ETYMOLOGY
101
As promised, this week’s “3 Words” are all
somehow related. I must give due credit to a fantastic online
site dedicated to the English language (and others as well),
www.wordsmith.org,
which dedicates each new week to words of a certain theme.
This week’s etymology lesson, and all hence, will explain
the origins of one of the 3 Words listed on the front page.
This week’s spotlight word is misandry,
since it provides such ample opportunity to examine our language.
Misandry is a combination of two Greek words:
misos (hatred) + andros
(man).* The latter part shows up in two popular names: Alexander
(from the Greek Alexandros, a combination of alexein
“to ward off, defend” + andros
“man”) and Andrew (from the French André,
which was ultimately derived from the Latin and Greek andreios).
The names mean “defender of men” and “manly,”
respectively.
The word misogynist is also a
Greek combination: misos (hatred)
+ gyne (woman). A woman goes to
a gynecologist, and one who has
many wives is engaged in polygyny
(not to be confused with polygamy, which
is a combination of poly “many”
+ gamos “marriage”).
Yet another related word is androgynous,
a combination of andros (man) and
gyne (woman). It should come as
no surprise that the word means “having both masculine
and feminine characteristics.”
*The Greek word for man is actually aner, which “originates”
from the word andros.
WELL
I'LL BE!
THE
ANSWERS TO TWO QUESTIONS YOU NEVER ASKED
Where do we get the term “peeping Tom”?
As we all know, a “peeping Tom” is one who peeps
through his window at night, often in the hope of seeing another
woman undressed. The term comes from an old 11th-century legend,
of Lady Godiva of Coventry. In this legend, Leofric, Saxon
Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry, imposed burdensome tolls
on his subjects. His wife, Lady Godiva, was sympathetic to
the town’s plight, and appealed to her husband time
and again to repeal the taxes. After much aggravation, Leofric
agreed to grant her request and repeal the taxes if she would
ride naked through the town. Lady Godiva took her lord at
his word and issued a proclamation to all the townspeople,
requesting that they remain indoors and close their shutters
while she rode through town clothed in nothing but her long
hair and her chastity. Everyone complied, with the exception
of Tom the tailor, who bored a hole through his shutter that
he might see Lady Godiva pass. It is said he was stricken
blind for his impudence; however, he has been preserved in
history and known as Peeping Tom ever since. Leofric kept
his promise, and the oppressive tolls were abolished.
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The incident was com- memorated by a stained
glass window in St. Michael’s Church in Coventry, and
for centuries there was an effigy of “Peeping Tom of
Coventry” in a corner of one of the public buildings
of the town. At one time, Lady Godiva’s ride was the
theme of an annual pageant in Coventry.
An alternate version of the legend, which has some basis in
historical fact, holds that Lady Godiva made no effort to
notify the townspeople. At the time, the human body was viewed
as one of the highest expressions of nature’s perfection
(a view borrowed from the ancient Greeks), and there was no
shame in showing it publicly. The bit about Tom was supposedly
not added until the mid-17th century, likely by Christians
who viewed the tale as blasphemous.
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Why are “monkey wrenches” so named?
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It is presumed that the “monkey” in “monkey
wrench” is a corruption of the proper name Moncke (pronounced
mun-ke). Wrenches with moving jaws
adjustable by a screw were first made by London blacksmith
Charles Moncke in the mid-19th century, and were originally
called Moncke wrenches. Since most people were ignorant as
to the origin of the word, they assumed it was “monkey,”
and the corrupted name stuck.
Source: George Stimpson, A Book About A Thousand
Things, pgs. 296, 287. |
