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Words the Weather Gave Us by Grace Tierney (ARC review)
In one of his books (can’t remember which one) French polymath philosopher Michel Serres makes a big deal of the fact that in French, the same word – temps – means both weather and time. He makes the point, in his gnomish way, that since weather is a chaotic system, then time is too. Time is not a straight line, but fractal and folded. Or, as William Faulkner put it, The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
Serres might have been interested to know that, according to etymologist Grace Tierney, the word temperature in English comes not from the Latin temporalis (denoting time), but from that language’s temperatura, “which is linked to the idea of mixing in the correct proportions and restraining passions”. It wasn’t until the 1670s that it was first used in connection with measuring heat/cold and it was the 1820s when it was applied to discussions about the weather. So maybe temps in French comes from temporalis, while temps comes from temperatura. LOL.
Such are the pleasures of Tierney’s forthcoming Words the Weather Gave Us, the latest in a series of books about language and word origins, which include Words The Vikings Gave Us and Words the Sea Gave Us.
But who are we? We are the people of the stormy North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Scandinavia. The author herself is based in Ireland, but she writes about that magpie language, English, which steals and absorbs words and phrases from all over the world. We are a people notorious for talking about the weather, so this subject has rich pickings.
Lovely words, for example, like petrichor; dreich; and (one that kept occurring to me over this breezy summer) zephyr. Or interesting phrases, like faffing about, or enough to make a sailor a pair of pants.
When it comes to idiom, English is endlessly inventive, and (as a seafaring nation), we all speak sailor quite a lot of the time. The Shipping Forecast is a national institution, after all, as well as a sleep aid.
If you love words, you’ll find this an enjoyable and entertaining read and a great stocking filler. (I expect there’ll be information on that phrase in Words Christmas Gave Us.) Read more on Grace Tierney’s blog.
#english #Etymology #GraceTierney #language #wordOrigins #Words -
Words the Weather Gave Us by Grace Tierney (ARC review)
In one of his books (can’t remember which one) French polymath philosopher Michel Serres makes a big deal of the fact that in French, the same word – temps – means both weather and time. He makes the point, in his gnomish way, that since weather is a chaotic system, then time is too. Time is not a straight line, but fractal and folded. Or, as William Faulkner put it, The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
Serres might have been interested to know that, according to etymologist Grace Tierney, the word temperature in English comes not from the Latin temporalis (denoting time), but from that language’s temperatura, “which is linked to the idea of mixing in the correct proportions and restraining passions”. It wasn’t until the 1670s that it was first used in connection with measuring heat/cold and it was the 1820s when it was applied to discussions about the weather. So maybe temps in French comes from temporalis, while temps comes from temperatura. LOL.
Such are the pleasures of Tierney’s forthcoming Words the Weather Gave Us, the latest in a series of books about language and word origins, which include Words The Vikings Gave Us and Words the Sea Gave Us.
But who are we? We are the people of the stormy North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Scandinavia. The author herself is based in Ireland, but she writes about that magpie language, English, which steals and absorbs words and phrases from all over the world. We are a people notorious for talking about the weather, so this subject has rich pickings.
Lovely words, for example, like petrichor; dreich; and (one that kept occurring to me over this breezy summer) zephyr. Or interesting phrases, like faffing about, or enough to make a sailor a pair of pants.
When it comes to idiom, English is endlessly inventive, and (as a seafaring nation), we all speak sailor quite a lot of the time. The Shipping Forecast is a national institution, after all, as well as a sleep aid.
If you love words, you’ll find this an enjoyable and entertaining read and a great stocking filler. (I expect there’ll be information on that phrase in Words Christmas Gave Us.) Read more on Grace Tierney’s blog.
#english #Etymology #GraceTierney #language #wordOrigins #Words -
@oliver_moran Typical. One of the green lungs in Harold’s Cross has been completely de-grassed and is about to be covered in plastic fake grass. There was no planning application. A haven for wildlife, a field where children played on grass, now it's going to be an astroturfed… I don't have the words
#Astroturf #HaroldsCross #Dublin -
@oliver_moran Typical. One of the green lungs in Harold’s Cross has been completely de-grassed and is about to be covered in plastic fake grass. There was no planning application. A haven for wildlife, a field where children played on grass, now it's going to be an astroturfed… I don't have the words
#Astroturf #HaroldsCross #Dublin -
@oliver_moran Typical. One of the green lungs in Harold’s Cross has been completely de-grassed and is about to be covered in plastic fake grass. There was no planning application. A haven for wildlife, a field where children played on grass, now it's going to be an astroturfed… I don't have the words
#Astroturf #HaroldsCross #Dublin -
@oliver_moran Typical. One of the green lungs in Harold’s Cross has been completely de-grassed and is about to be covered in plastic fake grass. There was no planning application. A haven for wildlife, a field where children played on grass, now it's going to be an astroturfed… I don't have the words
#Astroturf #HaroldsCross #Dublin -
“ Her body remained in the semi-submerged Ford Fiesta for almost seven hours while her distraught mother stood on the nearby roadway, kept away from the scene by emergency services.”
#RoadSafety #Ireland
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/parents-plead-for-road-safety-measures-after-death-of-daughter-18-in-preventable-tragedy/a/162248152.html -
“ Her body remained in the semi-submerged Ford Fiesta for almost seven hours while her distraught mother stood on the nearby roadway, kept away from the scene by emergency services.”
#RoadSafety #Ireland
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/parents-plead-for-road-safety-measures-after-death-of-daughter-18-in-preventable-tragedy/a/162248152.html -
“ Her body remained in the semi-submerged Ford Fiesta for almost seven hours while her distraught mother stood on the nearby roadway, kept away from the scene by emergency services.”
#RoadSafety #Ireland
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/parents-plead-for-road-safety-measures-after-death-of-daughter-18-in-preventable-tragedy/a/162248152.html