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Poli 311.01 (W,IT) Professor Sammy Basu |
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The
Etymologies of Humor words
The contemporary connotations of the verb ‘to amuse’,
suggesting a fairly benign form of to divert or entertain, date from no earlier
than the 17th c. In fact
through the 17th and 18th c. the verb still bore
associations with the efforts to deceive or cheat. The latter echoed the earlier meanings of to bewilder, puzzle, or
make someone stare open-mouthed.
Etymologically the E amusement and to amuse (like to bemuse) come from
the late MF-F derivative amusement
and the OF-F compound amuser,
respectively. Both were derived from the OF-F muser meaning to loiter, to reflect, and fundamentally, of animals,
to cause to stand or stay with muzzle in air.
The root here is the OF mus,
which finds parallels in OF-F museau,
OProv mus, It muso, ML musum and musus, and E muzzle, all of which refer
to an animal's mouth. This is also the
root for the E verb ‘to muse’, meaning to ponder, dating from as early as the
14th c. via again the OF-F verb muser.[1]
Regrettably, there is no etymological connection of note
between muzzles (and musing) and the inspirational Muses (or Musae) of Ancient Greek mythology (also
referred to as the Pieriades in recognition of their birthplace, Pieria,
Thessaly, at the foot of Mount Olympus, and by various other geographic
epithets).
‘Foolish’ comes via OF fol
from L follis meaning ‘bellows’ and hence in the
post-classical period was used to denote a windbag or fatuous person.
‘Funny’
or ‘fun’, though now meaning amusement,
in 17-18th c. still carried associations of cheat or hoax in both
noun and verb forms, from ME fonnen and
EE fon, meaning to be silly or make a
fool of, roots shared with fond and fondle.
‘Hilarious’,
noisily merry, boisterous, from G hilaros
and L hilaritas, hilaris, hilarus,
via F hilarité, also shares origins
with exhilarate.
‘Humor’,
funniness, in ME and OF humor, humour,
derives ultimately from L umere, humere,
umor, humor, meaning to be moist, which was the basis of the Ancient and
Medieval physiological theory according to which the relationship between four
bodily fluids determine one’s health and temperament, whence also humid.
‘Jest’,
derives from L gerere, meaning to
bear or carry, to take charge of, to perform or accomplish, and as such shares
origins with gestate, gesture, suggest, and digest.
‘Joke’,
derives from L iocus and ML jocus, meaning a joke, jest and in
particular verbal game, also has richly suggestive links to jeopardy, jewelry,
and juggler.
‘Jolly’,
comes from ME joly and OF joli meaning pretty, and merry.
‘Laughter’,
from ME laughen from OE hlaehhan, hleahtor and like OHG hlahtar, MHG gelehter and G gelachter
is originally onomatopoeic, although there is perhaps some relationship to L clangere clangor, the cry of large birds.
‘Levity’,
comes from L leuis and ML levis, meaning light in weight, origins
shared with lever, alleviate, elevate, relieve, and light.
‘Ludicrous’,
derives from L ludus, a game, and ludere, to play, as does a suggestive
list of playful variants: illusion, allusion, delusion, and elude.
‘Merry’,
though now thought of as being jolly, comes via ME murie, mirie, merie, meaning pleasant, from the OE myrige and OHG murg-, murgi, murgjaz,
meaning short, suggesting perhaps the meaning of agreeable brevities, as does
mirth which shares the same origins via ME mirthe
and OE mirhth.
‘Raillery’,
from EFF raillerie, late MFF railler, and OProv ralhar, meaning to tease, scold, or jest at someone is presumably
echoic, although it may also derive from L ragulare,
bray, and ragere, neigh, roar,
themselves obtained from rugire,
bellow, and bragere, bray (and the
source of E bray).
‘Riddle’
possesses unusually cognitively robust origins, via ME redel and rydel from OE raedan
meaning to counsel, interpret or read.
‘Ridiculous’,
the laughable, is obtained from L ridere,
to laugh, and related terms, ridiculus
and LL ridiculosus via MFF risible and adjective ridicule, which also straightforwardly
yield risible and derision.
‘Satire’,
adopted in E from the same in MFF, comes not from satyr as one might have wished, but from L sati- and satu- meaning
full, as in a full plate, which was soon associated with a mixed plate, then
mixed literary composition, and verse medley which is how it was used in
reference to Horace and Juvenal, and as such it shares origins with satisfy,
satiate, and sad.
‘Sarcasm’,
from G sarx meaning flesh, and
derivative verb, sarkazein, meaning
to tear flesh and sarkasmos, a
flesh-tearing, but also already sneering, becomes LL sarcasmos, EFF sarcasme and
E sarcasm, and shares its malignant
origins with sarcoma, and sarcophagus (corpse-disintegrating limestone).
‘Scoff’, a
kind of gibe or mockery, and its earlier forms ME scof and OE scufan, share
with cognates Ofris skof, OHG scof, scoph and so on the meaning shove,
whence its connections with shovel, shuffle, and scoop.
Finally, ‘wit’, through OE wit and witan, derive
ultimately from L uidere and ML videre, meaning
to see, though perhaps as well from Skt veda
meaning knowledge, and shares these Indo-European roots with a host of cognates
including OHG wizze and MHG witze, as well as with a rich range of
terms, such as vision, view, visitor, witness, and advise.
Surprisingly
few terms merely reflect their socio-cultural origins. ‘Comedy’, G komoidia, from komos and oidos (meaning song) was the festive
parade during which ritualized insults were hurled about, from which Athenian
Old Comedy subsequently evolved.
Although ‘Farce’
comes from L farcire via OF farsir and later farcir, meaning ‘stuff,’ already in the Middle Ages the L verb was
used metaphorically to refer to the insertion of additional passages into the
text of the Mass, and by the 16th c. to the glossing, padding, or
diversion of religious morality plays with impromptu, typically comic
interludes.
‘Laconic’
reflected the pithily brief form of speech attributed in classical times to the
Spartans or Lacedamonians.
‘Sardonic’,
by way of G sardanios gelos and L sardonicus
risus through EF ris sardonic and
F rire sardonique, has its origins in
the L herba Sardonia, a Sardinian
plant which when eaten caused severe facial distortions akin to a grin (and
even madness).
Finally, ‘mock’ obtains from the Greek god of
mockery and censure, Momos, Latinized
as Momus.