To grasp or enclose
A
fascinating construct of linguists is the proto-language, a language we have
no direct proof of. Linguists study the earliest languages they can access,
find similar words and structures in the languages in a region, and then
propose the mother tongue that may have given birth to the tongues spoken in
that region. It’s tricky business. One of the most-cited and least questioned
proto-languages is Proto-Indo-European, and this week’s post takes a look at
the apparent descendants of Proto-Indo-European’s proposed
word-part gher- , to grasp or
enclose.
It’s
easy to imagine a word meaning to grasp
or enclose turning into the Old English word gyrdel, a belt, sash, or cord worn around the
waist, & gyrdel morphing into girdle, initially meaning to cut
off a belt of bark around a trunk to kill a tree (1665), & moving from
there to mean an elastic corset
(1925). I’ll leave the comparison of the intent of those two words to my
readers with more direct experience than I.
Gher- also seems to have been responsible for the birth of the Old English
word geard, a fenced enclosure. From geard
come the words yard, & garden. Our modern word orchard
was original ortgeard &/or wortgeard, a compound word referring
to a geard
filled with wort (wort being vegetables,
fruits & roots).
When
those tricky Old English speakers filled a geard with kinder (children), they called it a kindergarten.
It
also appears that gher- made its way to Greece, where people danced in an
enclosure, inspiring the word khoros, which became our modern word
chorus,
which on its way through France, referred to the enclosure in the church where
people sang, the chouer, the parent of our word choir.
Gher- also made its way into Latin, where it referred to the king’s enclosure
& residence, cohors. In time, cohors grew to label the enclosure
itself, the court (which makes our word courtyard redundant). Court
also began to refer to the folks within it, both court &
cohort. When one of the individuals in that group expressed marital
interest, he was said to be courting, & doing so in a
gentlemanly fashion earned him the label, courteous.
All
this from grasping & enclosing?
I’d love to hear your comments on any of this, in particular, the darker twists
& shadows etymology throws upon words we typically see as positive.
It's just amazing how one root word can branch into so many different, and sometimes contradictory meanings. I had no idea garden and girdle had the same root!
ReplyDeleteHey Anne - & to my surprise, garter isn't related. Who'dathunk?
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping by.
GHERD TO SEE YOU BACK, CHARLEY
ReplyDeleteHowdy Steve -- back from where?
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping all's well for you.