Measurements

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 Measurements. Be it imperial inches or metric millimetres, pints or litres, pounds and kilos, each has its own origins. Whilst many of the metric terms are reasonably easy to see, those old imperial measurements have a story to tell. Pecks, bushels, feet, yards, acres, stones, quarts, and many others you have forgotten. Learn how they developed, why they were named, and what they were used for. There is a PowerPoint presentation to accompany this talk if required.

For many the metric measurements will be self-explanatory (if they’re not, then you’ll have to book me to find out more) and for me the origins of the imperial measurements is far more interesting. Here’s a taster…

Yard – a word derived from the Saxon or Old English for a straight branch. When the tree was pollarded to produce straight poles – these used to produce walls, fences, gates, etc., after woven with pliable twigs and then covered by the wattle and daub method – the poles would grow straight for about three feet. Not always, of course, this measurement is a guide rather than an actual measurement. This comes from Old English yeard ‘a straight pole’.

Bushel, a measure of volume for dry goods, came to English from Old French. Of much more interest is where the French got the term, for it is derived from Gaulish bosta 'palm of the hand', a term still seen in the Irish bass and Breton boz 'hollow of the hand'.

And week is thought to be related to the Old Norse vika, which had the original meaning of 'a turning'. Thus as 'month' is from 'moon', perhaps the four distinct phases of the moon are referred to as 'changes' or 'weeks'.

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Etymologies of Homonyms and Homographs

Whilst I am always interested in learning new words, it is the never so much the meaning as the origins which intrigue me. A couple of years ago I looked at words with different usages, despite sounding the same or having identical spellings. Were there two completely different origins and the identical spelling is pure coincidence or has the word simply been used to mean two different things?

Here are another selection and, having done A to S before, now to finish the alphabetical list with a selection of others:

Tear comes as either to rend or to cry and, if I had had to choose, the ripping would have been my choice to come first. As you will already have guessed, the crying came first, that from Proto-Indo-European dakru with the same meaning. The ripping 'tear' does not appear in English util the 14th century, prior to that we used synonyms, while this second use is derived from Proto-Indo-European der meaning 'to split, flay, peel'.

Tender meaning soft, easily injured', can be traced back to Greek teren and Sanskrit tarunah, each with identical meaning and themselves from Proto-Indo-European ten 'to stretch, thin, weak, young'. Tender as in 'to offer' came to English from Middle French tendre and from Latin tendere, both from that same Proto-Indo-European root ten and hear used in the sense 'to stretch'.

Tie is either 'to knot' or 'to be equal'. The knot sense came to English from Old Norse tygill 'string', that from Proto-Indo-European deuk 'to lead'. In the competitive sense it is unknown before 1888, it comes from the other use and in the sense of 'connected'.

Tire is to 'make weary', it is derived from Proto-Germanic teuzon and Proto-Indo-European deu, both meaning 'to lack, be wanting'. I make no apologies for using the American spelling 'tire' instead of 'tyre', indeed until the late 19th century we Brits also used 'tire'. The wheel version came from 'tire' in the sense of 'equipent, dress' and is related to 'attire'. If this seems odd, you simply need to realise the old wooden wheels on the horse-drawn waggons, the metal hoop literally 'tied' the wheel together (as well as protecting it) and was therefore a tie-r.

Trip originally means 'to stumble', and was derived from the early English use meaning 'to tread, trample'. As a journey it is not recorded until 1959, but was certainly used prior to this and also certainly came from the other use. That 'trip' meaning 'journey' is a comparatively recent use is proof the claimed oldest pub name in England, Nottingham's the Trip to Jerusalem, has no basis in fact.

Trunk as in the chest or large box, comes from Old French tronc, the alms box in a church. The elephant's trunk takes its name from the trunk of a tree, itself originating ina word meaning 'to pass through'.

Wave, be it with the hand or a refence to the movement of water, come from Proto-Indo-European uebh 'to move to and fro'. Fascinatingly this has the same origin as 'weave'.

