 Hoosegow. Slammer. Clink. Cooler. What’s up with all these synonyms for jail?
The word jail comes from a Medieval Latin word for cage which was born of an earlier Latin word for hollow place or cavity. The noun form of jail showed up in English in the 1300s through a dialect of Northern France. The verb form didn’t show until the 1600s. The term cooler began to mean jail in 1884. Its source word, cooler, showed up only ten years earlier, meaning a vessel in which liquids or other things are set to cool. Slammer appeared in 1952, from the idea of the jail door slamming shut. Its source, slam, probably came from a Scandinavian source, & appeared in English in the 1670s meaning a severe blow. The word prison has been with us since the 1100s and came from Latin through Vulgar Latin & French. The original Latin term, prehensionem, meant a taking. The verb clink has been with us since the early 1300s — it’s thought to be an imitative word — imitative of the sound made by links of chain abrading one another. Though Southwark London’s infamous prison, the Clynke on Clink Street, was commissioned in 1144, the noun use of clink didn’t get generalized to mean jail until the 1770s. The Mexican/Spanish word juzgao, meaning tribunal or court, gave us the Englishword hoosegow in 1911. Juzgao is one of many offspring of the Latin word iudicare, which meant to judge. Though joint didn’t officially mean jail until 1953, etymologists are pretty sure this meaning came from an older meaning of joint popular in the early 1400s, when joint meant building or establishment where shady activities take place. In the 1700s the word brigantine was born to refer to two-masted schooners. Sailors quickly shortened the word to brig. About a century later, when many older brigs had been retired & deemed prison ships, the word brig took on new meaning. Did any of these etymologies startle you? If so, please let me know in the comment section. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, Wordnik, The Clink Prison, & Etymonline.
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 I hope you’ll enjoy these Arabic idioms.
one hand doesn’t clap = if this is to work, all parties must cooperate cut from the tree = a person who has no family movement is a blessing = exercise is good son of Adam = respectable person this is my measuring bucket, not yours = mind your own business the carpenter’s door is loose = the shoemaker’s children are shoeless you came & God brought you = you came at just the right time the eye doesn’t go higher than the brow = a person can’t rise above his/her given status it takes the mind = it inspires awe I have no camel in the caravan = this matter doesn’t concern me the belly-dancer dies, but her waist still moves = habits are difficult to break call the one-eyed man one-eyed = speak straight to eat one’s head = to be overly insistent he ate a wooden wedge = someone talked badly about him the latest bunch of grapes = the most recently born & therefore favored child Enjoying idioms? Check out these related posts: Japanese idioms Swedish idioms Portuguese idioms Fish idioms Walking idioms Dog idioms Skin idioms And if you’re inspired, feel free to leave a comment. I love hearing from you. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Omniglot, Matador Network, EnglishIdiomsAndExpressions, Hussein Maxos, & Barakabits.  From Swedish to Japanese, & now to Portuguese idioms — thanks for joining me on Wordmonger’s World Idiom Tour. I hope you enjoy the poetic imagery in these idioms.
Donkeys’ voices don’t reach the heavens = you’re saying something stupid Break all the dishes = cause problems There’s no beauty without an if = there’s no such thing as perfection Many years turning chickens = much experience Take your little horse away from the rain = give up He’s like a racing mackerel = he’s too big for his britches Monkeys bit me = I am intrigued To do something so the English can see it = to show off Swallow frogs = shut up & listen Under the banana tree shade = no worries It’s the color of a donkey on the run = it’s color is difficult to describe To speak by the elbows = to be a motor mouth Bread to bread & cheese to cheese = easy as pie To have a flea behind one’s ear = to feel suspicious He’s got a head of rotten garlic = he is foolish or forgetful From very small, the cucumber is bent = character traits are acquired at an early age This is too much sand for my truck = I’m in over my head My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Omniglot, Matador Network, tagide.com, &Twisted Sifter.  Last week we took a look at some Swedish idioms. This week, why not a few Japanese idioms & their English counterparts? May they bring a smile or two.
