And why do we say ……?

Bite the bullet is used to speak of how it is better to accept the painful or stressful situation rather than complaining or crying out. It is a modern version of the original ‘bite the cartridge’ dating from the Indian Rebellion of 1857 when British soldiers were subjected to medical procedures without anesthetic.

Cry over spilled milk – a warning not to linger over something which can’t be changed – possibly dates from 1659 and James Howell’s Paramoigraphy, where he speaks of ‘No weeping for the shed milk’.

Break the ice – to begin a conversation in an otherwise difficult situation – undoubtedly comes from the ship ploughing through ice fields. The first record of the metaphorical sense comes from 1678, when Samuel Butler used it in his poem Hudibras when he writes ‘The Oratour, at last broke the silence and the ice’.

A bite at the cherry – a second chance, especially after a missed opportunity – comes from the UK in the early 20th century, likely a reference to those who picked the cherries and the number which were eaten when the opportunity arose.

Cutting corners – not fully completing a task – dates from the horse-drawn vehicles of the early 19th century, and when a sharp turn involved negotiating a kerb the driver would clip it with the rear wheel of his vehicle.

Actions speak louder than words – or get on with it instead of just talking about it – came into general use following John Pym’s writings about the English Civil War in 1628; although the phrase was around earlier and even appears in the New Testament – John 3:18.

At the drop of a hat – to begin something – dates from the 19th century when dropping a hat signaled the start of many a sporting contest: a fight, or race, for example.

Hit the sack – to take to one’s bed – comes from the time when beds were often sacks stuffed with hay, ‘hit the hay’ would also be from the same time, around the late 18th century.

Go back to the drawing board – a comment on a failed design which needs to be rethought – it can be dated to a cartoon by Peter Arno in New Yorker Magazine published on 1st March 1941. A engineer walks away from a crashed aeroplane and utters the now very familiar line.

Call it a day – let’s stop work – first recorded in 1919 as the end of the day’s work (in 1938 we see ‘call it a night’ for the first time); but we also see it in 1838 when ‘call it half a day’ spoke of leaving work early.

Qatar 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 Qatar cities.

Doha, the capital city, either comes from the Arabic Ad-Dawha or ‘the big tree’, a marker for the original fishing village and possibly used as a marker by the fishermen, or from dohat the Arabic word for ‘bay’ where the fisherman cast their nets.

Al Wakrah comes from the Arabic wakar which translates as 'bird's nest' and probably refers to the colonies of birds in the nearby hills.

Al-Shahaniya is named from the local flora, specifically the plant known here as sheeh, used as it is an anti-inflammatory. Known to science as Artemesia inculta, it can be found across the Middle East and North Africa but is quite rare in Qatar as the soils are largely unsuitable.

Mesaieed is another named from the local flora. Known as sead it is difficult to know what that plant was, and therefore its use, as it no longer grows here.

Madinat Khalifa, both North and South, refer to the Arabic madinal or 'city' with former emir of Qatar from 1972 to 1995, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani.

Nuaija comes from the Arabic word naaja meaning 'ewe' or 'female sheep'. This is nothing to do with the mammal but eludes to the water from the well hereabouts being as sweet as sheep's milk.

Umm Ghuwailina is from Arabic umm meaning 'mother' but used here in a geographical sense, together with ghuwailina, referring to a local tree, speaks of 'the mother of ghulan'. The tree is used as fodder for camels.

Al Thumama is another derived from the local flora. Known to science as Panicum turgidum (literally 'swollen foxtail'), it is welcomed in the desert as this perennial grass encourages soil formation.

As Salatah al Jadidah means 'New Salata', named after the Al-Sulaiti tribe and founded as recently as the 1970s.

Al Sadd is also named from a local plant. Sadd is the local name for a plant abundant in this region of the coast.

The Pearl is built on a man-made island begun in 2004 and an on-going project. It is named because it occupies one of Qatar's former pearl diving sites.

Dukhan translates as 'smoky mountain', for clouds are seen to gather around the summit of Jebel Dukhan.

Mebaireek takes its name from an Arabic personal name Mubarak, although just who that seemingly important individual may have been is unknown.

Fereej Abdel Aziz comes from fereej or 'district' of Abdel Aziz, he a former sheikh who governed in this area.

Umm Lekhba shares a first element with Umm Ghuwailina above, also sharing the geographical context. Here the second element is Arabic khabaa 'to hide' and a reference to the location being in a depression.

Duhail comes from dahal, the Arabic word for 'cavern' and a large cavern can be found here.