Watch - to keep an eye on - has its roots in religious devotion, when followers would have attempted to stay awake and alert for long periods. This then makes sense of the Proto-Indo-European root of weg 'to be strong'. It was this sense of 'a clock to wake up sleepers' which gave the name to the timepiece.

Well - a source of water and good health. The water source comes from Proto-Indo-European wel 'to turn, revolve' and thus refers to the bubbling of a spring, the source of well water. As in 'hale and hearty', the root is Latin velle 'to wish or will'.

Wind as in 'moving air' has not changed since Proto-Indo-European we 'to blow'. When it comes to the sense of 'to turn, twist', there is the synonym 'wend' and that is the root, wendh 'to twist, entwine'.

Wound is either the the past tense of 'wind' or used to mean 'harm, injure'. In the sense of injury the Old English wund comes from the Proto-Indo-European wen itself meaning 'to bear, wound', while the past tense of 'wind' we saw in the previous entry.

Yard as an imperial measurement comes from the Old English gerd, originally not a measurement of three feet but a straight wooden pole created by pollarding trees. Doing so made the poles grow straight at first, these could be used for building. These were approximately three feet or one yard in length, but it was the Old English word for 'pole' which gave it a name. Old English also gave us the term for that enclosed area at the back of the house, geard used to mean 'enclosure, garden, court, residence'. Although the two words are similar, the pronunciation is the same.

Slovakia 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 Slovakian cities.

Bratislava has only been known as such since 1919, this taken from an earlier name meaning 'Braslav's castle', although whether these were on the same site is uncertain. Prior to 1919 the city was known by its German name of Pressburg and its Hungarian name of Pozsony, the Slovak name of Presporok and the Czech name of Prespurk - all referring to the fortification and a personal name.

Kosice comes from the Slavic personal name Kos or Kosa with the suffix ice.

Presov is first seen in 1247 as Theutonici de Epuryes which many have attributed to the Hungarian eper or 'strawberry'. But this has recently been questioned and a suggestion of a personal name, either Pres or Presa has now proven more popular.

Zilina is from the Slavic or Slovak zial meaning 'a vein' and referring to the flow of the river or rivers..

Banska Bystrica has two roots: Banska from the Slovak bana meaning 'mine' and Bystrica from Slavic bystrica or 'swift stream'.

Nitra takes its name from the river, itself from Proto-Indo-European and meaning probably meaning 'to cut', in the sense of referring to its course.

Trnava is another river name, the Trnava creek is derived from Old Slavic trn or 'thornbush', these found along the riverbanks.

Trencin is similar to the above, here the Slavic refers to the 'blackthorn'.

Prieidza is likely from a personal name such as Previd and thus 'Previd's village'.

Zvolen is from Slavic and means 'the chosen one, splendid, excellent', depending on the context. However, this does not explain why it would have been described as such.

Spisska Nova Ves is a merging of two settlements: the older the Slavic Iglov from igla 'needle' together with the more recent settlement of German colonists and hence Nova Ves or 'new village'.

Komarno is of Slavic or Latin origin, where the former would give komar no refers to 'the place of mosquitoes' and the latter commercium and still easily seen as 'trade centre'.

Humenne is another from the Slavic tongue, where hummo means 'backyard'.

Levice comes from an Old Slavic name where leva means 'the left one', and it does stand on the left bank of the Hron river. Incidentally, to discover which is the left bank, you simply face downstream and on the left is ......

Hron is a river name from a Germanic tongue, the name earlier being Granahua and from gran 'spruce' and ahua 'water'.

Bardejov has almost as many stories told about its origin as letters in the name. Perhaps this is from the Hungarian bard 'chopper, hatchet' and refers to clearing the area when it was founded; or maybe Hungarian Barfta 'chopping trees'; or is it a personal name Bardej; or the name Barduj; or ......

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