Cold Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘snow’ and now look at ‘cold’. Note nobody suffered from a ‘cold’ until the 1530s.

Left out in the cold is not used prior to 1861.

Cold has been used as in ‘unmoved by strong feeling’ since the late 11th century.

Cold as a synonym for ‘dead’ is first used in the 14th century.

Cold is used in the sense of a lost trail, as when hunting, is seen from the 1590s.

Cold is used when speaking of games as in hide and seek since 1864.

Cold fronts have been on the weather map since 1921.

Cold sweats have been around since the 1630s.

Cold calls have been made since 1964.

Cold comfort is first seen in the 1650s.

Nobody threw cold water on anything in the figurative sense until 1808.

Cold cream, as a cosmetic, has been around since 1709 – this a translation of the Latin ceratum refrigerans and a preparation of oil, wax, and water which was first used by the Greeks in the second century by the physician Galen.

People have been cold-blooded since the 1590s, but was not applied to creatures relying on the sun to heat their bodies until 1828.

Nobody was given the cold shoulder until 1816, this in the writings of Sir Walter Scott.

In the 19th century, cold pig was a term used to describe throwing cold water on one sleeping to wake them up.

Cold wars were first fought in 1945, when it appeared in the writing of George Orwell.

Cold turkey, as in withdrawal symptoms, appears in 1910.

Nobody had cold feet before 1893.

Cold-hearted is first seen in the early 17th century.

Ship Idioms

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

Ships that pass in the night is first seen in Longfellow’s poem Tales of a Wayside Inn published in 1863.

Running a tight ship is not seen in anything but a nautical sense until as recently as 1965.

Hoping for a change of fortunes when one’s ship comes in is first seen in print in 1851.

Shipshape is first seen in 1762, earlier the phrase appeared as shipshapen and is seen since 1640.

Ship of fools, a reference to a less than perfect governing body, originates in the title of a 1509 translation of Brant’s Narrenschiff of 1494.

Ship-building is first seen from 1717, ship-builder from 1700, ship-craft from the late 14th century. Of course ship-building began thousands of years ago, but the earliest English reference to such comes from the Old English shipwright, and from at least the 6th century.

Ship-load is first mentioned in 1630.

The first reference to the mothership is from 1890.

Shipwreck in the modern sense is seen from the middle of the 15th century, but earlier, and from the end of the 12th century, it referred to that cast up from a shipwreck – ie the contents and not the vessel itself.

Battle-ship is first described in 1794, while the colour battleship-grey is first described in 1916.

Flagship, that the vessel bearing the flag of the admiral or vice-admiral, is first seen in 1670.

‘Ship’ as used in ‘apprenticeship’ is first seen in 1590 – prior to that the term used was ‘apprenticehood’.

Ownership is first used in 1580. Ownership society – a reference to the concept of combining the values of personal responsibility and economic freedom – was coined under the presidency of George W Bush in 2013.

Trusteeship is first recorded in 1730.

Nobody was involved in a courtship before 1570.

The side of the ship was first described as shipboard in the late 13th century.

Scholarship is first seen in 1580.

Steamship is first seen in 1819.

Airship is first recorded in 1819.

Fellowship in its modern sense is first seen in the late 13th century, prior to that the term was used to mean ‘companionship’.

Township dates from the middle of the 12th century.

Salesmanship dates from 1853.

Editorship comes from 1769.

Guardianship is seen from the middle of the 16th century.

Judgeship dates from the 1670s.

Worship is an Old English word which began as ‘worthy-ship’.

Internship dates from 1899.

Warship is first seen in 1530.

Starship is first recorded in 1934.

And despite the length of time horses have been the sole method of transport, horsemanship is unrecorded before the 1560s.

What on Earth (or Mars)?

I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So, I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and this time the planet Mars.

MARS

Arabic - Merrikh - simply a translation of 'Mars'.

Babylonian - Neberu - translates as 'crossing' or 'point of transition'. It is also the name given by some to the mysterious tenth planet.

Bengali - Mangala - a Sanskrit name (see below)

Greek - Ares - has a name derived from ara meaning 'bane, ruin, curse, imprecation'.

Hebrew - maadim - 'that which reddens'

Japan - Kasei - is another translation of 'Mars'.

