Kind of a short one this week.
Sometimes word origins are very self-contained. But no less weird.
Lure showed up in the early fourteenth century, and get this, it was
originally a name for a device used to recall a hawk—like in falconry. The word
comes from the Anglo
French lure, the Old French
loirre, and the Frankish lothr, which in turn comes from the
Proto Germanic lothran, to call. So
because a lure was used to call hawks, the word migrated (ha!) into general
use.
There’s also allure, which does
indeed come from the same place. It showed up in the fifteenth century,
from the Anglo French allurer and Old
French aleurer, meaning specifically
to attract/train a falcon to hunt. The word is made up of the prefix ad-, to,
and of course loirre. To call (a falcon) to. Allure.
I have to say, this is a pretty good
example of verbing a word. People were so into falcon hunting, that their word
for calling them became a word for attracting things in general. Hell, these
days, when you say a lure, you’re a lot more likely to think of fishing than
birds. Hey, fishing. Another example of a word that can often be used with
nothing to do with its original meaning.
Now to think of what to post for
next week…
No, it’s not going to be fish. That
seems a tad too obvious.
Sources
Do fish! I bet some of their names have other meanings, like the grouper and flounder.
ReplyDeleteQuarantine? I did send you that link to the random word generator, didn't I? That would make it easier. It'll pick a word at random for you.
ReplyDeleteI think you'd find a wealth of interesting things in fish names. I mean, where the heck did a word like barracuda or tuna come from?
ReplyDelete