Medals and Awards

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Medals and Awards. For most the list of awards making the headlines at New Year and the King’s Birthday List are simply a list of people, many of whom we have never heard of and probably will never hear of again. Those awarded medals in times of conflict are more likely to be remembered, if only because the recipients have become a part of history. As numismatists - those associated with coins as well as medals - will confirm, medals and awards all have a beginning, were created for a specific reason. While we often hear the narrative of the recipient, we rarely if ever hear of the story behind the award itself. Here is a talk giving a different historical view. An examination of the award, its beginnings and event the recipients, albeit a rather different look.

Order of the Garter – or correctly the Most Noble Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 by Edward II, it is limited to just 24 members at any one time, effectively 23 as the monarch is automatically one, and is made at the reigning monarch’s pleasure. New appointments are always made on St George’s Day, although there is no reason to believe this was the date of its inception, this is merely a much later idea of nationalist pride and not a true ‘tradition’. The emblem’s motto is famously Honi soit qui mal y pense or ‘Shame on him who thinks evil of it. Now nobody really knows why Edward III started this but there is a story and we should cover same. It seems the Countess of Salisbury was dancing at court in Calais when a garter slipped from her leg, to save her blushes and put a stop to the giggles from courtiers, the kind slipped it on his own leg and uttered the immortal words Honi soit qui mal y pense. This is simply the most popular of the stories. Another speaks of King Richard I who, while on the crusade to the Holy Land, ordered his knights to tie garters around their legs and when they won Edward III subsequently marked this with the order of the garter. The motto actually refers to Edward’s claim to the French throne, the order created to help pursue this claim. ETYMOLOGICALLY the four words have rather different roots giving a somewhat different meaning if we see Order as ‘to fit together’, which seems quite logical; ‘of’ was originally ‘off, away’; ‘the’ confusingly used to be ‘this,that’; and ‘garter’ is derived from an unknown root leading to the Old Welsh garr ‘leg’ and Old French jartier ‘bend of the knee’.

Order of the Bath – this began as the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath and was founded by George I on May 18th 1725. Its name comes from the elaborate ceremony involving bathing of a knight when appointed to this order of chivalry – the bath symbolised purification. It is often said George I revived the Order of the Bath but this is not possible as it never existed prior to then. It is awarded for service and is at the monarch’s pleasure. The award bears two mottos: TRIA IUNCTA IN UNO Latin for ‘THREE JOINED IN ONE’ and the German ICH DIEN ‘I serve’. ETYMOLOGICALLY the four words have rather different roots giving a somewhat different meaning if we see Order as ‘to fit together’, which seems quite logical; ‘of’ was originally ‘off, away’; ‘the’ confusingly used to be ‘this,that’; and ‘bath’ or ‘to warm’, is a little easier to see for no one wants to be immersed in cold water.

Distinguished Service Cross – renamed from the earlier Conspicuous Service Cross in October 1914, it was awarded to those of the British Armed Forces, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and British Merchant Navy for “…gallantry during active operations against the enemy.” ETYMOLOGICALLY ‘distinguished’ is used in the ‘celebratory’ sense from 1714, coming to English through French from Latin where disinguere literally means ‘to separate between’ and is ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root ‘to push, thrust’; ‘service’ in a military sense is seen from the end of the 13th century, this from ‘serve’ and originally meant ‘to be a slave’; ‘cross’ is a strange word and may well have two quite separate etymologies, although no proof of same has ever been found - for the sense of the ‘X’ image, the religious image, and even the ‘irate’ sense, all seem to stem from a root meaning ‘thwart, hinder, oppose’ and quite literally as ‘cross purposes’, while there is undoubtedly a quite different sense in the Germanic languages epitomised by the Saxon ‘cross’ which was simply a marker and did not even have a cross piece until Christianity arrived in Britain.

Hit Idioms

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

Hit it off dates from as early as 1780, and was used the same as the modern 'hit on' only from 1970.

Hit the nail on the head is recorded as early as 1570, but had nothing to do with hammers. This was an archery reference.

Hit the hay is first seen in 1912, which is strange as by then few mattresses would have been stuffed with hay.

Hit the bricks dates from 1909. Not heard today, it was trade union slang and referred to going on strike.

Hit (someone) up, to request something of someone, dates from 1917.

Not know what hit them is first seen in print in 1923.

Hit the road appears in print for the first time in 1873.

Hit and run has had no less than three lives. The vehicular reference is first seen in 1924; later this was also used for a military strike, first appearing in 1940; but the earliest, and probably the most obvious, is the baseball reference from 1899.

Hit the bottle is not seen before 1933, although 'hit the booze' had been in use since at least 1899.

Hit song/record/film/ etc dates as early as 1811, when it was used to refer to plays and shows.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: Z

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.

Z is for ..... well it isn't for anything as there isn't a single homonym beginning with that letter. So let's have some fun with etymologies of words beginning with Z and we will begin with....

