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Your
Etymological Queries Answered
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From
Frank Martinez:
What is the origin of the
word pornography?
This is a surprisingly
young word in English. Pornographer is first recorded in English
from about 1850. Pornography appears by 1857. These words
are from Greek pornographos "writing about harlots",
from porne "harlot". In English pornography
referred primarily to ancient Greek and Roman texts of that subject. It
wasn't until the late 19th century that it came to be used to refer to newly
written works. It also applied to art of a licentious nature from its
earliest use in English.
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From
Kirsty:
What does the word Gaul
mean?
Well, what it means and its etymology are
horses of different colors! Today Gaul mostly refers to
present-day France, and things Gallic are things French. In
the days of the Roman Empire, however, the term referred generally to the
"land of the Gauls" ("a Gaul" was Gallus in
Latin). The land was named after its indigenous inhabitants.
There are several theories regarding the word's origin. One suggests
that it is a Gaulish word, that is, that the Gauls called themselves Gauls,
from gal "brave". Another suggestion is that it
comes from a Celtic word meaning "white". The final theory
we've encountered holds that the word derives from Germanic walho
"stranger, foreigner", source of Wales, etymologically
the "land of foreigners" and walnut, the "foreign
nut".
Gaul first appears in English in
1563. Prior to that the Latin form was used.
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From Beth Johns:
We were recently playing Scrabble and someone used the
word aa. It is a legitimate word in the Official Scrabble Dictionary that means "lava rock." However, the dictionary
does not give its origin and we were wondering where it came from. We're guessing it is a
Polynesian word, but can you help?
There's an obsolete (and obscure!) English
word aa that means "a stream, a watercourse" and derives
from Old Norse a, which is cognate with Old English ea
"water" and Latin aqua "water". However,
the word that the Official Scrabble Dictionary has in mind is aa
"rough, scoriaceous lava, one of the two chief forms of lava emitted
from volcanoes of the Hawaiian type. The other is pahoehoe."
That "other" one sounds like something someone says when he eats
something disagreeable! And aa, is pronounced
"ah-ah", by the way. Anyhow, you were correct in guessing
Polynesian, as aa is Hawaiian in origin and Hawaiian is a Polynesian
language. Aa entered English in about 1859.
If you were wondering how to tell if your lava
is scoriaceous, throw it in some water. Scoria sinks but pumice
floats.
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From Joe Boyer:
I am a culinary
student and I am trying to find the origin of this cooking term: quenelle.
The definition was easy (it is found in all of our books) but the
origin is a mystery. I hope you can help me
Yes, the definition is found in
most dictionaries: "A seasoned ball whose chief ingredient, meat or
fish, has been reduced to a paste" is what the OED says. The
American Heritage Dictionary gives this definition: "a ball or dumpling
of finely chopped meat or seafood bound with eggs and poached in stock or
water." Each definition provides slightly different
information. Neither is incorrect, though the OED is more
correct with its suggestion that the meat of fish has been reduced to a
paste. Anyhow, now that we know what a quenelle is, where does
the word come from? Surprisingly, the OED says it is a mystery, but
other sources claim that quenelle derives from German Knödel
"small dumpling",
the Middle High German diminutive of knode "knot",
presumably referring to the shape of the quenelle. The Old High
German form was knodo, cognate with Latin nodus and English node.
The Indo-European root would then be *ned- "to bind, to
tie". Surprisingly, English knot is not thought to be
related, but comes instead from a Germanic root meaning "round
lump" versus "something tied". Some sources do believe
that Knödel and noodle are related. Italian gnocchi
"dumpling" comes from the same Indo-European root, *ned-.
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