Gold Idioms

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

The gold rush is first recorded in 1859.

The first gold medal for a winner was awarded in 1757.

Gold records were first awarded in 1948. Apparently it was awarded to Frankie Laine for his recording of That’s My Desire, it having sold a million copies. Remembering these were 78rpm recordings, a million pressings would represent over 98 tons in weight, around 15 African elephants.

Gold leaf is first recorded in 1727.

The metal was extracted from what was named as a gold mine for the first time in the late 15th century, and the phrase was later used to describe anything producing great wealth in 1882.

One who looks for gold in the ground is described as a gold digger in 1816, then 99 years later we find the phrase used to describe someone using their situation purely for financial gain.

The marigold, as in the flower, is first named as such in the late 14th century, prior to that it was known simply as a ‘golde’.

Goldfish are first described as such in the 1690s when they were first imported from China.

Goldfish bowl, a situation where a person has no privacy, is first used in 1935.

Goldilocks first appears in the Three Bears story in 1837 (in Robert Southey’s collection called The Doctor), but from 1540 it was used to describe a person with bright yellow hair, and from 1570 was another name for the buttercup.

A goldsmith, one who works in the metal, is first seen in Saxon times.

Uzbekistan 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 Uzbekistan cities.

Tashkent is thought to mean either 'stone tower' or 'stone city', a tower said to mark the midpoint between Europe and China.

Lake Charvak comes from the Persian char bagh meaning 'four gardens'

Samarkand comes from the Sogdian samar kand 'stone fort / town'.

Namangan comes from Persian namak kan 'a salt mine'.

Nukus comes from an old tribal name of the Karakalpaks.

Bukhara is thought to come from the Sogdian buxarak meaning 'place of good fortune'.

Qarshi means simply 'fort'.

Margilan is said to have been named by Alexander the great and named when he was given lunch of chicken murgh and bread nan.

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

Mauritania 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 Mauritania settlements.

Nouakchott is the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania, its name is a corrupted form of the original Berber Nawasksut or 'place of the winds'.

Akjoujt has a long history of mining, archaeologists dating the earliest workings here as at least three thousand years old. The name does not reflect the history of metals but does mean 'wells'.

Hodh Ech Chargui is an Arabic name and refers to its location as the 'eastern basin region'.

Senegal River has three common explanations, most often said to be the name of a Wolof chieftain, or alternatively from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal or 'our canoe'. Despite these being the most common explanations, neither stand up to scrutiny. Most agree it is more likely to come from a Portuguese term, Azenegue referring to the Berber Zenaga people residing here when they arrived.

Adrar is a region and plateau both named from the Berber word for 'mountain'.

Hodh El Gharbi is named from the Arabic and means 'western basin region'.

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

Bad Career Move

December 1864 and at the Glascote coalmine in Tamworth tragedy strikes. A former policeman, now working in the mine, is killed when a single lump of coal fell 450 feet and hit the poor man so hard it resulted in his death.

Happy New Year?

At the time of writing the year of 2017 has but a few hours left to go. As with 2016 the news has been pretty dire, social media is positively overflowing with doom and gloom, and yet I remain the eternal optimist. Always cheerful I always manage to find the happier side of life.

But at this time of year we have had a real change in the media, be it national or social. Everyone has been happy, wearing jumpers, drinking, eating and singing songs. Christmas specials of all our (supposedly) favourite programmes, and the obligatory gush of puerile festive cinema, including the dreaded Disney.

Hence if the world can be miserable all year round whilst I couldn't give a rodent's posterior, as humanity grins inanely at itself I'll drop into full Victor Meldrew Mode and offer this news item from my home town of Tamworth from 153 years ago today.

It is December 1864 and a normal working day for the coal miners of Tamworth. At the Glascote Colliery a former police officer had been working hard when a piece of coal fell 450 feet and landed on top of him. He died later that day from the resulting injuries.