Veriloquy

This word is particularly apt for this blog.  According to Thomas Blount's Glossographia in 1656, it means the expression of a word, the etymology of a word.  This is exactly what this blog is all about, discovering the meanings of words, their origins and and earliest recorded usage.

Veriloquy also means truth speaking, from the Latin veri meaning truth, and Latin loquis meaning to speak.  This word has been used since the 17th century.  Other words with similar origins are veriloquent, verity and verily.

Sources:
Blount, Thomas (1972) Glossographia 1656, G. Olms.
Colonial Sense (2011) Colonial Dictionary [online] http://www.colonialsense.com/Society-Lifestyle/Colonial_Dictionary/Main.php?CS=V (Accessed 17th May 2011).


Juliana

Portmanteau

This is not just the name of a travelling bag with two compartments (taken from the Middle French c.1584), but is also an adjective describing the blending of two of more different things of the same type.

However, for this blog, there is another more relevant meaning.  In 1882 portmanteau words entered the dictionary, thanks to Lewis Carroll, who coined the phrase as a noun to describe words made from a combination of two different words.  In Through the Looking Glass (1872), Humpty Dumpty tells Alice: "Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy'...You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed into one word."  Another word, also created by Lewis Carroll in the same novel is still used to day - chortle, a blend of chuckle and snort.

Other portmanteau words I have heard recently are ginormous (a mix of giant and enormous) and fantabulous (fantastic and fabulous).  Von has coined her own portmanteau word - interweb (internet and world wide web).

Although Lewis Carroll is credited with creating portmanteau words, there is evidence that they have been around since the early nineteenth century.  One of the earliest (c.1832), was savagerous - a blend of savage and dangerous.  One of my favourites, from the 1870s, is infanticipate, to await the arrival of a baby.  Such a pity this word is no longer used.

Portmanteau words are easy and fun to create.  You never know, maybe you already have some in your vocabulary.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.


Juliana

Big girl's blouse

In a small article in the Times on the 24th February 2011, on discussing Channing Tatum's experiences filming The Eagle (a Roman epic, pictured left) in Scotland in winter, describes the actor as a big girl's blouse.  Now, it was very surprising to read this phrase in the Times, as I always associated it with other types of media - such as the Daily Mirror and the Sun newspapers, OK and Chat magazines, etc.,  but not something like the Times.  So, it made me wonder, where did this ridiculous phrase come from?

General consensus is that this phrase originated in the dialect of the working class in Northern England.  The earliest recorded usage is in an episode of Nearest and Dearest (season 2, episode 1) in 1969.  This TV sitcom took place in Lancashire and had many examples of Northern dialect.  The phrase has come to mean an effeminate or ineffectual man, used mainly in a derogatory sense by women, which makes me think the Times journalist was female.

According to the Times, Channing Tatum, known for his tough, macho roles is a big girl's blouse when it comes to shooting a film in the remote depths of Scotland in winter.  And who can blame him?  I just hope all that suffering transferred over to the finished film and made it better.

Sources:
Green, Jonathan (2000) Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, Cassell & Co, London.
Quinion, Michael (2011) Big Girl's Blouse [online] http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-big3.htm (Accessed 24th May 2011).
The Times (2011) 'Sword, sandals and the Scottish winter', The Times, 24th February.
Images:
The Eagle (2010) [online] http://www.flicksandbits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/the-eagle-poster-channing-tatum.jpg (Accessed 4th June 2011).



Juliana