Karandash (was: English "laydown")

[Wilson Gray]

Thanks, Larry!

-Wilson

On Feb 4, 2008 11:24 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Karandash (was: English "laydown")
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:11 AM -0500 2/4/08, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >Interestingly enough, it's Prismacolors to me that my wife has, though
> >she's now switched to Crayola. The Russian word for "pencil" is
> >"karandash" and I've long wondered which came first: the Russian word
> >with "Caran d'ache" as a pun based on it or "Caran d'ache," being so
> >well-known in the field that like, "frigidaire" in French, it was
> >borrowed as the general term.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> I'd have guessed the latter, but it's evidently=20
> the former; see=20
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caran_d'Ache.  The=20
> Russian word is a borrowing, but from Turkish=20
> (kara dash =3D 'black stone', presumably referring=20
> to graphite or something like it).  The=20
> intermediary was evidently a popular 19th c.=20
> satirist and political cartoonist Emmanuel Poir=E9=20
> who took "Caran d'Ache" as his pseudonym, based=20
> on the Russian word.  The art products Caran=20
> d'Ache, from Switzerland, were named for him.=20
> The biography of Poir=E9/Caran d'Ache, including=20
> his service with Napoleon's army in Russia, his=20
> wounding and recovery (his rehab allowing lots of=20
> drawing time, one assumes), his adoption by and=20
> subsequent marriage within a Polish family, and=20
> his later repatriation to France is pretty=20
> interesting in itself.  Who knew!?  (There's a=20
> nice photo of him at the site--from 1860!=20
> Amazing what you can find on wiki.)
>
> LH
>
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