World Wide Words -- 01 Oct 11
Michael Quinion
wordseditor at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG
Fri Sep 30 16:57:29 UTC 2011
WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 756 Saturday 1 October 2011
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Author/editor: Michael Quinion US advisory editor: Julane Marx
Website: http://www.worldwidewords.org ISSN 1470-1448
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A formatted version of this e-magazine is available
online at http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/qsgt.htm
Now on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wwwordseditor
This e-magazine is best viewed in a fixed-pitch font
For a key to phonetic symbols, see http://wwwords.org?PRON
Contents
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Feedback, notes and comments.
2. Weird Words: Wanion.
3. Q and A: Beck and call.
4. Sic!
A. Subscription information.
B. E-mail contact addresses.
C. Ways to support World Wide Words.
1. Feedback, notes and comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------
INENARRABLE Many subscribers got in touch with me about one word I
used in this piece last week. Andrew Haynes commented, "I loved your
reference to authors borrowing the word inenarrable 'to enpurple
their prose'. But shouldn't the word be 'empurple'? (I was tempted
to suggest that you had chosen 'enpurple' to demonstrate the breadth
of your own vocabulary, but that would have been too rude, so please
ignore this sentence.) Anyway, your use of that lovely word has
started me thinking. Are there are other colours that can be verbed
by adding the prefix 'en-' or 'em-'? I have searched OneLook.com for
words such as 'enyellowed' and 'emblued', but without success. In
fact, apart from 'redden', 'whiten' and 'blacken', I can't think of
any other verbs meaning to imbue something with a particular
colour."
You're right, Mr Haynes, to suggest that I included the word to have
a little fun with vocabulary. "Empurple" is indeed much more common,
though even after all the readers' responses the "en-" form still
feels better in my mouth. It has been in the language since about
1590 and has been variously spelled down the centuries, not only
with "em-" and "en-" but also with "im-" and "in-". The default
spelling of the prefix in English is "en-", in the sense "to bring
into a certain condition or state or to invest with a certain
quality" (from the OED), but it derives from the Latin "in-", which
is why those forms have also appeared as variants, in many other
words as well as this one. "En-" and "in-" usually turn into "em-"
and "im-" before "b", "p" and "m". I know of no other verbs for
instilling a colour apart from the ones you quote.
BATMANNING "I hadn't heard of that new use of the verb," wrote Neil
Hesketh. "The term has been around for decades in the mountaineering
community, in reference to a method of climbing up a rope hand-over-
hand, leaning back with your feet braced against the rock to imitate
the way Batman and Robin climbed buildings in the old TV show with
Adam West."
GAZUMP I wrote last week that this curious term is probably from
the Yiddish "gezumph", to overcharge or cheat. Robert A Rothstein
responded, "I doubt that there is any such word in Yiddish, although
numerous sources cite this alleged etymology (probably borrowing
from one another). The closest that I could find in any Yiddish
dictionary is the expression 'aynfirn in a zump' (literally, 'to
lead into a swamp'), which means to lead someone astray, to lead
someone into a jam, to ensnare someone." Dr Rothstein is Professor
of Judaic and Slavic Studies at MIT and - among his many other
duties - he teaches Yiddish, so he surely knows whereof he writes. I
would better have reproduced the cautious comment in my online piece
of 11 years ago about the word: "Some dictionaries suggest this odd
word comes from the Yiddish 'gezumph', to cheat or overcharge."
"The mention of 'gazunder'," wrote David Chase, "reminded me of two
related faux-portmanteaux words that are occasionally used in my
field (music arranging for Broadway). When we are discussing music
written for the purpose of transitioning into (or out of) a song,
dance or underscored scene, we will refer to this usually brief but
well-crafted bit as a 'guzzinta' or a 'guzzoutta'. I can't swear to
the proper spellings, but saying them aloud will quickly reveal
their intended nature."
2. Weird Words: Wanion /wQnj at n/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The first generation of editors of the Oxford English Dictionary
were especially literate men and this shows in their definitions,
which sometimes needed a dictionary to interpret them (luckily, the
reader always has one immediately to hand, if rather cumbersome).
Take "wanion". Its still-current OED definition, written nearly a
century ago, says: "An altered form of 'waniand' used in certain
formulas of asseveration or imprecation." A modern dictionary aiming
at plain English definitions might say instead that in set phrases
it meant an emphatic statement or curse.
In itself, "wanion" means "in the waning of the moon". It's from the
Old English verb "wanian", to lessen, from which we get "wane". You
may feel "wanion" is too mild and agreeable a word to be attached to
a curse, but in bygone centuries the waning of the moon was thought
to be an unlucky time. Various fixed expressions took on the word
and the idea, such as "with a (wild) wanion" (with a plague or with
a vengeance), "a wanion on" (a curse on) and "fetch one a wanion"
(bring one a misfortune).
Up, with a wild wanion! how long wilt thou lie?
Up, I say, up, at once! up, up, let us go hence:
It is time we were in the forest an hour since.
[The History of Jacob and Esau, 1557, probably written
as a school play by an unknown headmaster for his pupils
to perform.]
Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I'll fetch
thee with a wanion.
[Pericles, by William Shakespeare and George Wilkins,
1608.]
By the early nineteenth century the phrases were old-fashioned, if
not archaic. They were resurrected by Sir Walter Scott, who loved
such expressions and single-handedly made a number of them familiar
to his readers in his historical romances, if not going so far as to
return them into daily use.