Umm Bab uses the 'mother' prefix again in a geographical sense, with the second element a reference to a passage between two hills and thus 'mother of the gateway'.

Rawdat Rashed is from the Arabic rawdat and a personal name and refers to its low-lying position where water tends to accumulate after rainfall in 'low wetland of Rashed'.

Hazm Al Markhiya takes the Arabic hazm or 'hill' and adds the tree known locally as markh. This tree, known officially as Leptadenia pyrotechnica. This 'tree' is actually a drought-resistant desert herb used for thatching huts, the plant fibre is useful in making ropes, makes a good fodder for camels, and the ripe pods used as vegetables and are said to possess some medicinal properties.

Al Ghuwariyah comes from ghar or 'cave' and not, as so often stated, a plant known as alghar as that is simply not found in the region.

Al Jemailiya comes from the Arabic jamila 'beauty' and thought to refer to the abundant vegetation in an area otherwise largely desert.

Al Karaana comes from karaa or 'fresh water' and refers to a well providing water of particularly excellent quality.

Al Bidda comes from the Arabic badaa 'to invent'. Not a technological invention but the creation of the settlement in what had been a area devoid of any true features.

Abu Samra takes the name of the Samr tree, used as fodder for camels.

Al Utouriya comes from Arabic atar meaning 'perfume, aroma'. This area lies in a rawdat or depression where the collected rainwater means aromatic herbs grow freely.

Al Nasraniya takes its name from a time when the local well, dug through particularly hard rock, became usable. Their efforts were referred to as Nasraniya or 'Christinaity' and a reminder of the victory by the Muslims over the Christians.

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

A Liquid Lesson

Not a cookery or brewing lesson but one looking at why various liquids, and not just drinks, are known by the names we use virtually every day.

Alcohol comes from the Arabic al-kuhul, this the fine metallic powder used to darken eyelids, for kahala means 'to stain, paint'. Not that the two things at all similar, other than in the method of production - sublimation.

Beer has been said to be a major factor in creating civilsation - it is argued that our ancestors were forced to settle temporarily to produce beer for drinking, a reasonable alternative to potentially bad water. Be that true or no there is no doubt beer has been drunk for thousands of years, as seen in the many seemingly diverse languages which speak of the drink using quite similar words. The English 'beer' is related to the Latin biber meaning 'to drink' which has given us the word 'imbibe'.

Blood is another word which has remained largely unchanged for millennia, the term seen in the ancient Proto-Indo-European bhlo-to which was also used to mean 'to swell, gush, spurt'. It takes little imagination to realise just how blood was most often viewed in those far-off days.

Broth is a Germanic word, seen in Old High German brod and its root bhreue meaning 'boil, bubble'. Here we see how 'broth', a liquid from cooking, and 'brew', the act of producing beer, are related and have a common root as the two use the same process.

Diesel comes directly from Rudolph Diesel, the German engineer who designed the diesel engine. The surname is a pet form of Mathias (or Matthew) and is from the Hebrew for 'Gift of God'.

Emulsion came to English from the French and earlier from Latin emulgere or 'to milk out'. Milk is the best example of an emulsion, that is drops of one liquid dispersed in another.

Gasoline uses the chemical suffix 'ine' after 'ol' (understood as representing 'oil') and 'gas'. Here the use of 'gas' is taken from 'gas' as both are fuels. Incidentally 'gas' is from the Greek khaos meaning 'empty space' and has the same origin as 'chaos'.

Gravy is an Anglo-French corruption of the Old French grave, itself from grane meaning both 'sauce' and 'stew'. Earlier this is seen as Latin granum, 'grain, seed'.

Honey is a Germanic term and originated as Proto-Indo-European keneko simply meaning 'yellow' or 'golden'.

Ink came to English from Old French encre which described the same thing. Taking it further back we find Greek enkauston from enkaiein meaning 'to burn' and related to 'caustic'. Here we need a history lesson, for this was also used to refer to a kind of painting produced using fire or heat. Later it was transferred to a purple-red ink used by Roman emperors and produced by heating the ground remains of certain shellfish - note the Code of Justinian prohibited common folk from making this ink on pain of death.

Juice, in its simplest form, refers to any flavoured liquid. Going back to Proto-Indo-European yeue it meant 'to blend, mix food' and from this came Sanskrit yus 'broth' and Lithuanian juse 'fish soup' among others.

Kerosene uses the chemical suffix 'ene' following a word derived from the Greek keros or 'wax'. The link here is that both contain paraffin.

Milk may be a noun but it is also a verb, indeed it is the action of milking which has given the product its name. Tracing this back to Proto-Indo-European we discover this has hardly changed since melg meant 'to stroke, wipe, rub off'.