Zero came into use from Arabic notation, for the earlier Roman numerals had no symbol representing zero. It comes from the Arabic sifr 'cipher' and is related to Sanskrit sunya-m 'empty place, desert, naught'.

Zeal is from the Latin zelus 'emulation'. They got it from the Greek zelos, a word used mainly in church to mean 'ardour, rivalry'; and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ya 'seek, request, desire'.

Zigzag is a fairly recent addition to all languages, coming to English from the French around 1670, and thought to have originated in Germany as ZickZack, used there to refer to German military siege approaches. When it first came to England it was applied solely to types of garden path. Incidentally there is a ZigZag Road in Tadworth, Surrey which is almost perfectly straight.

Homonyms, Etymologically Speaking: L

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.

L is for left, which could be the past tense of 'leave' or the opposite of 'right'. In order, the verb 'to leave' has a clear etymology traceable through Old English laefan, Proto-Germanic laibjanan, and Proto-Indo-European leip, all having the general meaning of 'allow to remain as it is'.

When it comes to the opposite of 'right', many parents will have taught their children (as the majority were right-handed) the way to remember which was which was to think the hand you write with as your right and the one which is left is your left. Assuming the child was not left-handed (or did not have three hands) this would work. This idea of the right hand being the correct hand is also known (and famously so) in the term 'sinister' which was also once used for left-handedness, itself seen as unlucky or suspicious for much of history. This must be a very old idea as so many languages see 'left' as bad, including the root of all those in European and to the east, where Proto-Indo-European laiwo meant 'considered suspicious'.

The political left-wing is not used in 1871, but it had been used in a military sense since 1530. Having two left feet is first recorded in 1902, while the left bank of a river, first recorded in the 13th century, is that side which is on the observer's left when facing downstream.

Tunisia Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Tunisian cities.

Tunis has a number of explanations: the Phoenician goddess Tanith; from the Berber root ens which could mean 'to lie down' or 'to pass right or 'camp at night' or 'stop'.

Sousse is a French version of the Arabic name, itself probably from the Berber Sous River.

Kairouan is an Arabic version of the Persian karvan meaning 'military camp'.

Bizerte is from the Punic and related to ubon meaning 'harbour'.

Aryanah is a name which dates from which this was a Vandal Kingdom and either refers to the Arian faith or to the Persians referring to themselves as Aryan.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Syria Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Syrian cities.

Aleppo was earlier known as Habab, which may represent the Hebrew for 'milk' and thus a reference to the tale of Abraham and how he milked his sheep to feed the poor.

Damascus comes from the Greek and describes 'the well-watered land'.

Deir ez-Zor us from Syriac for 'small habitation'.

Hama is from the Syriac for 'fortress'.

Homs is the Arabic form of the city's Latin name of Emesus or the Greek Emesa. It is thought to have been transferred from another city, the Aramean Hamath-zobah meaning near fortress'. Another theory suggests it comes from the Greek Khemps and thus means 'the female camel'.

Latakia was named after a ruling dynasty, Seleucus I Nicator honouring his mother Laodice, who married a general of Philip II of Macedon.

Quneitra is simply the Arabic word for an 'arched bridge', the town built around a series of same.

Abu Kamal means 'the family of Kamal', the name of the tribe living here. Under Ottoman rule it was called Kisla or 'military barracks'.

Kobani takes the name of the German railway company who built the railway here.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Military Ranks

Browsing the displays of uniforms and insignia at a military museum recently my thoughts soon turned, as usual, to etymology. In particular the military ranks and just why a 'private' seems quite inappropriate.

Marshal - came to English from French, the latter version now seen as marechal and much easier seen as 'stable officer, horse groom' but, as a rank, began in referring to 'an officer in charge of a household' and a rank seen in other languages but, depending on the language group, rather differently. We have already seen the standing for the French, a language of the Latin arm of the Indo-European languages and indeed the Latin languages always have a marshal as a person of importance. Yet when it comes to the other arm of the Western European group, the Germanic tongues, the understanding is quite different. For example the Old English equivalent was a horsthegn, or stable officer - interestingly also the root for the police rank of 'constable' - while Old High German marahscalc 'groom', Frankish marhskalk, Gothic skalks 'servant', and Dutch schalk 'rogue' and very much lower designations.

Commodore - shares an origin with 'commander', both from Old French comandeor, itself the agent noun of the verb 'command'. Tracing the etymology of 'command' we find this to have a common root with 'commend' and 'mandate' in the Latin mandare and ultimately Proto-Indo-European man 'hand' and do 'to give'. Perfectly sensible for one still speaks of 'handing out orders'.

Captain - nothing to do with headgear, this comes from Latin capitaneus 'chief' in the sense of 'prominent'. Taking this back to its ultimate root we find Proto-Indo-European kaput meaning 'head'. Note this is not found in a naval sense until 1560 and no mention in a sporting sense before 1823.

Commander - see 'commodore' above.

