about the universe forum commander Shop Now Commanders Circle
Product List FAQs home Links Contact Us

Saturday, June 02, 2012

RANDOM THOUGHTS #93

Steve Cole muses: Just thinking to himself about the curious origins of common words.

1. Damask, which today refers to any cloth with a vibrant color pattern, comes from Damascus, the city which (in the 11th century) first produced that style for the European market.

2. Debauch, to corrupt or pervert, or to lead into debauchery, comes from the French desbaucher, which means nothing worse than to get someone who is working to stop and engage in a casual conversation.

3. Debut, which now means the first appearance of a new movie or other entertainment, comes from the French de but, which means "from the mark" and was used in games to say "It's your turn."

4. Delirium, which means someone (usually temporarily) in a confused state of mind, comes from the Latin delirio, which means "to stray from the furrow" (referring to how one plows a field for crops). The meaning at the time was wandering in speech from the point of the conversation, or just rambling. Now, it has a more medical meaning, and often happens to perfectly sane people who run a high fever or perhaps don't get enough sleep.

5. Demijohn, a very large wine bottle often with a woven covering and handle, comes from the French Dame Jeanne, which referred to a buxom barmaid. (Legend has it that this originally referred to a specific young lady now lost to history, and that she was so famous that any well-endowed barmaid that travelers encountered came to be called by the same name until it became a generic term.) At some point, one producer of wine used unusually large bottles (the woven handle making them easier to handle) and these reminded everyone of the barmaids.

6. Demon comes from the Greek word "to divide" with the specific meaning of "to divide or determine destines." Thus, a demon was the spiritual being that controlled your fate, and everyone had a demon (in effect, a guardian angel) who looked out for you or (if in a bad mood) sent you to ruin. When Christianity appeared, the priests needed to convince everyone that the old deities and spirits were evil, and demon became a figure of evil. Christianity taught that the demon who controlled your fate was actually and evil being who led you astray.

7. Denizen is the deinsein which meant "within the city" and comes from the Latin de intus which meant simply "inside" or "insider." Now, a denizen of some place is still just that, someone who lives there. For what it's worth, the term for someone not living in the city was the Latin foras or the French forain which have come to us as "foreign."

8. Derrick, a lifting system including a tower built of struts (or another word for crane) comes from Godfrey Derrick, the hangman of Tyburn, who (about 1600) constructed a modified form of the gallows that had been used for centuries. His system was clever enough that engineers who saw it adapted it for the construction industry, or perhaps he borrowed the idea from them (no one is certain).

9. Derring-do, the panache of a brave fellow who conducts no end of valorous acts in spite of danger, is simple a construct by Chaucer of the terms "daring to do" things.

10. Despot, which these days means a tyrannical (and usually evil) warlord or dictator, comes from the Greek despotes, which simply means "boss" with no connotation of evil or even mean spirit.