Molasses has been adopted into English in the plural form, although this is seen as singular. This came to English from Portuguese melaco from Latin mellaceum or 'new wine' and ultimately from mellaceus or 'resembling honey'.

Oil is a comparatively late word for substances with a certain texture. Indeed olive oil must have been known since prehistory, although we have no idea what these ancestors knew the product as. The modern oil takes the name of possibly the earliest produced oil, that being olive oil and named for the olive. Ironically substances with this greasy or viscous texture are named from the early olive oil, itself derived from the olive which had the original meaning of 'oil' and has thus turned full circle.

Paint as a noun comes from the verb. This term came from French and Latin, both from the Proto-Indo-European root peig meaning 'to cut'. Hence first used to mean 'decorate' (pots, for example) the term now means the substance with which we most often decorate our homes.

Sauce originates from the Latin salsa, literally 'that which is salted'.

Syrup is from the Old French sirop 'sugared drink' and ultimately from Arabic sharab 'beverage, wine'.

Turpentine was first derived from the terebinth tree, hence its name, although now applied to that obtained from conifers. Terebinth trees are native to the Mediterranean, the name coming from Greek but here the etymological trail dries up and can only have been an early loan word from a non-Indo-European language.

Varnish began as a noun, this from Latin vernix meaning 'odorous resin'. Here the trail becomes unclear but it could well be derived from the Greek Berenike, the ancient Libyan city today known as Bengasi as this is where varnish is said to have been first used. This town is named after Berenike II, queen of Egypt whose name is now seen as Berenice.

Acidic Answers

Not all acids are the highly corrosive substances introduced to us by our chemistry teacher. Amino acids for example are the basis for life as we know it. While defining the origins and meanings of various elements in previous posts, the question of what is an acid and how it got its name came to mind. The answers are below and beginning with the word 'acid' itself.

Acid, rather unsurprisingly, got its name for its taste - remember acid drops? Derived from the Latin acidus or 'sour', this is ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European ak meaning 'sharp' but also used to mean 'pointed'. When it comes to the chemical names with which we are most familiar, these are self-explanatory. For example hydrochloric simply means 'composed of chloring and hydrogen'; Sulphuric is 'of or pertaining to sulphur'; Nitric derives its name from 'nitre'; boric from 'boron'; and carbonic is derived from 'carbon dioxide'.

Formic acid is familiar to anyone who has been on the receiving end of a nettle sting - that irritant is formic acid. It is also used by ants and German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf first obtained a pure form by distilling it from red ants. The name comes from the Latin formica meaning 'ants'.

Acetic acid has been tasted by most of us, be it in pickle or splashed liberally on chips, it is commonly known as vinegar. The word comes to English from the French acetique meaning 'vinegar' and ultimately from the Latin vinum acetum or 'wine turned sour'. Incidentally 'vinegar is derived from the Latin vinum aigre with the same 'sour wine' meaning.

Oxalic is related to 'oxygen' for both first elements come from the Latin oxalis 'sharp' and ultimately from the Greek oxys 'sharp'.

Tartaric acid is found in foods such as apples, bananas, avocados, apricots and grapes and thus in wine. Its name is derived from tartar or bitartrate of potash, this from Greek tartaron, a reference to the 'tartar encrusting the sides of wine casks'. It is thought to be of Semitic origin but the exact source has yet to be identified.

Folic acid is a B vitamin, important during pregnancy, and derived from the Latin folium meaning 'leaf' as it is found in abundance in green leaves such as spinach.

Ascorbic acid is a naturally occurring antioxidant. Its name comes from Middle Latin scorbuticus or 'scurvy' as was originally a reference to Vitamin C which is an anti-scorbutic.

Citric acid is found in citrus fruits. Here 'citrus' is a Latin word referring to the citron tree, the name given to a tree with a lemon-like fruit and aromatic wood native to Africa and was the first citrus fruit available to the west.

Lactic acid is obtained from sour milk, the name meaning 'procured from milk' and ultimately derived from the Latin lac or 'milk'.

Uric acid is, as any gout sufferer will tell you, the acid in urine which crystallizes in the joint (usually of the big toe) to cause the pain. It is, of course, present in urine and also blood and came to English from the French orine. We can trace this back to a Proto-Indo-European we-r, used to mean 'water, liquid, milk' and the root of Sanskrit var 'water', Avestan var 'rain', Lithuanian jures and Old Norse ver both meaning 'sea', and Old Norse ur referring very specifically to 'drizzling rain'.