Silver Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'gold' last time and this time it's 'silver'.

Silverware, ie articles made from silver, is first seen in the early 14th century.

Silver age was a term used to describe the years 18AD to 133AD and the literature produced during those years, it clearly wasn’t as good as the golden age which reigned for the previous 88 years.

Silver spoon in the literal sense is seen from the early 15th century, the metaphorical sense in referring to affluence is seen from 1719.

Silver hook may not be in general use these days, but from 1600 it was used to refer to anyone (or anything) can be lured if the potential prize is seen as worth it. Daniel Defoe wrote “The Golden Bait and the Silver Hook will catch Fish upon dry land” in 1708.

Silver bullet is a reference to a remedy so effective as to be almost magical, while weapons of silver have been lauded as guaranteed to defeat the foe since Greek times.

Silver lining, which as we all know every cloud has, is first recorded in 1843, when John Milton wrote Comus.

Silver star was a US military decoration from 1918, when a small badge was given to be worn on the campaign ribbon, then the medal itself was established on 8 August 1932.

Silver screen, a reference to the movie industry, is seen from 1924. However, the term had been recorded for the three preceding years and referred to the colour of the projection screens as the metallic paint gave a better result by being more reflective.

Quicksilver, an alternative name for mercury, is seen in late Old English cwicseolfor meaning ‘living silver’ as it is a liquid at normal temperatures and pressures. Thus this dates from around 1200 years ago.

Silverfish, that insect also known as the bristletail and which tends to eat paper, is recorded from 1855. References prior to that are simply generic terms for any fish.

An Etymologist's look at Roman Mythology.

Continuing on after my recent course on ancient languages, I thought it would be interesting to examine a selection of Roman mythological figures and examine the etymologies for their names.

Aurora comes from the Proto-Italic ausos and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h eusos 'the dawn'.

Ceres is the goddess of agriculture, which is seen in the name for Proto-Italic keres 'grain' and Proto-Indo-European kerh-os meaning 'to feed' support this.

Cupid comes from Latin cupio 'desire', itself from Proto-Italic kupi 'to desire', and ultimately Proto-Indo-European kupei 'to tremble, desire'.

Diana is probably from the Latin dius 'godly', from Proto-Italic divios 'divine, heavenly', and ultimately Proto-Indo-European diwyos also meaning 'divine, heavenly'.

Flora is from the Proto-Italic flosa 'goddess of flowers', derived from the Proto-Indo-European behos 'blossoming'.

Janus is Latin ianus 'arched passage, doorway'; from Proto-Italic ianu 'door'; and Proto-Indo-European iehnu 'passage'.

Juno was once thought to be connected to Iove or Jove, but for the last century it has been accepted this comes from Iuvenis 'young'. This Latin origin can be followed through Greek aion to Proto-Indo-European where the meaning is seen as 'vital energy' and particularly 'fertile time'. This would be appropriate for the goddess of marriage and childbirth.

Jupiter is from Proto-Italic djous pater 'father of the day/sky'.

Mars, the Roman god gave his name to the planet, is from Old Latin and appears as Mavors in earliest records. This is thought to be a transferred name (Romans famously absorbed any gods they encountered on their travels and conquests - well you can never have too many gods, or so they thought) and from the Etruscan child-god Maris. While the etymology would seem to fit this explanation, detractors suggest there is little to connect the two figures, unlike that of the Proto-European god Perkwunos who was known for his thunder.

Mercury is another who gave his name to a planet, his name is thought to be related to the Latin merx 'merchandise', thus from the Proto-Indo-European root merg or 'boundary' and is thus the keeper of boundaries.

Neptune also gave his name to a planet (I'd settle for a street!), a name from Proto-Indo-European nebh 'cloud' (compare nebula).

Pluto took its name from the Greek Plouton who was the god of wealth. The Roman Pluto is identified with the Greek Hades, both gods of the underworld, but the link is through the 'underground', for all the wealth was seen to come from the earth in the form of minerals and gems.

Saturn, the god giving his name to the planet, may have come from satus 'sowing', appropriate as Saturn is the god of agriculture. There are other thoughts however, suggesting the origin is stercus meaning 'dung, manure', or even satis 'time' and a reference to the seasons. With these suggestions, perhaps the Saturnians (if there are any) might prefer a less shit name and a different etymology.

Terra is a god, not just the name for that planet otherwise known as Earth, and is derived from the phrase tersa tellus 'dry land'.

Venus, which is Latin for 'love, charm', comes from Proto-Italic wenos 'desire', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wenh-os desire'.

Synonym Etymologies U

Continuing the look at synonyms through the eyes of the etymologist, this time it is the letter U and union. Old English, Old French and Latin have very similar words - unioun, union, and unionem respectively - have a Latin root of unus 'one', and Proto-Indo-European oi-no 'one, unique'. Note the word 'onion' has the same origin, a reference to the many layers uniting in a single vegetable.

