Bottom Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘north’ and now look at ‘bottom’.

Bottom has a couple of meanings in English today, but historically different languages have given very different meanings. For example Old English referred to botm as ‘soil, deepest part’; Old Frisian ‘soil’, Old Norse ‘ground’, Old German ‘earth’, have similar meanings. Old Irish bondreferred to ‘the sole of the shoe’; but ‘bottom’ is the meaning for Sanskrit budhanah, Avestan buna, Greek pythmen, and Latin fundus all mean ‘bottom’.

Nobody got to the bottom of the matter until 1570.

Bottom as in ‘a person’s posterior’ is not seen in English until 1794.

Bottoms up began in 1875.

Bottom dollar dates from 1857, and seen in the UK just after the First World War.

It was felt from the bottom of the heart for the first time in 1540.

Fish were described as bottom-feeders, where applicable, from 1866.

To reach the bottom of (as in to fathom, which was the earlier expression) dates from 1808.

River bottoms were unrecorded until 1752.

Rock bottom dates from 1884.

Nobody referred to this being ‘the bottom line’ until 1832.

Nothing was bottomless (such as a pit) until the early 14th century. By design nothing can actually be bottomless, but ‘very deep’ doesn’t quite cut it.

Bell-bottom trousers were first described in 1882, and enjoyed a resurgence in the 1960s thanks to the fashion choices of the era.

Black bottom was a jazz dance seen at least by 1907, and became a national craze in the USA when it appeared in a Broadway musical.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel is difficult to date as the origin really did mean getting right to the bottom as barrels were used for storing many foodstuffs. However, we do know the metaphorical use dates from the 1930s.

In baseball the phrase ‘bottom of the inning’ refers to the latter stages of the inning, and the earliest known record of that is as early as August 1730.

Smooth (or soft) as a baby’s bottom appears in the middle of the 20th century.

Bottom drawer, in use by 1866, was where young ladies would gather household items for future use as a married woman.

Bottom the house, ie to give it a thorough clean, is first seen in the early 19th century.

Trackie bottoms is a phrase which has become a part of the English language in recent years, but is unknown before about 1999.

Rain Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘sun’ and now look at ‘rain’.

Rain dance is seen from 1867, although surely such rituals were performed for centuries or even millennia.

Rain date is first found in 1948, probably more commonly used in the USA, it refers to an alternative date for outdoor events interrupted by rain.

Amazingly the quite complex phrase, always used as an insult, “doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain’ is recorded as early as 1590.

Rain gauge, that instrument which measures rainfall at a specific point and which you probably haven’t heard of since your school days, is found from 1769.

Nobody ‘rained on another’s parade’ until 1941.

It has been raining cats and dogs since 1738 – and earlier still, from around 1650, it rained dogs and polecats. (Well it would, of course!)

Nobody spoke of a rain cloud until around the end of the 18th century – which begs the question as to where they thought the rain came from?

Nothing was described as rainproof until 1788.

The rain forest is unrecorded before 1899, when it is deemed to have been a translation from the German Regenwald mentioned in A.F.Schimper’s work Pflanzengeographic.

Rainbows have been known since before the beginning of Old English, hence at least two millennia. The Saxons, who spoke Old English, also had the term scurboga or ‘showerbow’.

Rainbow trout are first recorded as such in 1876.

Raincoats are first seen in 1821…..

…. which is 37 years before anyone wrote down ‘rainfall’….

…. and 17 years after ‘rainstorm’ is first recorded.

Rain check was first seen in 1884 and described a ticket given to a spectator who could claim a refund or admission to a replayed game postponed through rain.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: T

Many words have two meanings, sometimes more, which are often very different. Such words have identical spelling and pronunciation, they are known as homonyms. Here I continue an A to Z list of such words and look at how that word came to have two different meanings.

T is for trip, as in to stumble and to make (usually a short one) a journey. The loss of footing is only seen from the middle of the 15th century, prior to that 'trip' was used in a positive sense as in to 'step lightly, to dance, caper, skip'. It is thought to come from Proto-Indo-European dreb meaning 'step, walk'.

Around the same time as the stumbling meaning came into use, the word also began to describe a journey, which would also link it to the 'step, walk' meaning.

What both show is that the so-called oldest pub in England, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham, does not date from 1189 as is claimed. The claim could well be partially correct, the premises occupy (at least in part) the brewhouse for Nottingham Castle, but a date isn't possible as no documented record exists. The story goes that those wanting to travel to the Holy Land for the Crusades would meet here before setting out. At the time 'trip' did not mean a journey, and would not for another three hundred years, the journey was certainly not a short one, and - which for me is the absolute clincher - why would anyone heading to Jerusalem meet in Nottingham of all places? I have nothing against Nottingham, but if I'm going abroad in the 12th century, I think my point of departure might be the coast.

The Muses

Now a very good friend the other day said I had been an inspiration when it came to a project we (and others) are currently working on. Never thought of myself as anyone's muse but after challenging myself to recall the names of the Muses from Greek mythology (no surprise to find I was not among them), my thoughts turned to the origins of these names.

Muse is itself worthy of a quick look. This comes from the Ancient Greek mousai likely from the Proto-Indo-European root men which is found to mean both 'to think' and 'mountain'. Just to clear a point here, remember Proto-Indo-European spelling is based solely on phonetics and many words have identical sounds and completely different meanings (these are called homonyms). Here both uses of men are appropriate, for not only are they held to help the creative think but also the centres for such cults were always atop high points such as hills or mountains.

Calliope is the muse of epic poetry, hence represented by the writing tablet or stylus. The name is also that of a steam-powered organ and comes from the Greek kalli and opos, quite literally 'beautiful voice'.

