wordaday

Yesterday I noted that harvest derives from the Proto Indo-European root *kerp-, a root which also gives us Modern English excerpt and scarce, both from Latin carpere, “to pluck.”

In Latin, carpere is usually used in the context of picking or plucking things like fruit, or flowers. You might be more familiar with carpere via the Latin tag carpe diem, or “seize the day,” an “admonition,” as the AHD puts it, “to seize the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future. ” Carpe diem was immortalized by Horace, the Latin poet who lived from 65 B. C. E. –8 B. C. E., in his Latin “Ode 11″ from Book I (Horace’s own title was “Carmina,” or “Songs”). Here’s Horace’s “Ode 1.11″, in Latin and English:

This particular poem was published in 23 B. C. E., and yet we still find ourselves, as others before us, called by the idea of “seizing the day,” or living today, because tomorrow is uncertain. Other poets have picked up on the idea as well, most notably Andrew Marvell in “To His Coy Mistress,” and Robert Herrick, “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time,” an inspiration to Robin Williams’ character in Dead Poets Society (1989). Steve Martin also riffs on carpe diem in the 1987 film Roxanne.

According to the OED, until about 1600, harvest was preferred over autumn to describe the season between Summer and Winter. Harvest as a noun is

1. The act or process of gathering a crop.

• 2a. The crop that ripens or is gathered in a season.
• b. The amount or measure of the crop gathered in a season.
• c. The time or season of such gathering.

3. The result or consequence of an activity (AHD).

In earlier eras, when life was more closely tied to an agricultural calendar and rural living, it makes sense for autumn to be seen as the season of harvest, when we cut down crops and livestock and prepare food for winter storage. In that context, the etymology of harvest is very telling. Modern English harvest is from Middle English, via Old English hærfest. Harvest has a proto Indo-European root of *kerp-, which, the AHD tells us, means “To gather, pluck, harvest, and which also gives us carpet; excerpt, scarce, from Latin carpere, to pluck. ” These are all words that have to do with cutting, or removing something from a larger whole. You might already be familiar with Latin carpere, to pluck, from the expression carpe diem, which I’ll write about tomorrow.

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Keats To Autumn ll. 1-11

Yes, it’s definitely fall, or autumn, for those who prefer more formal language. Autumn as a noun in the AHD is:

1. The season of the year between summer and winter, lasting from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice and from September to December in the Northern Hemisphere; fall.2. A period of maturity verging on decline.

Autumn is one of those words we’re not completely sure about, in terms of its etymology. We know, as the AHD
observes, that autumn entered Modern English via Middle English autumpne, from Old French autompne, from Latin autumnus. But the earlier history of autumn is not at all clear. The OED directs readers to the standard Latin dictionary by Lewis and Short, who suggests that Latin autumnus may be related to the older Latin augere, or “increase.” Before about the sixteenth century, harvest was the preferred name for this time of year; now, in North America, fall seems to be the favored word.

In yesterday’s post about aglet, I mentioned that according to the OED, in earlier eras, aglets were called points. According to the AHD, under definition 36 for point, a point is “A ribbon or cord with a metal tag at the end, used to fasten clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries. “

The following bit from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Act 1, scene 5, between Feste the Jester or “clown,” and the maid Maria, refers to points. Feste has returned, late, long after he was expected:

Maria Yet you will be hanged for being so long absent; or,
to be turned away, is not that as good as a hanging to you?

Clown Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage; and,
for turning away, let summer bear it out.

Maria You are resolute, then?

Clown Not so, neither; but I am resolved on two points.

Maria That if one break, the other will hold; or, if both
break, your gaskins fall.

Twelfth Night I. 5. 14–21

The clown Feste is making a bawdy pun regarding a good hanging, meaning both “lynched,” and well, “well hung.” He says he is unconcerned about being “turned away,” or fired, and will let “summer bear it out” because summer time, when it is warm, won’t be so terrible to be homeless and jobless. Maria asks if Feste is “resolute, ” and again, Feste makes a pun on being “resolved, ” in the sense of being “sure, and in the sense of “finding a solution” to a problem–he is “resolved on two points,” again, making another pun on points as in definition 17 “A significant, outstanding, or effective idea, argument, or suggestion,” and, 36 “A ribbon or cord with a metal tag at the end, used to fasten clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries.” As Maria knows, gaskins or breeches were held up by points.

All that from part of a shoelace!

You know that tube of metal or plastic at either end of a shoelace?

Ever wondered what it’s called?

It’s an aglet. According to the AHD, aglet means:

1. A tag or sheath, as of plastic, on the end of a lace, cord, or ribbon to facilitate its passing through eyelet holes.
2. A similar device used for an ornament.

You can read about how to repair an aglet at Ian’s Shoelace Site. In fact, Ian took the picture of the aglet on this page. Etymologically speaking, Modern English aglet come from Middle English, via Old French aguillette, diminutive of aguille, needle, from Vulgar Latin *accula, from Late Latin acucula, itself a diminutive of Latin acus, needle—which makes perfect sense when you think about the shape of an aglet, and the fact that we “thread” the aglet-tipped shoelace through eyelets in our shoes.

The word aglet is also sometimes used, for an ornament as both the AHD and the OED make clear. The OED also observes that in earlier eras, aglets were called points. I’ll talk about points tomorrow, but here’s a teaser for you.

Clown Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage;
and, for turning away, let summer bear it out.

Maria Yet you will be hanged for being so long absent; or,
to be turned away, is not that as good as a hanging to you?

Clown Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage; and,
for turning away, let summer bear it out.

Maria You are resolute, then?

Clown Not so, neither; but I am resolved on two points.

Maria That if one break, the other will hold; or, if both
break, your gaskins fall.

Twelfth Night I. 5. 14–21

The AHD defines a bellwether as

One that serves as a leader or as a leading indicator of future trends.

The modern English meaning of a leader or leading indicator is derived from the older Middle English term for the bell-wearing sheep that led the flock; a wether is a castrated ram.

What’s interesting is that the word has slightly different connotations in British English, and American English. The AHD offers “The degree to which the paper is censored is a political bellwether” (Justine De Lacy) as an in context sentence, and it’s definition—”a leader or leading indicator”—is neutral in tone.

The OED offers, in addition to the traditional medieval (and still customary today) of a castrated ram wearing a bell, “a leader; contemptuously: the ring-leader, the worst of the lot.”

The figurative use of bellwether is always, apparently, insulting, in British English.

For those of you interested in the more gory linguistic details, wether is from *wet-², the Proto Indo-European root linguists think probably meant “year,” and which also gave us veteran, and veal.