"Ginned up"

[James Smith]

Most of us are introduced to Eli Whitney and his
cotton gin in elementary school.  The name "cotton
gin" puzzled me because the only "gin" I knew of was
the drink.  I finally connected "gin" with "engine"
after several years.


--- Ray Ott <Amcolph at AOL.COM> wrote:
> The root you want is the OF engin (engine, machine)
> rather than Geneva (gin,
> distilled spirit).  In particular, a "gin" in the
> sense of an apparatus to
> which horses or other draft animals are harnessed
> and made to walk around in
> a circle doing useful work such as milling,
> grinding, etc., to which the
> vernacular "ginned up" relates.
>
> Ray Ott


=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
SLC, UT                        |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays!
http://calendar.yahoo.com/