But, as he pressed upon her with a violence, of which
the object could not be mistaken, and endeavoured to
secure her right hand, she exclaimed, "Take it then, with
a wanion to you!" - and struck him an almost stunning blow
on the face, with the pebble which she held ready for such
an extremity.
[Woodstock, by Sir Walter Scott, 1855.]
Our views of the moon today are coloured by romantic ideas of love
or unrequited yearnings and we see no harm in its phases, whether
waxing or waning.
3. Q and A: Beck and call
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Q. It is my pleasure to contact you in the hope that you can explain
the derivation of the phrase "beck and call", if indeed I spelled it
correctly. Perhaps it ought to be "beckoned call". I might deduce
that "beck" is a derivative of "beckon" but in that case why should
we need "call" as well? I await your thoughts. [Jim Black]
A. Many people think the phrase is indeed "beckon call", as "beck"
has vanished except in poetic or literary use and "beckon" seems to
make more sense. It is becoming common online, though I've not yet
seen it in print here in the UK. In the US it appears from time to
time in the less literate, or less well sub-edited, newspapers:
With knowledge from a lifetime of growing produce at
his beckon call, Wenzloff has turned his favorite hobby
into a small business that helps keep the professed
busybody from getting bored.
[West Fargo Pioneer, 6 Sep. 2011.]
However, "beck and call" is undoubtedly correct. Your belief that
"beck" in the phrase is closely connected with "beckon" is quite
right; it's actually a shortened form of "beckon" that evolved from
it in Middle English around 1300. The verb "beckon" was then spelled
in a number of ways, all with an "-en" ending. People thought that
was a mark of the infinitive and shortened it to make a new verb and
later a noun.
In its early years, "beck" meant several kinds of gestures, not just
the one of summoning that we mean by "beckon" today. It might be a
nod of agreement or of salutation or a curtsey or bow as a mark of
respect.
Giving a beck with his head to his Shepherdess in token
of thanks.
[Diana, by the Spanish playwright Jorge de Montemayor,
translated by Bartholomew Yong, 1598.]
By the time this appeared, "beck" had already taken on the idea of a
summons or command to one's social inferiors. By the early part of
the next century various phrases had appeared to suggest a person
had continually to be standing by, ready to obey the orders of a
superior. These included "to have at one's beck" and "to hang upon
the beck of". The version that we know today, which folds the
archaic "beck" into the fixed phrase "beck and call", came along a
little later. The first example that I know of is in a work about
the existence of witches that was written by Joseph Glanvill, a
member of the Royal Society and chaplain to Charles II, which was
published in 1681, the year after Glanvill's death.
Putting "beck" and "call" together in this way, signifying ways to
issue imperious commands to underlings by both gesture and voice, is
an example of a doublet form in which the repetition adds emphasis.
It may echo ancient conventional legal doublets, such as "aid and
abet", "sale or transfer" and "terms and conditions", which evolved
through adding French terms to English after the Norman Conquest to
ensure everybody understood what was meant.
4. Sic!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Markets have crashed on less. On 23 September John Branch found this
in a Financial Times e-mail summarising the morning's headlines:
"The G20 has pledged its support for the global economy by offering
assurances that the global banking system will now be allowed to
fail."
"Make up your mind!", commented Gill Teicher about a link on the
Telegraph site on 25 September that seems to have fallen through a
time warp from last May: "Osama bin Laden is dead: Live".
It's not that often that "rogue" is mistyped, but it can evoke an
incongruous image when it is, as it did in a Guardian report on 28
September about a campaign against "rouge landlords".
A. Subscription information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
To leave the list, change your subscription address or resubscribe,
please visit http://www.worldwidewords.org/maillist/index.htm
You can also maintain your subscription by e-mail. For a list of
commands, send this message to listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org:
INFO WORLDWIDEWORDS
This e-magazine is also available as an RSS feed, whose source is at
http://www.worldwidewords.org/rss/newsletter.xml .
Back issues are at http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues/ .
B. E-mail contact addresses
-------------------------------------------------------------------
* Comments on e-magazine mailings are always welcome. They should
be sent to me at wordseditor at worldwidewords.org . I do try to
respond, but pressures of time often prevent me from doing so.
* Items for "Sic!" should go to wordsclangers at worldwidewords.org .
Submissions will usually be acknowledged.
* Questions intended to be answered in the Q and A section should
be addressed to wordsquestions at worldwidewords.org (please don't
use this address to respond to published answers to questions -
e-mail the comment address instead).
* Problems with subscriptions that cannot be handled by the list
server should be addressed to wordssubs at worldwidewords.org . To
allow me more time for researching material, please don't e-mail
me asking for simple subscription changes you can do yourself.
C. Ways to support World Wide Words
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Wide Words e-magazine and website are free, but if you
would like to help with their costs, there are several ways to do
so. Visit http://www.worldwidewords.org/support.htm for details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
World Wide Words is copyright (c) Michael Quinion 2011. All rights
reserved. The Words website is at http://www.worldwidewords.org .
-------------------------------------------------------------------
You may reproduce brief extracts from this e-magazine in mailing
lists, newsletters or newsgroups online, provided that you include
the copyright notice given above. Reproduction of substantial parts
of items in printed publications or websites needs permission from
the editor beforehand (wordseditor at worldwidewords.org).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the WorldWideWords
mailing list