LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.04 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 04 June 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.02 (04) [E]

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com <mailto:sassisch at yahoo.com>>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> ...
>
> "Crow" is related to Middle German /kros/ or /krös/ (Modern German
> /Gekröse/) and to Dutch /kroos(t)/, both 'mesentary', as well as Dutch
> /kroos/ 'giblets', related also to Low Saxon /Krage/ 'mesentary'. I am
> fairly confident that it is related to English /craw/ (< Old English
> /craƽa/) 'crop (of a bird)', related to Middle Saxon /krage/, Old German
> /chrago/, Danish /krave/, Old Norse /krage/, all 'throat' or 'neck'.
> Furthermore, I believe that this is related to Low Saxon and German /Kragen/
> 'collar'. In cooking, "crow" came to stand for "minor, cheap cuts," mostly
> innards. ....
>

I don't think the etymology of "eat crow" is known with certainty. The
expression in its modern sense is not very old, found from about 1877 last I
knew.

There is a _supposed_ predecessor (ancestral according to claims made as
early as 1880), a joke which was printed repeatedly in US newspapers in the
1850's: a man claimed he could eat anything; he agreed to eat [a cooked]
crow; practical jokers loaded the crow with "Scotch snuff"; the man ate it
with great distaste and discomfort, saying he could eat a crow but that he
didn't desire it (didn't "hanker for it" as it usually appeared). I find
this joke back to 1850. I'm not convinced that this joke was really the
inspiration for the modern idiom, however. I just don't know.

-- Doug Wilson

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From: heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk <heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2008.06.02 (07) [E]

From Heather Rendall heatherrendall at tiscali.co.uk

Hugo wrote: There is the archaic Australian slang phrase "stone (starve) the
crows" as an expression of surprise.

It may be archaic Down Under but it's very much alive and kicking here! It's
my 91 yr old mother's favourite expression ( of surprise) and I shall now
make a decided effort to include it in my 1 yr old granddaughter's vocab
over the next few years!

bw

Heather

PS Ron - thanks for your 'umble/ crow' explanation. Very fascinating!
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