Clio is the muse of history and represented by scrolls and books.Again from the Greek, here kleiein meaning 'to tell, make famous'. Ultimately this is from the Proto-Indo-European root kleu 'to hear' and related to the name of Damocles which means literally 'fame of the people'.

Euterpe is represented by a flute-like instrument known as the aulos and the panpipes. Hence it comes as no surprise to find Euterpe the muse of music, song and lyric poetry. Another of Greek origin where eu terpein means 'well pleasing' and related to the following name.

Terpsichore, as the muse of dance, may be represented by a lyre or its plectrum. Here again we find the Greek element terpein, this from Proto-Indo-European terp 'to satisfy', and coupled with khoros means 'enjoyment of dance' - note this second elemt is also the origin of 'chorus', those singing and/or dancing in a production.

Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, is represented by a tragic mask, a blade, or a club. The name comes from the Greek melpein meaning 'to sing'.

Thalia uses a comic mask or a shepherd's crook, the act of pulling someone off the stage by means of such refers directly to this muse of comedy. This name comes from the Greek thallein 'to bloom' and related to thallos 'young shoot'.

Erato, as the muse of love poetry, is represented by a kind of lyre known as a cithara and comes from the Greek erastos 'loved, charming', itself from eran 'to love' and also the source of the Greek god Eros.

Polyhymnia is the muse of hymns, represented by a veil and a name derived from the Greek poly hymnos or 'the one with many veils'.

Urania uses the globe or a compass, this the muse of astronomy and from the Greek ouranios meaning literally 'heavenly' and a name related to the Greek god and the planet Uranus.

As I proved to be the inspiration for some work on the history of a local street, perhaps that makes me the muse of mews? And before you ask, this homonym has no relation to 'muse' but came to English in referring to stables grouped around an open yard and from the 16th century Mewes in Charing Cross, London where the royal hunting hawks were kept. Hence the name shares its origins with many birds in the sound they make, indeed the mew is an old name for the gull.

Take your partners .....

Never having been a dancer in any sense of the word, being asked to write a piece on the etymology of dance names initially left me scratching my head. The telephone call came about following the success of a certain BBC dancing competition in its early years, a reality show I admit I had never seen (and still have not), while my knowledge of dance terminology starts and ends with 'step'.
Of course some terms are obvious, for example barndance is still clearly a dance genre developed at a time when the barn was probably the only building large enough to hold the dance. Other names and associated terminology follows in alphabetical order:

arabesque - as the name suggests 'in the Arabic style' from Italian arabesco.

bebop - from the musical style, itself imitative of its two-beat time.

beguine - a name of French origin understood as 'flirtation'.

bolero - a Spanish term bola meaning 'ball'.

bossa nova - is Portuguese for 'new voice'.

charleston - a dance named after Charleston in South Carolina.

cotillion - a formal dance which is named from the Old French for 'petticoat'.

flamenco - named from the Spanish for 'native of Flanders'.

foxtrot - the succession of slow and quick steps is said to resemble the start/start movements of the ubiquitous mammal.

galliard - is an Old French word meaning 'strength, power', possibly named for its gusto when compared with contemporary sixteenth and seventeenth century dances.

gavotte - named from the Gavot inhabitants of the Alps where the dance originated, itself meaning 'mountaineer'.

landler - is an Austrian dance which originated in the region of Landl, the name being the Anglicised version of the place.

mambo - a name which was taken from Haitian Creole for a voodoo priestess, which seems to be a simple loan word and has no connection with dance.

mazurka - this Polish dance takes its name from the French form of mazurek, a native or inhabitant of Mazovia province.

minuet - an Old French menuet meaning 'small, dainty'.

morris - an English country dance which has its origins in Middle English Moreys 'Moorish' and telling of its origins in North Africa and/or Spain.

one-step - describes the nature of the dance.

paso doble - as with the previous name describes the 'two step' this time in Spanish.

paul jones - from John Paul Jones, a Scots-born US naval hero who died in Paris!

pirouette - to spin on the ball of the foot in ballet, this comes from French pirouet 'a spinning top'.

polka - comes from Czech pulka means 'half step' and describes the skip following the three steps of the dance.

polonaise - is a French word from Medieval Latin Polonia, meaning Poland.

quadrille - is a dance for a minimum of four people and comes from Latin quadra or Spanish cuadra 'square'.

quickstep - is the perfect description of the fast-paced ballroom dance.

rigadoon - is a lively dance said to have been devised by and named after one Monsieur Rigaud, a dancing master from Marseille.

rumba - is a ballroom dance originating among the black culture of Cuba. This is either American Spanish rumbo 'carousel' or European Spanish rumbo 'pomp'.

saltarello - from the Latin saltare 'to leap'.

strathspey - is a lively Scottish reel named after the place name meaning 'the valley of the Spey'.

tango - logically the name is derived from the same place as the dance, a Spanish pronunciation of an Afro-American drum dance brought from somewhere in the Niger-Congo vicinity.

tarantella - a lively whirling dance from southern Italy which was devised as a remedy for tarantism. This condition, so rife in southern Italy from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries it was considered an epidemic, was thought to be a result of a bite from the tarantula, itself characterised by an uncontrollable urge to dance. Hence this is a dance created to alleviate an uncontrollable urge to dance!

turkey trot - the springing walk and up and down shoulder movement is said to be imitative of the turkey.

volta - a dance named from the Italian 'to turn'.

waltz - a Germanic word which can be traced to Middle High German walzen and Old High German walzan both meaning 'to roll'.