Melanie & Mike say... |
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the only Weekly Word-origin Webzine | |
Issue 18 |
November 30, 1998 |
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We had the radio news on this morning, at breakfast. During the financial report we were not really listening when the expression "a bellwether corporation" jumped out and demanded our attention. The context showed that the intended meaning was "a corporation which is usually an indicator of trends" but being literal-minded we started discussing sheep. The word comes from the 13th century and first meant a wether (that is, a castrated male sheep) which wore a bell. Wether is Old English and dates from the 9th century. Bellwethers were noted for their docile nature and were used to lead flocks, especially to the slaughter. A curious feature of old sheep slaughter-houses was that the final run before the slaughter-pen had a side gate in the fence, known as a bellwether gate. Along comes the dopey bellwether down the sheep run, followed by trusting flock, then, at the last moment, wallop!, the shepherd slips the bellwether through the bellwether gate and the other sheep trot on, oblivious to their imminent doom. The bellwether was then introduced to a new flock and the sinister cycle was repeated. We certainly hope that this meaning is not implied in the expression "a bellwether corporation". If it is, then we expect the ensuing scandal to be dubbed bellwether corporation-gate.
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From Melissa:
Before tea and coffee were introduced to
Europe there were obviously no cafes or tea houses for people to meet in. So where did
people hang out, The word barbershop itself dates from about 1570-80 and even then had musical associations. It was the custom among barbers of Elizabethan England to provide a kind of flat-backed lute called a cittern (also called a "gittern" or an "English guitar") for their patrons to play while they waited. By 1660 the term barber's music came to mean a discordant cacophony. From this we must conclude that the average Renaissance man was no more adept at the cittern than his modern counterpart is at the guitar. Some centuries later, around 1900, a particular kind of unaccompanied harmony became popular and was soon taken up by the ever-musical patrons of barbershops. Nowadays this genre of close four-part harmony is sung by accountants, bus drivers and computer programmers but its name still resonates with ancient overtones. Incidentally, the words "cittern", "gittern", "guitar" (and, for that matter, "zither") all derive from the Greek kithera, a kind of lyre.
From Jim Martin:
Certainly, Jim. These two American words are really quite graphic. A hoe-down, for instance, is what happens after one "downs tools" (puts ones hoe down). There is an analogous concept in the English custom of "harvest home" which was a grand dinner and barn dance which the farmer held for the benefit of his workers after the year's work was done. Shindig is another splendidly descriptive word. This time it is an allusion to the typical wounds sustained at the hands (or should I say feet?) of dancing partners whose enthusiasm exceeds their skill. (For some reason, the gruesome image of an up-tempo eightsome reel danced in steel-reinforced farm boots springs to mind.)
From Robert:
The ancient Romans were a superstitious bunch. No treaty was signed, no military campaign set forth and no legislation was enacted unless the omens were right. And what was an omen? Well, flights of birds was a traditional one. The species of bird, the direction from which they came and the direction in which they went all provided prophetic revelations to the priests who specialized in this racket. These priests were called avispex (literally "bird-watcher" - from avis, "bird" + spicere, "to watch") and their pronouncements came to be known as auspices. Note that the Romans spelled this word avspices which shows its relationship to avispex even more clearly.
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