OED:
Decimation: taxation of 10%, first attested 1549
Decimate: executing 1/10 of, 1600
Decimate: taxing by 1/10, 1656
Decimate: to destroy a large part of, 1848
Thanks.
What’s the difference between the first and third definition?
“Bugger” derives from “Bulgar” (i.e. Bulgarian). It started as a Catholic term of abuse against Eastern Orthodox worshippers.
“Garnish” has not so much changed its meaning as thrown itself bodily from one end of the language to the other. It originally meant “defend” as in defending a castle by mounting cannons, catapults etc. on it. It ended up referring to any form of “adding something to” something, and ended up with its current culinary meaning.
“Chicken” hasn’t really changed its meaning, but it’s worth mentioning that it used to be a plural (like oxen). The singular was, of course, chick.
Similarly the Americans seem to have distorted the phrase ‘couldn’t care less’ to its opposite but retained the original meaning of being completely uninterested. So now it’s ‘could care less’ which doesn’t make any sense if you sit and think about the words. 
They’re not definitions, they are reports of sightings.
I’ve seen a couple of people refer back to this. What is Branduin in Tolkien? And what is Brandywine in modern use other than something like a older, closer cognate with Brandwijn for brandy? I’m not sure whether what’s being suggested here is that 'brandywine"originates in Tolkien?
I think that’s just showing (from what was availble to the editors) that the noun preceded the verb’s entry into English.
I looked up ‘henchman’ one day, just because it had dawned on me that I had no idea what ‘hench’ meant. Seems it’s from an old German word for stallion. I’m guessing that your henchman was originally the groom who was strong enough to handle the rowdy horses.
Minion, on the other hand, came from a French word meaning darling.
And, BTW, I would just like to add my personal first contact with the word “decimate:”
It was in a comic book, and I think it was Galactus against the Fantastic Four. For some reason that I’ve forgotten, there were lots and lots of Human Torches battling Galactus (somehow he had been “duplicated”), and Galactus mentioned “decimating” all the duplicates. I didn’t know what “decimate” meant, so I looked it up, and saw that (in the dictionary I was using back in the early 70s), it meant “to destroy one-tenth part of.” I thought to myself, “That’s not what he’s doing–he’s trying to destroy them all!”
I’ve read that it specifically has to do with the Albigensian/Cathar practice of non-procreative sex practices; because the cults believed Doomsday was imminent they did not want children, but of course the sex drive was strong as ever, so they became anal sects. (Admittedly, I first read that in Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe, but This cite agrees.)
Huh. I read your link, and was surprised. I’d seen “absquatulate” listed in several (I thought reliable) places as a Civil War-era slang term for “to get drunk.” Now I’m puzzled.
More on “sockdolager” - when Booth shot Lincoln, he waited for a moment in the play when he knew the audience would be laughing. The applause line he waited for had one of the “Our American Cousin” characters insult another as a “sockdolager.”
A great story but, sadly, almost certainly not true. A similar tale, that it is short for “sine nobilitata,” is probably also false. The word is first recorded long before its use to denote “nobs” from “snobs,” as meaning a cobbler or a cobbler’s apprentice. When it WAS picked up by Cambridge students (a fact all sources seem to agree on) it meant essentially “anyone who works in town.”
Word origins that claim invention by acronym prior to the 20th century are almost always false.
Masterpiece is now taken to be a crowning achievement or the greatest work of a lifetime.
It’s original meaning was the piece of work done by a journeyman to gain master’s status. Assuming they improved over time, their “masterpiece” may have been the poorest work of their careers.
Baranduin in Tolkien was the Westron word for the river. When Tolkien translated the stories out of Westron and into English he chose to translate Baranduin as Brandywine. I.e. Brandywine is not a modern spelling of an older name, but rather a “translation” from Tolkien’s made up language (typically referred to in the books as the common tongue or something like that).
Fairychat mom , that annoys me to end too. I mean it’s got a ten right in the word.
Cal , is it ok if I still think of Coney Island as the land of bunny rabitts and genitals? Even though Ive never seen either one there.
Sodomy originally meant anything other than penis-in-vagina sex. Its use has been narrowed to only penise-in-anus sex.
And of course in the appendices Tolkien is obliged to make it clear that hobbits did not exactly speak English, so that particular play on words would not work, but it’s typical of the kind of plays on words hobbits would make. He explains at some length what Sam and his Gaffer’s actual names were and how they related to Samwise “half-wise” and Hamfast “Stay-at-home”. Also “Brandybuck” is a rather loose translation of a name that would have been closer to “Marchbuck” (or Border-buck as we might say in modern English) and while it would have been a possible pun in hobbit-talk to call the Master of Buckland “Brandy-Buck” (Braldagamba) it would have been asking for trouble to call him that to his face.
Cal is a cunning linguist?
…and if you’re unfamiliar with sarcasm ;).
My favorite is bless, which originally meant to dump blood on. As in, Carrie was truly a blessed prom queen.
Daniel
[quoteQuote:
Originally Posted by betenoir
Cal , is it ok if I still think of Coney Island as the land of bunny rabitts and genitals? Even though Ive never seen either one there.
Cal is a cunning linguist?
[/quote]
You’ll have to talk to Pepper Mill about that.
betenoir can think of Coney Island however they want – I don’t think anything I’ve said suggests otherwise. Although as a Cunning Linguist I’d spell it “bunny rabbit”.