' could have been the franks eating something other than garlic? Perhaps they duelled for 'Ham' from the 'berg'?
That's exactly how a Bong would pronounce Frankfurt. Don't know if ham produces the same results.
Sir, sharing this on the FB page of Literatti - the Literary Club of IMT-N.
https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Literatti/413638468655460?fref=ts
Sure, Meghna. By the way, your name appears in the revised version of my autobiography to be released in Pune at Crossword on Nov 9th.
Oh does it? I'm curious now. Will it be a spoiler if I asked you, in what context does my name appear in your book?
Not at all. I have added a small section on IMTN students and mentioned that you and I have a Mutual Admiration Society going for each other's blogs.
Oh wow! :)
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