Ten men, ten colors = different strokes for different folks Luck exists in the leftovers = it’s never too late One’s act, one’s profit = we reap what we sow To grab a flying foot = to take advantage of another’s mistakes Don’t let your daughter-in-law eat your autumn eggplants = don’t let yourself be taken advantage of Pulling water into one’s own rice paddy = looking out for #1 A frog in the well does not know the great sea = there’s more to life than you may think Gold coins to a cat = pearls before swine No face to show = shame Nothing is more expensive than something free = the hardest debt to pay off is simple gratitude Sheep head, dog meat = false advertising If you do not enter the tiger’s cave, you will not catch its cub = nothing ventured, nothing gained A monk for just three days = giving up at the first sign of difficulty Even monkeys fall from trees = everyone makes mistakes If any of these struck your fancy, please let me know in the comments section. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Japanese Words, Matador Network, Language Realm, Linguanaut, & Quora.  Idioms always give me a smile. I hope these Swedish ones and their English equivalents do the same for you:
To make a hen out of a feather = to make a mountain out of a molehill Suspecting owls in the bog = something fishy’s going on Crossing the river to get water = doing something in a roundabout fashion Caught with his beard in the mailbox = caught with his pants down Shame walks on dry land = immorality wins the day Don’t buy the pig while it’s still in the bag = don’t get a pig in the poke Don’t sell the skin before the bear is shot = don’t count your chickens before they hatch There’s a dog buried here = there’s more to this than meets the eye Pull one’s nose = pull one’s leg I’ll get you for old cheese = revenge will be mine Like a cat around hot porridge = fidgety & difficult about it Gnomes in the attic = bats in the belfry The cream on the mash = the icing on the cake No cow on the ice = no immediate danger If any of these struck your fancy, please let me know in the comments section. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Lost in Stockholm, Doctor Spin, Omniglot, & English Forums  A hearth is a significant place — significant in many ways. This is a tale of two hearths.
You can find the first hearth in many languages. Versions landed in Lithuanian, Russian, Gothic, Old Norse, Old English, Latin, & Sanskrit. Its source is the Proto-Indo European word meaning heat or fire. As one might expect, the English version is the word hearth. But this root meaning heat or fire also gave us: cremate — to burn or consume by fire — 1620s & cremation — the process of burning or consuming by fire -- 1620s carbon — non-metallic element occurring in all organic compounds -- 1789 carboniferous — containing or yielding carbon or coal — 1799 carbuncle — originally a red, inflamed spot — 1200s Our second hearth is less expected — nearly incognito. This group of related words came to English through the Latin word focus, which meant home or family, hearth or fireplace. In time it came to mean point of interest. Focus appeared in English in the 1640s. Back in the 1100s, this same Latin root made its way through French & gave us foyer, which initially meant fireplace, but because a fireplace was often an amenity in the greenroom of a theater, the word foyer began to refer to the room for actors who are offstage. By 1859, the word foyer referred to the theater’s lobby. The word fuel comes from this same root, & appeared in English about 1200. And in the 1300s at the end of the evening, one had to cover the fire — the Anglo French word for this practice was couvre-feu, which in English became the word curfew (it took until the 1800s for our modern meaning to come into existence), And though it didn’t officially make its way to English until 1994, the word focaccia, a bread baked on the hearth, came to us through Latin & Italian from that same root meaning home or family, hearth, or fireplace. May your hearth always be warm & may your words all have intriguing stories. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, Wordnik, & Etymonline.  This week’s celebration of one African language & one African language family follows last week’s post on Bantu & Kimbundu. English gets its words from many sources.
The word ibis, meaning a stork-like bird came to English in the 1300s from Egyptian. Though modern English speakers use the word ibis to refer to dozens of different types of birds, only one ibis is the sacred ibis of Egypt (Threskiornis aethiopicus), for whom all the others were named. Mumbo-jumbo came to English meaning big, empty talk in 1786 from a language spoken in the region of Niger, from a language in the Niger-Congo family of languages. Caiman (or cayman) showed up in English in the 1570s & appears to have navigated some messy linguistic waters through Carib and Spanish. Etymologists’ best guess is that the Nile crocodile or one of its close cousins was called caiman by people of the Congo region, who were enslaved by Europeans & brought to the new world. The etymologically messy part of the equation is that today’s caimans are South American alligators, yet the word caiman is no longer applied these days to any animals of the African continent. The Niger-Congo language family also gave us the word tango, through Argentinian Spanish. Starting on the African continent as tamgu, to dance, it made its way to South America, before arriving in Europe & installing itself in the English language in 1913. The word pharoah made its long way from Egyptian through Hebrew, Greek, & Latin to land in Old English. Pharoah comes from the Egyptian word pero, which means great house. Oasis landed in English in the early 1600s from Egyptian after a trip through Hamitic, Greek, Latin, & French. The original Egyptian word appears to come from a word meaning dwelling place. Though no one is certain, the word canopy probably came from an Egyptian word that arrived in English in the 1300s after touching down in Greek, Latin, & Old French. The Greek form meant Egyptian couch with mosquito curtains, & the Egyptian source word for canopy meant gnat. Gum made its way from Egyptian through Greek, Latin, & Old French before arriving in English around 1300. Originally meaning resin dried from the sap of plants, it gained the meaning sweetened gelatin candy mixture in 1827. Who knew? Thanks for joining me in this romp through a few of the languages that contribute to this wacky & glorious thing we call the English language. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, Wordnik, & Etymonline.  Woody Guthrie once said of another songwriter, “Sure, he stole from me, but Hell, I steal from everybody.” The English language appears to have a similar attitude when it comes to word acquisition.
