ice box (was: obsolescene [was church key])

[James C Stalker]

Interesting etymological questions.  I had always assumed that refrigerator
was an ad coinage to get away from the primitiveness of ice box.  However,
MW 11 gives 1611 as the first use of refrigerator, from the French, of
course. You antedating guys can get on which comes first in modern American
ad use (refrigerator/Fridgedaire), but how about frigid+air = frigid+aire, a
spelling to catch that sophisticated French aire.  Fridge could them be
ambiguously derived from both.  Perhaps more interestingly, we have a
modern(?) example of the French/English split dating back to the Middle
Ages: French beef, pork, refrigerator, etc.; English cow, pig, ice box.

Ok, a bit of a reach, but. . .

Jim Stalker

sagehen writes:

>>I used to wonder whether "Frigidaire" or "refigerator" was the source
>>of "fridge." After consulting many English-French dictionaries and
>>seeing many French movies wherein "refrigerator" is translated by
>>"frigidaire," and the fact that my mother and my grandmother *always*
>>used "frigidaire" and never "fridge" for any brand of refrigerator, my
>>vote is for the brand name as the source.
>>
>>-Wilson
>  ~~~~~~~~~~
> I agree.  In fact I made much the same argument in an exchange on another
> list."Frigidaire" was one of those inspired brand names like "Kleenex" that
> became the generic. It may not be so universally used now as it was in the
> 40s & 50s, since now we just say "fridge."
> I certainly remember the Servel with its pretty little blue flame logo.  My
> in-laws had one on the ranch in Wyo --- before REA came into the valley --
> when electricity, supplied by their own generator, was only on for a few
> hours each evening. Servels must have saved a lot of food from spoilage in
> rural America until years after WWII.
> A. Murie
>
> ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University