Monday, September 10, 2012
September is Etymology Month (10)
blade O.E. blæd "a leaf," but also "a leaf-like part" (of spade, oar, etc.), from P.Gmc. *bladaz (cf. O.Fris. bled "leaf," Ger. blatt, O.S., Dan., Du. blad, O.N. blað), from PIE *bhle-to-, suffixed form (p.p.) of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom," possibly identical with *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (see bole). Extended in M.E. to shoulders (c.1300) and swords (early 14c.). The modern use in reference to grass may be a M.E. revival, by influence of O.Fr. bled "corn, wheat" (11c., perhaps from Germanic). The cognate in German, Blatt, is the general word for "leaf;" Laub is used collectively as "foliage." O.N. blað was used of herbs and plants, lauf in reference to trees. This might have been the original distinction in Old English, too. Of men from 1590s; in later use often a reference to 18c. gallants, but the original exact sense, and thus signification, is uncertain.
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4 comments:
Fascinating. I had a minor rant at a conference last week about whether blades of grass are acceptable, based on the redundancy of the cliché and the need to disrupt anthropocentric habits in nature writing: original = good?
One response was that the metaphor is now dead, so doesn't act figuratively any more. From what this says, it's the opposite: swords = grass originally; perhaps originating in a collective military metaphor perhaps? 'As numerous as...'?
George @ G&P
I really like the process whereby words move step by step away from their 'original' meanings, so you end up with things like the German 'Zifferblatt', which means 'clockface', but deconstructs itself to 'numberleaf'. But these are difficult micrometaphors to revivify, unless you're William Barnes. Or Icelandic.
George, if it's not an impertinence, would you mind telling me the etymology of your surname, if you know it?
Hi there,
I should say I'm a total novice with serious etymology, us poets being magpies rather than dragons when it comes to hoarding.
The surname: it's Greek Cypriot by origin. A strange social corruption of a longer name. The original would have been something like Christotooulis or similar (I've found Ttooulis, Ttooulias elsewhere, but I don't know the original). In villages, they took the last couple of syllables to refer to each other; using the full name was considered pretentious.
At some point post-peasant society (1920s? earlier?) when passports were being handed out (by the British, I think) the names were set in stone and only the last two syllables carried. So the 'tt' either indicates a wrong spelling, or that the surname was part of something longer, now lost.
Best,
George
Thanks a lot, most interesting.
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