One of the lesser-acknowledged languages from which English has stolen is Bantu, a family of languages spoken across much of southern Africa. Here are a few words that started out in one of the Bantu languages (including Kimbundu, mostly spoken around Angola). And darned if they didn’t make their way into Modern English. Chimpanzee - appeared in English in 1738 from the Bantu word for a gregarious, anthropoid, intelligent ape, known in biological circles as pan troglodytes. Gumbo - a vegetable and seafood soup thickened with okra. The word gumbo arrived in English in 1805 through Louisiana French from the Bantu word ngombo, which means okra. Tote appeared in English in the 1800s from the Kimbundu word tuta, meaning both a load & to carry. Marimba came to English in 1704 from the Bantu word for an indigenous xylophone-like instrument. Goober arrived in English in 1833 from the Bantu, Kimbundu, or Kikonga word nguba, meaning peanut, a leguminous plant. Zombie arrived in English in 1781 from the Kimbundu word nzambi, originally meaning god, then picking up the meaning re-animated corpse in the world of voodoo. Tsetse came to English in 1849 through South African Dutch from the Bantu word for fly — all species in the genus glossinidae, Tsetse is also excellent evidence that the Bantu indulge in onomatopoeia. Banjo appeared in English in 1764 from the Bantu word mbanza, which referred to an indigenous African instrument not terribly unlike the modern banjo. I’m curious. Had you ever wondered about the origins of any of the words above? Did you already know some of them were of African origin? My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, Wordnik, & Etymonline.  The Indo-European word meaning to roll is *wel-. It was constructed by etymologists based on evidence from Sanskrit, Greek, Lithuanian, Old Church Slavonic, Latin, Old Irish, Old High German, Old English, & more. Its offspring are legion. Here is a small sampling: revolve — to roll back devolve — to roll down involve — to roll into evolve — to unroll revolt — to roll over convoluted -- to roll together volume — originally a roll of parchment containing writing whelk — a marine snail with a spiraling (rolling) shell willow — a tree — imagine a storybook weeping willow, with branches that enclose anyone standing near the trunk, foliage that rolls around that person wallow — originally, a disturbed spot in the soil where some animal had rolled around wallet — originally a bag or knapsack holding one’s bedroll waltz — in 1825 the waltz was considered a riotous and indecent German dance involving the gentlemen seizing the ladies around their waists — involving not only a circular rolling pattern on the dance floor, but the nimble rolling of the ball of the foot. Comment or not, depending on how you roll. My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Merriam Webster, Collins Dictionary, Wordnik, & Etymonline.  Finishing up our March celebration of wise women, here are eight wise women's thoughts about truth.
Truth…is the first casualty of tyranny. Barbara Grizzuti Harrison Let us accept truth, even when it surprises us & alters our views. -George Sand Truth will not be ignored. It will rise up & consume us. -Katherine Wylde What a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis! -Mary Wollstonecraft Much sheer effort goes into avoiding truth: left to itself, it sweeps in like the tide. Fay Weldon Truth is a rough, honest, helter-skelter terrier, that none like to see brought into their drawing-rooms. Ouida There is at least one thing more brutal than the truth, & that is the consequence of saying less than the truth. -Ti-Grace Atkinson Between the two poles of whole-truth & half-truth is slung the chancy hammock in which we all rock. -Shana Alexander May your week be filled with harmonious truths. Big thanks to this week's sources: theguardian.com wisefamousquotes.com, The New Beacon Book of Quotations by Women., & Oxford Dictionary, |
I write for teens, narrate audio books, bake bread, play music, and ponder the wonder of words in a foggy little town on California's central coast.
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