Join is a simple word, just a single syllable, and clear evidence it is an ancient word. Coming to English from Old French and Latin, the word can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European yeug 'to join'.

Merge had a rather different original meaning of 'to plunge or sink in', a now obsolete sense but why the word is derived from Latin mergere 'to dip in, immerse'. The Proto-Indo-European root is mezgo 'to wash, plunge, dip, sink', and a word which is seen in Sanskrit majjanti 'to sink, dive', Lithuanian mazgoju 'to wash', and Latvian mazgat also 'to wash'. The change from the original meaning to the present one had to negotiate another couple of changes on the way. From 1726 one record shows the word was used to mean 'to be swallowed by, lose identity, disappear into', there is also a record from 1728 where the meaning is 'cause to be absorbed, vanish into something else'. The current sense is seen from 1805.

Fuse is first seen in 1680, with a meaning of 'melt, make liquid', it is a case of back-formation from 'fusion'. Not until 1817 do we find the sense 'blend, unite', and not until 1873 of 'become intermingled, blended'.

Combine is from Old French combiner, Late Latin combinare, and Proto-Indo-European dwo, meaning 'to unite', 'with, together', and 'two' respectively'.

Amalgamate, used in the sense of 'union' from 1797, is from 'amalgam'. This specifically describes blending another metal with mercury and comes from Old French amalgame and Latin amalgama, the latter particularly referring to a blend of mercury with gold or silver. We also find Arabic al-malgham, an alchemist's word referring to 'an emollient poultice or ungent for sores'. It is related to the Greek malagma 'softening substance' and goes back to Proto-Indo-European mel 'soft'.

Alliance once meant 'bond of marriage' around the end of the 13th century. Dervied from Old French aliance, with the same meaning, it comes from 'ally'. Latin alligare 'bind, tie to' gave us the French word, and came from the Proto-Indo-European root leig also mean 'tie, bind'.

Partner came to English from Old French parconier 'partner, associate', and Latin partitonem 'a sharing, division, distribution'. All these share a root in Proto-Indo-European pere 'to grant, allot'.

Syndicate is from 'syndic', a name describing a civil magsitrate, one seen in Geneva and other places. From the Latin syndicus and Greek syndikos, the root is Proto-Indo-European ksun meaning 'with'.

Don't Pull the Communication Cord

July 1st 1907 and at 2pm the London and North West Railway's express from Liverpool stops at Tamworth after someone had pulled the communication cord. When the guard investigated he found it had been pulled by Mrs Higham, none other than the wife of the MP for Sowerby in Yorkshire. She claimed her son of 3.1/2 had fallen from the train. Quickly all stations and signalmen on the line between Tamworth and Stafford were alerted and all traffic stopped as the search began.

By 4:30pm news filtered through that the child had been found near Hademore Crossing and was being treated by a district nurse at the cottage of a Mrs Smith near Whittington Bridge. In Tamworth the stationmaster, a Mr Matthews, stopped the down train and accompanied Mrs Higham as she went to check on her son. They arrived at the same time as Dr Homan who reported the child to have been badly hurt but would live. He had been discovered by a platelayer ganger working on the line. Noticing movement at the side of the line he investigated and found the young boy. He had carried the child to the cottage after sending his colleague for the district nurse whom he had seen cycling past just moments earlier.

How the door came open on a train travelling at 60mph was never explained, although he was a large child for his age and perhaps he had done something to contribute to the accident. Indeed, his bulk will have helped protect him as an examination of the trackside revealed he had collided with and broken a number of large stones as he bounced along for some 40 yards before coming to rest alongside the line used by traffic in the opposite direction. Although conscious he had not attempted to move which was fortunate indeed as the down express had passed him two minutes after he came to rest here. The driver of the down train had seen the body of the child but surmised he must have hit the mother, hence stopping at Lichfield to raise the alert.

Later that evening Mr Higham MP arrived from London Euston. He made a statement in the House the following day, thanking all those who had had a hand in the rescue and informing them his son was "progressing nicely".

Perhaps the oddest part of this potentially tragic tale came in the form of the newspaper headline, for the Lichfield Mercury led with the odd choice of EXCITEMENT ON THE TRAIN LINE NEAR LICHFIELD.

All That Glisters ......

Elements isolated and identified in the comparatively modern era are, most often, named quite logically. However those known to the ancients were known for very different reasons, albeit they had no concept of the idea of an element in a scientific sense. The earliest isolated elements were metals and named for what they saw and, as we shall see, they saw yhings in a rather different light.

Cadmium is a bluish-white metal discovered in 1871 by the German Friedrich Strohmeyer. It is borrowed from the Modern Latin cadmia, with the addition of the metallic suffix ‘-ium’, and itself used by the ancient naturalists for every earth and oxide they found. It comes from the Greek kadmeia meaning ‘earth’ and a name derived from the legendary founder of Boeotian Thebes ‘Cadmus’ and known as such as cadmium was first found in the area around Thebes.

