Groundhog Day
Today is February 2 and it marks Groundhog’s Day, the annual celebration of Marmota monax‘s interaction with his shadow.
What’s that got to do with this blog you ask. Well the connection is raccoon. For raccoon is a word from the Algonquian language, 3000-years old. Now it’s true that Groundhog is not an Algonquian word, but the other common name for these fat little animals is Woodchuck. Just to confuse the issue they don’t chuck or throw wood around though they do hog the ground. That’s because Woodchuck is the anglicized version of the Algonquian word wuchak. As English likes to nick words from other languages, there are a few other words taken from the Algonquian language, such as chipmunk, caribou, hickory, squash, hominy, moose, and opossum.
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1
February 2, 2012 at 07:31 -
Since you raised the subject ……..
Do you know what Ramsbottom and Chicago have in common?
As I understand it they both mean the same thing. Ramsbottom has nothing to do with the hind quarters of a male woolly animal but means the valley where the garlic grows in Old English and Chicago means the same in Algoncian.
That’s usual met with a stunned (and pitying) silence.
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2
February 2, 2012 at 07:34 -
Fascinating, Plantman and Mme Raccoon. Actually I find etymology fascinating though I have never really studied it. But because of this post I found and etymology dictionary:
That’s going to waste the rest of the morning…….
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3
February 2, 2012 at 11:04 -
Did you know that although the Welsh language has absorbed many words from English, the English language has absorbed very few from Welsh? Given that Welsh is a far older language than English, and that the two nations have been adjoining neighbours since Adam was a lad, this seems a tad odd.
That’s got absolutely nothing to do with Groundhogs, or Raccoons, but I thought I’d mention it.
Are you hinting that today is our landlady’s birthday, SBML? If so, a very happy birthday Anna, and may you have many more of ‘em!
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4
February 2, 2012 at 11:26 -
No, it was just the best picture I could find that included groundhogs and raccoons. Well, OK the only picture. And I didn’t have the energy to photoshop the birthday out of the picture.
Anna’s birthday is June 1st by the way. She will be omph gumph ssshss tuuufffffff………………..
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5
February 2, 2012 at 18:47
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6
February 2, 2012 at 22:23 -
This is the linguistic equivalent of the victor writing the history. Modern French is, of course, full of anglicisms but these are recent arrivals.
The invading Normans brought their language with them and imposed it. As conquerors it was they who ate the food animals while the indigenous serfs tended them. This is why our “meat” words ‘beef’ and ‘pork’ derive from the precursors of the modern ‘boeuf’ and ‘porc’ while the ‘animal’ words ‘cow’ and ‘swine’ have germanic roots as in ‘Kuh’ or ‘Schwein’. Sheep/Schaaf – Mutton/Mouton.
Occasionally the serf got a bit of meat on the QT. He could eat an eldery hare (Haase) but a tasty young leveret (lièvre) would go to the manor.
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7
February 2, 2012 at 13:10 -
Although, as so much of what one encounters on the Web, it desperately needs copy-editing I think you’ll enjoy this:
http://www.spindizzynews.org/raccoonday/
ΠΞ
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8
February 2, 2012 at 20:51 -
Yeh. Right. Groundhog Day. Nothing but an excuse to wake me up, manhandle me and wave me aloft in front of bank of popping flashbulbs, just to see if I cast a shadow.
I swear, one of these Groundhog days I’m gonna bite someone down to the bone, just in the spirit of good TV you understand …
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