Lieutenant - we British traditionally use the pronunciation 'lef-' and have done so since at least the 14th century as evidenced by the documented spelling. Just why this came about nobody has any idea - the Oxford English Dictionary rejects the usual explanation of mistaking the 'U' for a 'V' - but it does call into question a statement I once heard (and often repeat) that "nobody ever mispronounced anything until they could read", it if looks wrong then that is down to spelling. However here this is the exception for judging by every other language where such is used, we Brits have somehow got it quite wrong. Here the rank is made up of two words Old French lieu 'place' and the past participle tenir 'to hold', the latter from Proto-Indo-European ten 'to stretch'. Here the idea is the lieutenant is an officer who often deputises for a higher rank, most often a captain, and thus whilst not translating as such is used in the sense of 'substitute'.

Officer - not used in a military sense until the early 14th century. Clearly from 'office', itself coming to English through the French/Latin route where it literally meant 'work-doing'. and derived from the Proto-Indo-European root op 'to work' and dhe 'to set'. Note this 'office' is the post and not the room, that is unknown before 1560s.

General - used in military sense from 1570s, the noun comes from the adjective and is another coming from the French/Latin source. Here the roots are Latin generalis 'relating to all' and Proto-Indo-European gene 'to give birth' or 'beget'.

Major - has only been a military rank since the 1640s. As a noun it comes from the adjective and again to English from French/Latin. Here Latin magjos is a comparative of magnus 'large, great' and from the Proto-Indo-European root meg 'great'.

Brigadier - seen since the 1670s and another from the French/Latin route, here based on 'brigade', a military division unknown before the 1630s. The Italian brigata means 'troop, crowd, gang' and shares a root with 'brigafe' in brigare 'brawl, fight' and briga 'strife, quarrel. These comparable to Celtic words such as Gaelic brigh and Welsh bri both meaning 'power' and derived from the Proto-Indo-European root dwere 'heavy'.

Colonel - unlike 'lieutenant' (see above), there is an explanation for the pronunciation of 'kernel'. Until the 16th century this appeared as coronel, hence the spelling is wrong as is the norm (see 'lieutenant' above). Middle French coronel, Italian colonnella are both derived from the same root as 'column' or 'pillar'. Here the sense of a solid rectangular formation, albeit tipped on its end, can be traced to the Proto-Indo-European root of kel meaning 'to project, be prominent'.

Admiral - is not seen in its modern sense until the 13th century, and then specifically as amiral de la mer or 'admiral of the sea' which suggests the earlier admirals were not associated with the fleet and this is indeed the case. While 'admiral' came to English from French, for a change this is not Latin but a French loan word of Arabic beginnings. Here the root is a word some crossword puzzlers will be familiar with, for amir is a favourite with American compilers as an alternative (some would say 'correct') spelling for what the British would see as 'emir' and simply means 'commander'. The rank shares its origins with 'admirable', which isn't difficult to see, but the butterfly known as the 'admiral' (named from around 1720) is actually a corruption of 'admirable' and nothing to do with military rank.

Sergeant - seen since the early 13th century, here we go back to the French/Latin trail. Old French sergent meant 'servant' while the Latin servientem referred to 'serving'. Hence we need to find the root of the verb 'to serve' which is simply 'slave'.

Corporal - as the lowest non-commissioned army officer not seen until 1570s, this is another coming from the French/Latin route based on the Latin caput and Proto-Indo-European kaput both meaning 'head'.

Cadet - in a military sense from the 15th century, this shares an origin with 'corporal' (see above) in coming from kaput but here the sense is in 'little head'.

Ensign - seen from the 15th century referring to a flag or pennant, not in the sense of 'rank until 1862, here the word shares a root with 'insignia'. It combines the Proto-Indo-European en 'in' and sekw-no 'to follow', the latter also the root of 'sign'.

Albeit not correctly ranks, I thought it worthwhile also looking at the general terms used in the army, navy and air force of the military.

Solider - has a myriad etymological lines to trace but all essentially mean 'one having pay'.

Sailor - is clearly the agent noun of 'sail, itself traceable to Proto-Indo-European sek meaning 'to cut' and exactly what was required to make a sail from a piece of cloth. Note the term 'sailor' has only been in use since around 1400 (when it was 'sailer'), prior to this it was either 'seaman' or 'mariner'. Looking at these we find 'sea' originally used to mean 'large quantity' and 'man' in the sense 'person' (and thus not sexist in the slightest); while 'mariner' has the ultimate root mori 'body of water'.

Pilot - clearly one could never use this in an aviation sense until the invention of the aeroplane. Earlier balloonists could never be known as 'pilots' as we will see. Many will be aware the use for an airman came from its use in a marine sense, a 'pilot' still steering vessels into harbour, hence this is the sense we need to trace. The term came to English from Middle French pillote, Italian piloto, and Medieval Greek pedotes 'helmsman' and Greek pedon 'steering oar' and all coming from the Proto-Indo-European root ped 'foot'.

Note as the piece is in English, English spelling is used.