But not literally. It’s actually the etymology and origin of
words related to summer, in honor of the impending season. Because the
etymology of summer is quite arduous and boring and wouldn’t make for a sufficiently
substantial post.
Muscle: This one
is for all you Situations out there who just love that summer provides an
excuse to flash those guns and abs. It also has an unlikely etymology.
“Muscle” comes from the French muscle which
comes from musculus, Latin for
“little mouse.” Mus alone is Latin for mouse— which itself is
derived from Ancient Greek μῦς (mus)—
and musculus is the diminutive form.
It was said that, when flexed, it appeared that little mice were running under
the skin. Sounds like the plot for a new low budget horror film…
Wave: Nothing too
exciting behind this one. The waves you surf weren’t originally about water. “Wave”
partially comes from the verb “to wave,” because the water moves back and forth. Before it came to its current form, the
word used was the Middle English waw,
which in turn comes from Old English’s wagian,
meaning “to move to and fro” [1].
Dog Days of Summer: Though
some believe this term, meant to refer to those hot days smack dab in the
middle of summer, came about because their heat is something even dogs wouldn’t
tolerate, that is not the case. The “dogs days” of summer are actually meant to
be a specific time frame, generally July 3rd to August 11th,
when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises with the sun— though the rotation of the earth
has since changed the validity of this. It just so happens that those days
coincide with the ones you wouldn’t be cruel enough to make even your dogs spend outdoors.
Sundae: Possibly
the very best part of summer. Possibly also has the most debated origin of any
of the words on this list. Various accounts claim different origins, but there are
a few that are more believed (and believable) than others. Most of these
stories share a common idea that the name itself comes from Sunday, the final day
of the week. One theory claims that the ice cream used to create sundaes was the
leftover ice cream from the week that would have been sold for less money the next day. Another
popular account says that it was originally only sold on Sunday, as a way to
try to get around certain laws that did not allow for the sale of regular ice
cream or ice cream sodas on Sundays (due to religious reasons). The exact origin of its name doesn’t
matter nearly as much as the fact that it was created for our consumption in
the first place. Yum.
References and other links for more information:
2 comments:
this is useful to many youngsters in this world that do not understant grammer
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