Halloweenish words
English includes heaps upon heaps of lovely words
referring to unlovely things. This week we’ll take a look at a few of them.
The Dutch verb gluren meant to leer. In the 1300s it (or one of its
Scandinavian siblings) made its way into Old English as gloom, initially a verb
meaning to look sullen or displeased.
The adjective gloomy showed up in the 1580s & the noun version of gloom,
meaning darkness or obscurity, first
appeared in writing in 1629.
Though we don’t know its roots, the Latin
word luridis
meant pale yellow & ghastly. By
the 1650s it showed up in English as lurid, meaning ghastly or horrible, adding the meaning glowing in the dark by 1727 & the meaning sensational by the 1850s. Though I would love it if lurid
were somehow related to the term yellow journalism, no such link
seems to exist.
The Scandinavian tongues all had some version of the word grim
(grimm, grimmaz, grimmr, grym), meaning furious, dire, painful, savage or cruel. Because of some
similar-sounding words meaning thunder
in Old Church Slavonic & Russian, etymologists have posited that grim’s
grandmother words started out as an imitation of the sound of thunder. Grim made
its way to Old English in the 1100s along with its sister-word grima,
a noun referring to a ghoul, goblin or
specter. Sadly, grima didn’t live very long, possibly taken out by some sort of
linguistic grim reaper. Sources suggest that the term grim reaper didn’t show
up until 1847, though one could argue that the grim reaper had been
doing his job for centuries with no recognition.
The Greek word for black was melanin
& the Greek word for bile was khole. Because depression
was seen as a problem with the body’s humors, specifically pinned on the black
bile, the word for overpowering
sadness was melancholia, or black
bile. This word made its way
through Old French to English by the year 1300, to become melancholy.
Back in the 2nd century BCE, some folks we now call the Maccabees
got fed up with intolerance & against all expectations, rose up to
fight their mighty Greek oppressors. Though their story has its triumphant
elements, the outcome wasn’t good for the Maccabees, known thereafter as
martyrs. At some point in Medieval Latin the story was told as the dance of the Maccabees, or Machabaeorum.
This term made its way through Old French to land in English in the early 1400s
as macabre,
meaning involving death or violence in a
strange, frightening or unpleasant manner.
On a grim-related side-note, any of you interested in hearing some
Halloweenish tales might tune into Tales on the Rock, my half hour fiction
show at 9:00 PM PST Sunday 10/26. I’ll be narrating a nightmarish tale of my
own, then a Bradbury story, & last, Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart”.
May any grim, gloomy, macabre, melancholy or luridness you encounter
this season be in good fun.
Love that melancholia is black bile. Seems to fit it perfectly. Dance of the Maccabees reminds me of a Stephen King book I read years ago, think it was nonfiction, "Danse Macabre," a history of horror fiction if I remember it right. Your weekly blog proves the adage, you learn something new everyday. :) I do. Especially here.
ReplyDeleteHey again Paul - thanks so much for becoming a regular visitor, & always a positive one at that.
ReplyDeleteI like the word melancholy. It's what I use to describe my rare not so cheerful dispositions. It sounds romantic and less dire that depressed or even sad. And now I know that it really means black bile. Hum. Not so romantic. And kind'a dire after all! Thanks for the Halloweeny words!
ReplyDeleteAll new and fascinating stuff to me. I had no idea there was a connection between the Maccabee and macabre, but once you explain it, it all makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd if yellow journalism doesn't come from "lurid"--I agree it should--maybe you'll have to explain its origins to us sometime?
Ahoy Anne & Christine,
ReplyDeleteLike you, Anne, I was astounded at the Maccabee/macabre connection, & like you, Christine, I preferred not knowing the background of the lovely-sounding "melancholy". Thanks for popping by & having something to say.