Korean - Hwaseong - 'star of fire'.

Malayalam - Chouvva - is the word for 'Tuesday'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the fire planet'

Old Czech - Smrtonos - translates as 'death'

Sanskrit - Mangala - is the god of war and is celibate. Also known as Lohit, his name is the Sanskrit word for 'red'.

Sumerian - Nergal - the god of plague, famine, war and the underworld.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

What On Earth? (Or Venus)

Or not on Earth as the case may be. I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and this time the planet Venus.

Albania - Aferdita - 'the morning star'
Arabic - Zuhra - comes from the Arabic root meaning 'to shine'.
Aztec - Li - as far as written records show, this was the only planet the Aztecs were aware of - although it seems impossible they were not aware of Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn, too. They knew Venus as association with two of their gods, depending upon whether they saw it as the Morning Star and Quetzalcoatl, or the Evening Star and Xotol. Both gods were worshipped for centuries before the Aztecs and there is no reason to believe any of the Mesoamerican peoples and their religions saw the morning and evening appearances as two different planets or gods.
Babylonian - Delebat - associated with Istar, the goddess of love, sex, beauty, war, justice and political power also known as Inanna, she is entirely the same representation as Venus and/or Aphrodite.
Bengali - Shukra - is a figure in Hindu mythology, the name derived from a Sanskrit word meaning 'clear, bright', certainly an apt description of the planet's appearance to us here on the Earth.
Farsi - Naheed - is again a different name for the same goddess, one whose talents are identical to those of Venus.
Gaelic - Ribhinn - is from the Old Irish word rigan 'queen'.
Greek - Aphrodite - the Greek personification of Venus
Hawaii - Hoku-oa Vallis - is simply the Hawiian name for 'Venus', however it is worth noting it is also the name of one of the valleys on our so-called 'twin planet'.
Hebrew - Nogah - is derived from a word meaning 'splendour, light' and a very good description of the planet's appearance from Earth.
Japan - Kinsei - kin is 'gold' and another comment on how bright it appears in our skies.
Kazakhstan - Sholpan - is a translation of 'Venus' and also 'planet'
Korean - Geumseong - 'star of gold'.
Malayalam - Shukran - from a Sanskrit word meaning 'clear, bright'.
Mandarin Chinese - gumsing - the gold planet
Maori - Meretuahia - 'the evening star'
Mongolia - Tsolmon - and is associated with sugar and Friday.
Old Czech - Krasopani - probably a simple translation.
Sanskrit - Sukra - 'clear, bright'.
Sumerian - Istar - the goddess of love and war
Tahitian - Taura - translates as 'memory'.
Welsh - Gwener - the name of Venus here translates as 'morning'.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

Lord Brooke

In Dam Street at Stowe Pool on the side of Brooke House, a blue plaque marks an historic event. March 2nd 1643, Lord Brooke, a general of the parliamentarian forces was preparing to beseige the close at Lichfield, then garrisoned for King Charles I. On the spot marked by the plaque he was shot through the forehead and was killed. The marksman had positioned himself on the great steeple of the cathedral. That marksman was none other than John Dyott, although more often known as Dumb Dyott, who had been placed there to annoy the opposition for (as evidenced by the soubriquet) he was not considered of much help. It is generally considered to be among the luckiest shots in history.

Panama 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 Panama's cities.

Panama City gave its name to the country and, as explained in detail in my post Countries of the Americas, means 'many butterflies' or 'abundance of fish'.

David is named after the biblical King David.

La Chorrera has always been thought to refer to the large number of waterfalls, although the name does not mean waterfall and does not translate at all.

Santiago de Veraguas has a Spanish prefix, meaning Saint James, and the name of the province, itself from an indigenous language where Veracua or Viragua was probably a proper name, although there are many (unproven) theories.

Penonome comes from peno Nome, where Nome was the local chieftain put to death by Spanish conquistadores when he dared to resist their rule. Peno Nome literally means 'Nome was punished'. Legend speaks of his love for a local woman named Zarati. However, the tribe didn't approve of their love and told him she had drowned. He is said to have thrown himself into the same river and perished, thus giving names to the Zarati River and a slightly different meaning for the place name of 'Nome mourned'.