Caesium is a rare alkaline metal, hence the suffix ‘-ium’, discovered and named in 1861 by scientists Bunsen and Kirchhoff. It was named from the Latin caesius meaning ‘blue-grey’ for the spectrum showing the presence of caesium is identified, and indeed was discovered, by two prominent blue lines.

Calcium and another metallic ‘-ium’ coined by Sir Humphrey Davy, this coined in 1808. He borrowed the first syllable from the Latin calx meaning ‘limestone’, this also the origin of the word ‘chalk’.

Aluminium is a an abundant metal and one which epitomises the quote from George Bernard Shaw when he said “Two nations divided by a common language”, for the name ‘aluminium’ is used on the eastern shores of the Atlantic, while on the western side the name is ‘aluminum’. The difference may be but one letter yet with the emphasis is on differing syllables it makes the two names sound very different. In Britain many find the American version difficult to accept and yet (sorry Britain) when first isolated by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808, he did refer to it as ‘aluminum’. However four years later he changed his mind, with a little encouragement from fellow scientists, and added the ‘i’ to make it ‘aluminium’. This made sense as the suffix ‘-ium’ is used for other metallic elements and thus the British version (sorry America) makes more sense. To further complicate matters Davy’s original name was ‘alumium’. All three names come from the aluminium oxide, known by the Latin alumen, and derived from ‘alum’, itself defined as ‘a whitish mineral salt used as an astringent and a dye’. Alum comes from Old French alum and Latin alumen literally meaning ‘bitter salt’ and associated with the Greek aludoimos and thus amazingly having a common root with ‘ale’.

Barium is another metallic element known since ancient times, albeit only as it was present in the mineral barytes. Not until Sir Humphrey Davy isolated barium in 1808 was it named, although clearly this is derived from the mineral where ‘barytes’ comes from the Greek for ‘heavy spar’. The Greek barys or ‘heavy’ can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European gwere also meaning ‘heavy’ – the latter also the root of the word ‘grave’ - used as an adjective, not a noun.

Chromium isolated in 1807 by Fourcroy and Hauy it was named from the French chrome, itself from the Greek chroma meaning ‘colour’ and aptly, for the compounds are often identified by their colours.

Nickel was identified and named in 1754 by Swedish mineralogist Axel von Cronstedt, an abbreviation of Swedish kopparnickel literally meaning ‘copper-coloured ore’. The Swedes translated this from the German Kupfernickel or ‘copper demon’, so-called as its colour suggested copper yet contained none. Here the alternative name for the devil himself, Old Nick, has a common origin.

Platinum was named by the Spanish, it comes from platina referring to ‘sheet of metal’. As it was thought to resemble silver the Spaniards thought it simply inferior silver, hence the name.

Magnesium here the metallic suffix ‘-ium’ follows the ‘magnesia’, itself the Greek referring to the ‘loadstone’. Here it gets its name from Magnesia, a region of Thessaly inhabited by the Magnetes people whose name has never been explained. What we do know is the metal shares an etymology with ‘magnet’.

Lead comes from the Germanic loudhorn and related to Lot meaning ‘weight’. Earlier usage is unclear, although it seems likely to have referred to ‘weight’ or ‘density’ in some respect.

Tin is from the Proto-Germanic tinom but here the trail ceases and this word is unknown outside the Germanic family. Early references, such as Pliny’s plumbum album or ‘white lead’, are due to the mistaken belief tin was nothing more than silver tainted with lead.

Zinc has been known for millennia, the name derived from the Germanic zint ‘prong, point’ and referring to the pointed shape of the crystals after smelting. Here we can trace the word back to Proto-Indo-European denk meaning ‘to bite’

Mercury is famously the fluid metal, also one of the seven metals known to the ancients as the bodies terrestrial and linked to astrology and alchemy. The Greek name of hydrargyros means ‘liquid silver’ and has also given us the chemical symbol Hg.

Gold has been known since prehistory, the term coming to English from Proto-Germanic ghl-to and derived from the Proto-Indo-European ghel ‘to shine’ – the same root as ‘glass’.

Silver, like gold, has been known since prehistory and can be traced through Germanic languages to somewhere around Asia Minor where Akkadian sarpu meant ‘silver’, coming from sarapu ‘to refine, smelt’.

Copper would have been one of the earliest mined metals and, as a word, it comes to English from the Proto-Germanic kupar. Ultimately this can be traced to the Latin cuprum, itself from Greek Kyprios meaning ‘Cyprus’ as it had been originally mined on that island. Note the original Latin for ‘copper’ had been aes but this was soon used for the alloy with tin ‘bronze’, eventually coming to English as ‘ore’.

Iron is another of ancient origins, coming to English through Celtic isarnon and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European isero meaning ‘powerful’ and also used in the sense of ‘holy’.