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</x-tab>In his Nov. 20, 2000 message Douglas Wilson correctly draws
attention to Joseph Wright's _English Dialect Dictionary_ for
insight into the etymology of _chad_. I would like to follow
his lead but select a different interpretation of the evidence
presented in that dictionary.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Geneva" size="+2"
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</x-tab>The central piece of information is apparently _chat_ (with
the variant _chad_ in West Yorkshire and Derbyshire) in the meaning
"catkin." My dictionary tells me that a catkin is "a usually
long ament crowded with bracts." That might as well be written in a
foreign language, but what strikes me is the etymology given for
"catkin": "from its resemblance to a cat's
tail."</font></div>
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<div><font face="Geneva" size="+2"
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</x-tab>In other words, the starting semantic point is not something
that falls into a pile but something long and thin, something
protruding. Hence, e.g. meaning "6: "a protruding of
blackthorn, etc. running into a field from the fence."</font></div>
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<x-tab> </x-tab>Of
particular interest is meaning #5: "a chip of wood, a small twig or
branch used for firewood." I would suggest that the "small twig
or branch used for firewood" has the primary meaning (something
long and thin, akin in shape to a catkin). And "a chip of
wood" is the secondary meaning, developed from the wood to be used
in kindling a fire.</font><br>
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</x-tab>This "chip of wood" is evidently the immediate ancestor
of _chad_ in its present, information-age usage. So the
ultimate etymology of _chat/chad_ seems to be no more remote than the
word for "cat"--with the imagery coming not from the whole animal
but just its tail (thence" "twig"; thence "chip of wood,"
thence "a punched out chip-like piece of paper."</font></div>
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<div><font face="Geneva" size="+2"
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</x-tab>Once _chat/chad_ received its meaning "a chip of
wood," this new meaning was extended to other small
objects: "a piece of coal" (meaning #8),</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="+2" color="#000000">"a small
potato of inferior quality" (meaning #7).</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>I have
already stumbled once in seeking the etymology of _chad_. Is the
present attempt perhaps more plausible?<br>
<br>
------Gerald Cohen<br>
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