Puerto Armuelles was named to honour Colonel Tomas Armuelles, a hero of the Coto War between Panama and Costa Rica and fought over a period of thirteen days in February and March 1921. Port Armuelles was named shortly after his death in a train accident on 18 March 1921, it had previously been known as Rabo de Puerco or 'pigtail'.

Chitre takes its name from the local tribe, the Chitra.

Almirante is the Spanish word for 'admiral'.

Last Tablas takes its name, according to folklore, from planks of wood salvaged from a Spanish ship which ran aground after fleeing from the pirate Sir Henry Morgan. The only evidence to support this is the literal translation of las tablas as 'the boards'.

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

Not All At Sea

As a youngster I did not enjoy a very boring holiday week in Great Yarmouth. Nothing against Great Yarmouth, it was the torrential rain which threw a very real dampener on things. Yet for years one image stuck in my mind, that image is still there in the form of the Barking Smack public house. At the time I had no idea that 'Barking' was a place name and that a 'smack' was a vessel. Recently I visited the resort again and, reminded of the visit years ago, wondered why a vessel would ever be called a 'smack'. Not only is the smack examined here but many other vessels, not all to be found at sea.

Barge can also be used to mean 'bump into', and it came as something of a surprise to find this usage is derived from the vessel normally handled quite roughly. The name of the vessel came to English from Old French barge and ultimately from Latin barica and Greek baris meaning 'Egyptian boat' and this from Coptic bari or 'small boat'. Barque (sometimes 'bark') shares this origin.

Although trireme is a much better known term, there is also a bireme, the difference being the former has three rows of oars and the latter just two. The suffix in each case comes from the Latin remus meaning 'oar' and derived from same root as the word 'row' in Proto-Indo-European ere with the same meaning.

Brig is a shortened form of 'brigantine', itself referring to a vessel most often associated with trouble, particularly piracy. Hence it has the same root as 'brigand' and also 'brigade' in Italian briga 'to fight' and also seen Gaelic brigh and Welsh bri both meaning 'power'. Note the prison on board ship, known as the brig, is derived from the name of the vessel as, once again, it was associated with trouble.

The canoe may have been used for millennia but the word can be traced to the 15th and 16th century voyages of Christopher Columbus. The Spanish canoa is taken directly from the Arawakan (Haiti) word canaoua, used solely to refer to the boat.

Caravel came to English from Middle French caravelle, this from the Spanish caravo and Latin carabus referring to this small wicker boat covered with leather. Further back we find an apt description of the upturned boat in the Greek karabos meaning 'beetle, lobster'.

Catamarans were first seen when trading in what were then known as the East Indies. As most will know the modern catamaran uses two small hulls with the main body of the vessel atop that connecting these hulls. It came as no surprise to find this was the origin, where Tamil kattu-maram literally means 'tied wood' and from kattu 'binding' and maram 'wood, tree'.

Clipper is less than two centuries old and named for its speed, the verb 'clip' still used to speak of a fast pace.

Coracles are those ancient one-man craft typically seen in an artist's impression of early life in Britain. Our modern word came from the Saxons, itself related to Welsh corwgl, Gaelic curachan and Middle Irish curachan, the latter meaning simply 'boat'. These all likely share a root with Latin corium meaning 'hide, leather', cortex 'bark', Sanskrit krith 'hide', and Russian skora 'hide' and kora 'bark' in Proto-Indo-European ker 'to cut' and point to this framework being covered with skins

Dinghy is a Hindi word, where dingi simply means 'small boat'. It is doubtless related to Sanskrit drona-n 'wooden trough' and dru-s 'tree'.

Dreadnought is not so easy to see today but, when coined by the Royal Navy in the late 16th century, simply meant 'fearing nothing'.

Ferry, as a vessel, comes from its use as a verb which originally meant 'to carry, bring, or transport' (particularly over water) and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per and shares an origin with 'port'.

Galleon shares an origin with galley and galliot the origin of all uncertain but is certainly of great antiquity as it is represented in most European languages.

Gondola is recorded since the 16th century but prior to that nothing is known of its origins.

