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salamander - word of the day
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From: Charles Hodgson
The story behind the word "salamander"
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Piece Description
Charles Hodgson's "Etymology Moment" is a series of two to three minute pieces exploring the history of common English words. Intended to be played as a series, either daily or less frequently, each episode talks about a single word, the different meanings it might have had through history and related trivia such as an interesting historical character who used the word early on. The series already has hundreds of episodes to choose from and more are being added each week. Listener endorsements for Charles Hodgson's work include: "A staple of my daily listening, always interesting, kind of relaxing and educational to boot! I love it." (Russell Jenkins) "Mr Hodgson's dry wit and gentle delivery entertain, inform, and calm me down a bit after a hard day's work. A treasure I found months ago and it keeps on giving." (Hamilton UCI) "This is a daily must-listen." (Laurence Simon) "We love this program. It is a great way of learning, one word at a time. Charles has a unique way of pronouncing and interpreting the words. And we love his soothing voice." (Roland Popp) In addition to his "Etymology Moment" Charles Hodgson has written a book (publication August 2007) entitled CARNAL KNOWLEDGE - A Navel Gazer's Dictionary of Anatomy, Etymology, and Trivia. Richard Lederer, host of NPR's A Way With Words says of the book: "Master etymologist Charles Hodgson offers a passionate lesson...illuminates how just about every part of the amazing human chassis got its name." Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves says: "Delight your friends (or lose them rapidly) with this fabulous new knowledge presented with deftness and wit."
Broadcast History
content posted in different format as a podcast
Transcript
This is the etymology moment, and I'm Charles Hodgson. Today we'll hear the story behind the word metal.
In the days of the ancient Greeks there was a need for materials from which to make swords and helmets and things. To obtain this material it was necessary to dig a hole in the ground. In the ancient Greek language of the day, this hole in the ground was called metallon, and by extension, so was the stuff they dug out of it and heat treated into useful tools and weapons. This Greek word was adopted by the Romans as metallum and later came to English through French. By the time it got into English the word metal had pretty much dropped it's meaning of the place where the stuff came from and was applied only to the stuff itself. That was first back in 1230 in our old friend the Ancrene Rule. In the passage where it appears, this old instruction manual for medieval nuns is recomm...
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