Myles Who?
Last week’s post included a compound word coined by the Disney screenwriter of Bambi. This week we’ll look back a bit
further & consider some of the words first written down by Myles Coverdale,
who, in 1535, published the first-ever English translation of the Bible
(predating the King James version by seventy-six years).
Even
though most etymologists believe many of the compound words Coverdale was the
first to write down were in common usage, the commoners using them weren’t
bothering to write them down, so the following words are known as Coverdale
words:
fleshpot – meaning luxuries regarded with
envy, though the literal meaning was pots
in which flesh was boiled. One could argue for either meaning in the Exodus
verse in which the word appears.
noonday – a simple compound of noon
and day, from Job
lovingkindness – I’ve always associated this word with my mother, known in the family
as Muz. She strived to live this word & most who knew her would agree that
she succeeded. Lovingkindness appears in Psalms.
bloodthirsty – not a word one would expect in Psalms, but predictability is not the
Old Testament’s strongest suit.
uproar – meaning to move, stir or shake,
or a revolt or commotion (appearing
in Kings, Matthew & Acts), from the German aufruhr, meaning tumult or riot, & definitely not
related to the word roar, which came to English through Old English & Dutch
from Sanskrit ragati, meaning barks.
sackbut – from the book of Daniel, sackbut came from the French saquebute, a bass trumpet with a
trombone-like slide. Interestingly, the instrument bore a striking resemblance
to the saqueboute, a hooked
lance-like weapon of northern France, used in battle to pull riders from their
horses. Apparently Coverdale incorrectly used the term in Daniel to refer to
Aramaic instruments known as sabbekha,
a small triangular harp. I’m often in the minority when it comes to
religious/spiritual issues, but it seems to me that a joyful noise is a joyful
noise, no matter the nature of one’s sackbut. Of course, the question
remains whether it was the French or the Aramaic who first coined the phrase, Does this dress make my sackbut look big?
Any
responses about Myles Coverdale or these words attributed to him? Please leave
your thoughts in the comments section.
I always learn so much on this blog, Mr. Monger! I'd never heard of Myles Coverdale. And I grew up in the Anglican church. We should have been told!!
ReplyDeleteSo fascinating about sackbuts. I always thought of them as looking like an English horn. But it was really one of those little angel harps that Daniel was playing! I don't suppose they had a lot of brass to make instruments out of in the Bronze age, did they?
I agree that lovingkindness is a marvelous word. We need to use it more often.
Anne, I'm so glad to be offering something new. I'm thinking we need to use the word lovingkindness more, but more importantly, we need to live it -- tall order, but worth working toward.
ReplyDelete