Junk always seemed an odd word for a vessel but of course the modern 'rubbish' use has a quite different etymology. As the name of a vessel it has travelled quite a long way, coming to us from Portuguese junco 'Chinese sailing ship', from Malay jong 'large boat' and ultimately from Japanese djong.

Kayak came to English from Danish kajak and Greenland Eskimo qayaq meaning 'small boat of skins'. Note the kayak is, at least in its homeland, the male craft and the 'umiak' its counterpart really does mean 'woman's boat'.

Ketch is derived from the Middle English cacchen meaning 'to capture' and another vessel named for its use in warfare.

Launch may seem obvious but it is not named from the verb, albeit the spelling has been influenced by such. This comes from the Malay lancharan itself from lanchar meaning 'quick, agile'.

Liner is surprising recent, unknown prior to 1838 and simply means 'a vessel belonging to a shipping line'. Interestingly the use of 'line' here is also very recent, dating from around 1786 when it referred to lines of horse-drawn coaches.

Luggers are named for their lug sail, itself named for its supposed resemblance to an ear flap (lug hole!), which in turn shares an origin with the handle of a pitcher.

Pinnace comes from a root shared with the Latin pino 'pine tree' and also 'ship'.

Punt is an Old English word for a flat-bottomed boat taken from the Latin ponto and named for its apparent resemblance, and also effective use, to a bridge.

Sampan is a light Chinese boat name from the Chinese san pan, quite literally meaning 'three boards'.

Schooner is related to the archaic term scon, once used to mean 'to send over water'. Both are related to shun, itself meaning 'to turn aside', which also came to be used by the railways in the form of 'shunt'.

Skiff is a small boat with a name shared with 'ship', itself common to many European languages in a variety of forms and traceable back to Proto-Indo-European skei meaning 'cut, split' and referring to wooden ship construction.

Sloop came to English from Dutch sloep, this from Middle Dutch slupen 'to glide'. Interestingly this also shares a root in Proto-Indo-European sleubh, which has also given us 'sleeve' and that part of the garment which can the wearer has to 'slide' on.

Tugs are powerful vessels doing what their name suggests. The term 'tug' as a verb can be traced to Proto-Indo-European deuk meaning 'to lead'.

Yacht is quite well known as being from the Dutch, although the Germanic root is common to many of this group of languages and describes speed. The Proto-Germanic yago and earlier Proto-Indo-European yek both originally used to refer to 'the hunt'.

And of course the smack, the name that started it all. Not seen before the early 17th century, as this single-masted boat did not exist prior to that, came to English from the Dutch or German smak meaning 'sailing boat' and ultimately from smakken 'to fling or dash'. This can only be seen as the noise made by the sails as it catches the wind.

Ghana 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 of Ghana's cities.

Accra comes from the Akan language where nkran originally meant 'ants'. The numerous ant hills in this region being the outstanding feature, of course these are the obvious towers built by the African varieties and not the small mounds seen in Europe.

Ashaiman was founded by one Nil Ashai in the 17th century, his name taken for the place and thus meaning 'Ashai's town'.

Sunyani grew from a minor outpost used by elephant hunters during the 19th century. Indeed its name reflects this as it comes from the Akan word osono meaning 'elephant'.

Cape Coast is a simple enough name needing no explanation.

Koforidua traditionally takes its name from the Akan man Kofi Ofori after he built a home under a magnificent mahogany tree. As this became a place of shelter for those returning from the fields, they spoke of going to rest under "Kofi Ofori's tree" with the Akan word for 'tree' being dua.

Nkawkaw means 'red, red', a reference to the red soils here.

Navrongo is an Anglicised version of the local name of navoringo, itself from navoro. Here naga voro describes the crunching sound made when stepping onto dry, crumbly soil. A most unusual origin for a place name, indeed I can think of no other named for a sound.

Salaga is from the Dagomba language where salgi refers to 'get used to a place of abode'.

Banda Ahenkro has historically provided shelter from any number of peoples seeking shelter during the era of the slave trade. At this time the place was known as Serminakuu referring to 'the grasses' growing in this area. The name was changed to Banda, a corruption of woanda meaning 'they did not sleep'. The people of the Asante kingdom here were known for their strength in times of war, the warlike people refusing to sleep during times of war.

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