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A musician friend recently asked us for help with an Irish melody called "The New Demesne". "I can play it fine", he said "but how do you pronounce it? And what on Earth does it mean?" First, the pronunciation. Most people (among those few who have even heard of the word) pronounce demesne as "demean". The s was never pronounced but was inserted by medieval scribes to indicate a long e. These ever-helpful scribes may also have been unduly influenced by a similar word, mesnie (pronounced "meany") meaning "mansion". Under the feudal system, a demesne was the territory ruled by a lord. Both demesne and domain derive from Latin dominicum, "of a (or the) lord". This, in Medieval Latin, was often mispelled as dominium and we have incorporated this, too, into English as dominion. Thus, demesne, domain and dominion are essentially the same words. Considering this proliferation of similar words it is surprising to discover that mesne, as in the feudal term a mesne lord (pronounced "a mean lord"), is in no way related to demesne but is related to mean average. The word cottage also has its origin in
the feudal system. Nowadays, it is Curiously, to dwell originally (in the 9th century) meant "to stupify" or "to mislead". By the year 1000 the meaning had shifted from stupefaction to delay. For the next 200 years it drifted through "to remain [for a while]" before coming to rest at "to reside" sometime around 1250. |
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Last Updated 01/19/02 02:48 PM