Unit 6 Application Questions

From www.wordorigins.org

3. Bagel- It should be no surprise that the word bagel comes from the Yiddishbeygel. Ultimately, it’s a diminutive of the Middle High German boug-, meaning ring or bracelet. So a bagel is a “little ring.”

Baker’s Dozen- The popular tale behind this phrase’s origin is that a medieval law specified the weight of loaves of bread and any baker who shorted a customer was in for dire punishment. So, bakers would include a thirteenth loaf with each dozen just to be safe. The story is partly true. There was such a law, but the practice of adding an extra loaf to the dozen had nothing to do with fear of punishment.

The law in question was the Assize of Bread and Ale, first promulgated in England in 1266. There are various versions of the law promulgated over the years, but they all regulated the size and price of loaves of bread that were sold on the market. During years of good harvests, bakers could make more bread than they could sell locally, so they would sell the excess loaves to hucksters, or middlemen. But since the size and price were strictly regulated, the only way for these distributors to make money would be for the baker to give them extra loaves. The baker would give the huckster a thirteenth, or vantage, loaf for each dozen. This extra loaf provided the profit for the middleman.

The practice of adding the thirteenth loaf is older than the phrase. The phrase only dates to 1599.

Canada- The name Canada is from the Iroquois kanata, meaning town or village. The name appears in the August 1535 journal of explorer Jacques Cartier in reference to the Iroquois village at the site of present-day Quebec City that was home to the chief Donnacona and also in reference to the wider region inhabited by Donnacona’s people. By the 1540s, French maps were referring to the region asCanada. By the early 17th century, the name had become established in English as well.¹

Deer- Deer can be traced back to the Old English word deor, but the word’s use in Old English was somewhat different than deer’s is today. To the Anglo-Saxons, a deor was not necessarily the gentle, forest creature signified by the modern deer, but the word could be used for any undomesticated, four-legged animal, including fabulous beasts of legend. The word carried a connotation of wildness and ferocity, not something we today associate with Bambi. Deer is a cognate (sister word) of the modern German Tier, “animal.”

Doughnut- Any number of people have inquired about the origin of the name of this pastry. The dough part is easy enough, but why nut? The term doughnut is first attested to 1809 in Washington Irving’sKnickerbocker’s History of New York. But Irving does not refer to the toroidal confection that we know today. Instead, what he describes are small balls of fried dough, what we would today call doughnut holes:

An enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks.

The nut comes from the size and shape of these balls, literally nut-like objects made out of dough.

Thoreau references oblong-shaped doughnuts, what we might today call a cruller, in an 1847 Atlantic Monthly article:

The window was...the size of an oblong doughnut, and about as opaque.

Apparently, the familiar toroidal shape did not become standard until the 20th century.

Some wags have claimed original spelling was "doughnought," referring to the hole in the middle. This is simply not true.

Eavesdrop- Most people know that to eavesdrop is to listen in on a conversation to which one is not a party. But where does this word come from? What does it have to do with eaves and roofing?

Eavesdrop, or originally eavesdrip, is a very old word. It is originally a noun referring to the water dripping off the eaves of a building or ground on which such water would fall. From medieval times there were legal restrictions on building close to one’s property line so that the eavesdrop would not damage the neighbor’s land.

French Fries-

The name French fries comes from the association of the dish with France; occasionally the dish is even called by the French name,pommes frites.

French-fried potatoes first appears in the O. Henry’s weekly magazine The Rolling Stone in 1894:

Our countries are great friends. We have given you Lafayette and French fried potatoes.

French fries is in use by 1903. From the Los Angeles Times of 20 April of that year:

“Hello, Rex M!” he called in that jolly good-natured style of his which he always affects just after he has filled his artificial stomach with porterhouse and French fries.

Golf- Despite the claims of some that the name of this game is an acronym, its origin is unknown. The place of origin, however, is known and it should come as no surprise that the game comes from Scotland.

The earliest known reference to golf is from 1457 in the Acts of James II of Scotland, where it is banned. It seems that golf was taking too much time away from military training:

And at the fut bal ande the golf be vtterly cryt downe and nocht vsyt.
(And [playing] at the football and the golf is to be utterly condemned [lit. “cried down”] and not engaged in [lit. “used”].)

It is sometimes claimed that golf comes from the Dutch kolf or kolv, literally club, and is the name of a sporting implement in a variety of games. There are some problems with this explanation, however. The Dutch words appear later than the Scottish and none of the Dutch games resemble golf, so they are not likely predecessor games. Nor are any of the Dutch games named kolf or kolv, although one is named kolven. Finally, the early Scottish forms are with an initial g. If the Dutch word is the origin we should expect a cor a k.

Another claim is that it comes from the Scots gowf, meaning a blow with an open hand or used as a verb meaning to strike. Still, evidence of 15th century use of this word is lacking, so that term could just as easily come from the game instead of the reverse.

As for the allegation that it is an acronym standing for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden, that is just silly.

Halloween- The word Halloween is a Scottish contraction of All Hallow’s Even orAll Hallow’s Eve, a reference to All Saint’s Day which falls on the first of November. October 31st is the day before, or eve of, this church holiday. The contraction dates to the 18th century when it is first recorded in the Scottish folk ballad Young Tamlane:

This night is Hallowe’en, Janet,
The morn is Hallowday.

The form All Hallow’s Eve is older, dating to at least 1556. From theChronicle of the Grey Friars of London:

Thys yere the towne of Depe was tane...on Halhalon evyn.
(This year the town of Depe was taken...on All Hallow’s even.)

And the church holiday is even older. From Ælfric’s Grammar from c.1000:

se mónað ongynð on ealra halgena mæssedæg
(The month begins on All Hallow’s Mass-day.)

lunch/luncheon- Lunch and luncheon have a very confused etymology. One might think that luncheon is the original, and that lunch is a clipping of it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Both words originally referred to a hunk or thick slice of food, often bread or cheese. The common view is that lunch came first and that it evolved from lump, in an analogous fashion to hump and hunch and bump and bunch.Luncheon is an extension of the shorter word. Then sometime in the eighteenth century the shorter word disappeared, only to pop up again a few decades later as a clipping of luncheon. But this common view is by no means certain, as the early history of the words is thoroughly confused.

#4.

Phonetic Demand	Semantic Demand	Etymological Demand
cat	Sign/signature	Façade (French)
had	Produce/production	lingo
slim	Reception/receptionist	veranda
win	Treasure/treasurer	ketchup
if	Excel/excellence	hallelujah

#8 -ch: such, much, which, ouch, touch, perch : used when there is a long vowel preceeding use “ch”, after a compound vowel such as “ou” use ch, after a consonant use “ch” (Wilbur, 2013)

    -Tch: butch, hutch, witch, hatch, pitch : used when there is a short vowel (Wilburt, 2013

-ge: cage, sage, age, stage, strange, oblige: following consonant “n” or a long vowel sound

-dge: badge, edge, judge, ledge, fidget : used when the /j/ sound comes after a short vowel sound

Wilbur, M. (2013) Phonetics Friday #17: using “ch” versus “tch”. Retrieved from http://toshuo.com/2013/phonics-friday-17-spelling-ch-vs-tch/.