Are we done yet?
Oh. No. No we’re not. Maybe next week in what’s the longest etymology series
ever. If by now you don’t know that case (like a container) is from the Proto Indo European kap-,
to hold/grasp, and isn’t related to case
(situation), where the hell have you been?
First this week,
catch. This isn’t wholly crazy since catching something is “holding” it, which
relates back to kap-. Catch itself showed up in the
thirteenth century from the
Anglo
French or
Old North French cachier, to catch animals. It’s from
the
Vulgar
Latin captiare, chase or try to
seize, from the
classical
Latin captare,
to catch,
and that’s the frequentative of
capere,
to take or hold and a word that’s appeared many times in this series. Nice how sensible this
one is, because I’m sure the rest won’t be.
That chase bit
is actually kind of significant because, guess where chase comes from? It
showed up in the
fourteenth century from
the
Old
French chacier (which is actually
related to the abovementioned cachier). It’s also from captiare and captare, so
nothing new here. I guess this word evolved in the sense of pursuing something
to try to catch it.
And there’s also
cop. Like you would cop a feel, or like a police officer—they’re from the same
place (so yes, the slang copper is related to this, not the metal). Cop
actually only showed up in British English in
1704 as a verb, and then not until the noun for police until 1859. It’s origin is
actually uncertain, but it’s thought to be from the
Middle French caper, seize or take, which is from the
Latin capere. Oh, and no, that’s not where
caper comes from.
Don’t be silly. However I should point out that it’s also possible that cop is from
the Dutch word
kapen, to take (that
also doesn’t seem to be from kap-; weirdly, it’s distantly related to
cheap). I guess cops are “takers”.
That’s not the
only word in the maybe pile, although this next one makes a lot less sense.
Cater showed up in the
seventeenth century meaning providing food for, from the
Middle
English catour, a buyer of
provisions. It’s from the Anglo French
achatour,
buyer, from the Old French
achater,
to buy. That’s thought to be from the Vulgar Latin
accaptare, a mix of the prefix ad- (
to)
and captare, which we all know by now. I guess a caterer taking food to someone
does kind of make sense. But it could also be from the Vulgar Latin
accapitare, to add to one’s capital. I
guess caterers do that in a way.
Okay, this next
one is just weird. Recover. Not like covering something again, which
is its own thing. No. Recover, like you would
from being sick or something. It’s not related to
cover! Like at all! It showed up in the
fourteenth century from the Anglo French
rekeverer and
Old French
recovrer, which could mean
come back or return, or to get again (like getting something back). It’s from the
Medieval
Latin recuperare. You know, like
the origin word for
recuperation,
which we talked about a few weeks ago as being related to receive.
Man, I’m not
sure what’s going to top this one.
Sources
