Declining languages
Jul. 24th, 2012 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoSometimes I get totally sidetracked by language questions. Gary was reading some science fiction from the 1920s at breakfast this morning, and asked what "well-metalled masonry" could possibly mean. Given the time period, I could tell him that it might mean "hard and smooth," as the terminology was used (at least by British writers) in the late 1800s and early 1900s to refer to a paved road. Neither of us were very satisfied with that, and I offered to check the Oxford English Dictionary. He didn't want me to take the time, but I had to look. Fortunately I keep one of those microprint editions in the house. I was so taken aback by the explanation that I ended up 15 minutes late for work.
While the normal English meaning of "metal" refers to the metallic elements and things made of them, the derivation of the word leads us to this unusual meaning as well. It turns out to come from Latin metallum (noun: a mine or quarry) by way of French. The OED also notes that the Latin is related to the Greek μεταλλάω (verb: to search or seek.)
Apparently an early meaning of "metal" in English was literally anything that is dug up or quarried from the ground. So limestone roads or cut stone walls were called "metalled" because they were made of "metal" in that broader sense. And a "well-metalled" stone wall surely means one built of carefully cut (or quarried) stones that fit together evenly. Interesting oddity.
I was pondering this in the shower when I suddenly perceived the connection from Greek to Latin to English. Immediately, the image of my Greek professor at Michigan State University (good grief, 42 years ago) came to my mind. I could see Dr. Fairchild wagging a gnarled finger at me and hear his voice saying "Come on, Altivo, you know this."
I'm sure he would have explained it this way. "The Greeks were thinkers. They sat around and philosophized a lot (well, at least some of them, and those are the ones whose writings we still have today.) Plato would have said 'I seek truth.' (And there's that verb, μεταλλάω.) The Romans were more concerned with expanding an empire and getting things done, so they applied the idea of searching to looking for wealth and digging up useful minerals. (Hence metallum, the quarry.) But the French and English are so materialistic that they only see the valuable thing that gets dug up from the ground: 'metal.'" Just the sort of thing William Fairchild might have said. I'm sure he's long departed this life, but he'd be amused to know I remembered him so well in the context.
While the normal English meaning of "metal" refers to the metallic elements and things made of them, the derivation of the word leads us to this unusual meaning as well. It turns out to come from Latin metallum (noun: a mine or quarry) by way of French. The OED also notes that the Latin is related to the Greek μεταλλάω (verb: to search or seek.)
Apparently an early meaning of "metal" in English was literally anything that is dug up or quarried from the ground. So limestone roads or cut stone walls were called "metalled" because they were made of "metal" in that broader sense. And a "well-metalled" stone wall surely means one built of carefully cut (or quarried) stones that fit together evenly. Interesting oddity.
I was pondering this in the shower when I suddenly perceived the connection from Greek to Latin to English. Immediately, the image of my Greek professor at Michigan State University (good grief, 42 years ago) came to my mind. I could see Dr. Fairchild wagging a gnarled finger at me and hear his voice saying "Come on, Altivo, you know this."
I'm sure he would have explained it this way. "The Greeks were thinkers. They sat around and philosophized a lot (well, at least some of them, and those are the ones whose writings we still have today.) Plato would have said 'I seek truth.' (And there's that verb, μεταλλάω.) The Romans were more concerned with expanding an empire and getting things done, so they applied the idea of searching to looking for wealth and digging up useful minerals. (Hence metallum, the quarry.) But the French and English are so materialistic that they only see the valuable thing that gets dug up from the ground: 'metal.'" Just the sort of thing William Fairchild might have said. I'm sure he's long departed this life, but he'd be amused to know I remembered him so well in the context.
