The origins of etymythology

[Tarquin Farquart]

Call me a pedant (origin: Latin, paedagogus) but I really enjoy setting people right about their faulty philology

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/20...mythology.html

[Chloe]

Tell me more about that man; we were obviously separated at birth.

[BringTheNoise]

Slight OT:

I fared better, having recently read the relevant entry, when one of my brothers wheeled out that old chestnut (that's from William Dillon's play The Broken Sword about an English king loving a particular cut of beef so much that he knighted it ("Arise, Sir Loin!"). As Quinion writes, this is "one of the daftest examples of uncritical folk etymology extant", which judgment I relayed word perfectly prior to mercilessly exploding my brother's explanation. I was so happy that I might even have done a little dance.

I saw this nonsense on a Weatherspoon's menu for their Grill Club promotion. I meant to ask about it, but never got round to it. I'm glad I wasn't taken in!

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Chloe

Tell me more about that man; we were obviously separated at birth.

Hope this helps:

Chris Power writes for the Observer, the Times and the BBC's Collective website. He lives in a deeply unfashionable part of London.

[Richard W]

Well Oklahoma's as deeply unfashionable a part of London as you can get, so perhaps Chloe will bump into him after all!

I must admit that the "sirloin" explanation was the only one of those that I had stored somewhere in my brain as possibly true - but the real etymology makes a lot more sense. I'd like to read that book; I hope it's still available.

[knurd]

Originally Posted by Richard W

I must admit that the "sirloin" explanation was the only one of those that I had stored somewhere in my brain as possibly true - but the real etymology makes a lot more sense. I'd like to read that book; I hope it's still available.

It's available (assuming you're talking about POSH by Michael Quinn), according to his website He updates the site once a week, giving etymologies for words he's been asked about. Interesting stuff!

[Darth Credence]

Am I the only one who needed a couple of tries to figure out what was going on in the bit BringtheNoise quoted? The quote, copied directly from the article, is:

I fared better, having recently read the relevant entry, when one of my brothers wheeled out that old chestnut (that's from William Dillon's play The Broken Sword about an English king loving a particular cut of beef so much that he knighted it - "Arise, Sir Loin!").

Now, based on the placement of the parenthesis, it sure seems to say that The Broken Sword was about the king who knighted a piece of meat.

[Elkhound]

Originally Posted by Richard W

I must admit that the "sirloin" explanation was the only one of those that I had stored somewhere in my brain as possibly true - but the real etymology makes a lot more sense. I'd like to read that book; I hope it's still available.

There is a cut called a "baron of beef"; I've read that it is a double-sirloin--two ranks above a knight is a baron.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by knurd

It's available (assuming you're talking about POSH by Michael Quinn), according to his website He updates the site once a week, giving etymologies for words he's been asked about. Interesting stuff!

Excellent - thanks for the link! (Yours has the snopes URL stuck to the front and so doesn't work, by the way - not sure if it's still editable, but I corrected it in the quote.)

Talking of etymology, it was only last month - literally - while doing a crossword that I realised that "knurd" was "drunk" backwards... It only took me 15 years or so to get Mr. P's joke!

[Brad from Georgia]

I read this stuff and all I can think of is that Bugs Bunny cartoon:

Bugs: "Arise, Sir Loin of Beef!" (smacks bad guy over head)
"Arise, Earl of Cloves!!" (repeats blow to bad guy's head)
"Arise, Baron of Munchausen!" (again with the smack to the head, oy!)
"Arise, Essence of Myrrh!" (harder smack to the head)
"Arise, Milk of Magnesia!" (lump-inducing smack to the head)
"Arise, Quarter of Ten!" (last blow to the head)

Sheriff of Nottingham, the worse for wear: "Thanksh your Mashesty, you're too kind. Oooh."

(quoted from creaky memory)

[knurd]

Originally Posted by Richard W

Excellent - thanks for the link! (Yours has the snopes URL stuck to the front and so doesn't work, by the way - not sure if it's still editable, but I corrected it in the quote.)

Talking of etymology, it was only last month - literally - while doing a crossword that I realised that "knurd" was "drunk" backwards... It only took me 15 years or so to get Mr. P's joke!

Oops, thanks for the correction. Dunno how I managed that.

He's great, isn't he? I'm always finding new jokes whenever I re-read one of his books. It took me an embarrassingly long time to get 'Djelibeybi'.