Play on, words.

A haven for word-nerds and lexiconmen. Describe yourself in 3 words. "I'd rather not."

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Daily Dose of Diction: Disney Edition

Song: “Prince Ali” from Disney’s Aladdin

"He’s a winner.  He’s a wiz- a wonder! He’s about to pull my heart asunder!"

Asunder:  ə sun’dər 

(adv.) Split or divided into separate parts

Apart from each other in position

From the Old English word SUNDRIAN, a verb meaning “to split, separate, or divide.” 

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Daily Dose of Diction: Expectorate Redux + A W-W-F Song Breakdown

Maybe you saw our DDD on Expectorate (it means “to spit”, remember?) featuring the song “Gaston” from Beauty and the Beast and thought to yourself: “My, that was quite helpful. Thanks, W-W-F!  But why did you have to pick the one song from Beauty and the Beast that no one even knows? Basically, if it’s from Beauty and the Beast and a candelabra or a teapot isn’t singing it, I could care less.”

Well, reader, here’s a Words-With-Fiends Breakdown of the song “Gaston” just for you!  (Also, come on, buddy! You know it’s “couldN’T care less”!)  See if this refreshes your memory.

The Song “Gaston”: A W-W-F Breakdown

After being rejected by the one girl in town who isn’t throwing herself at him, Gaston is in a pretty dour mood.  The townsfolk resolve to cheer him up with a rousing musical number about how he’s superior to them all in a range of skills from boot-wearing to interior decorating.  He admits to being heroically hirsute and frighteningly oophagous, having single-handedly eliminated generations of poultry by the barge-load. His sidekick proudly boasts: “In a spitting match nobody spits like Gaston.” Appalled at his friend’s unacceptably redundant word choice, Gaston corrects him with a thunderous "I’m especially good at expeeeectoraaaating!"  The impressed crowd awards him 10 points (which we assume went to Gryffindor based on Gaston’s personality and clothing color choices.) 

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A drop of ink may make a million think.

Prolific poet George Gordon Byron on the power of words

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Interesting Origins:  “Alligator”

With an ending like -tor its easy to assume that the alligator’s name must come from some strong, manly Latin verb.  If a “gladiaTOR’ is a badass swordsman and “imperaTOR" is where we get our word for emperor, then surely "alligaTOR" must translate from Latin to mean something close to "unrelenting fang-beast."

Well, no. Not even a little.

Reality, with its ceaseless commitment to making things less awesome, says that the word “alligator” isn’t ancient Latin at all.  It makes sense; the animals live exclusively in a hemisphere no Roman ever settled.  Instead of ancient origins, the term “alligator” entered the English language in the 1560s when the British misheard Spanish settlers in Florida refer to the beast in the language of their homeland.  Thinking the first part of the phrase “el lagarto de Indias” (“the large lizard of the Indies”) was all one word, the animal would be called “allagarta” and “alagarto” in English before the spelling we use today became the most popular in the 1620s.

Surprisingly, the phrase “el lagarto” didn’t have much staying power in the Spanish language.  The Spanish word for the animal is actually “caimán,” a word with uncertain origins.  Some linguists suggest that the word is related to a term for the animal used by the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.

Sure, the etymology of alligator isn’t as fun as “unrelenting fang-beast”, but you really gotta give credit to the first guy to ever use the word.  He heard a phrase he didn’t understand, wrote it down incorrectly, and centuries later that typo is now the mascot for universities, a part of scientific nomenclature, and used by English speakers all over the world.  So maybe the lesson here is: next time you make a typo, just run with it.

Extra Ety’ Info for Word Fiends:

Even though “alligator” isn’t a direct word transplant from Ancient Rome, since it comes to English from Spanish there is obviously going to be a tie-in to Latin.  Spanish’s ”lagarto” is from “lacertus”, the Latin word for lizard.  You can see that the C in the Latin became a G in Spanish, which is a pretty common occurrence.  If you’ve taken entry-level Spanish (HA! “if”), then you’ve probably already noticed that pattern.  The Latin word “cattus” still begins with a C in modern English’s “cat” but becomes a G in Spanish’s ”gato”.

That’s it for today.  See ya later, el lagarto!

[words-with-fiends-blog]

Daily Dose of Diction: Disney Edition

Song: “Gaston” from Disney’s Beauty and Beast

"In a spitting match, nobody spits like Gaston!" 

Expectorate: ek spek’tə rāt 

To cough up and spit out phlegm/mucus/saliva from the lungs or throat.

To spit

From the Latin prefix EX meaning “out” and PECTUS meaning “breasts/chest”