and testament
combines English and Latin.
The pattern caught on. After a while, lawyers began to bring together pairs of words from the
same
language. To avoid a dispute over whether
cease
meant the same as
desist
(both words are from French), they simply said that someone should
cease and desist
. That’s also why we talk about a situation being
null and void
or someone being
aided and abetted
. English words were combined too – hence
have and hold
,
each and every
and
let or hindrance
. Lawyers sometimes went in for even longer sequences, such as
give, devise and bequeath
. This is one of the reasons legal English seems so wordy. (Another is that lawyers were often paid by the word.)
Chattels
has some interesting linguistic relatives. The French word is a development from Latin
capitalis
, and this has given us the word
capital
. It has, lessobviously, given us
cattle
. Today we think of cattle as cows, bulls, calves and other bovine animals. But until the 16th century it had a much more general sense. Any group of live animals held as property, or farmed for food or produce, could be called
cattle
. So we find the word being used for horses, sheep, goats, pigs, fowls (‘feathered cattle’) and even camels. ‘Take heed,’ says a writer in 1589, ‘thine own cattle sting thee not.’ He was talking about bees.
Dame
a form of address (13th century)
People are very sensitive about how others address them. The reason is that there are several choices, and each choice carries a nuance. We could guess a great deal about the relationship between the parties if we heard:
Hello, Mrs Jones
Hello, Jane
Hello, Janey
Hello, Mrs J
Hello, chick
Hello, Didi
Very few people know that Jane was called Didi by her family when she was little.
Our preference for using – or not using – titles can alter over quite short periods of time. Young people these days are much readier to use first names on initial acquaintance than are their seniors, and don’t so often get irritated when a cold-caller greets them over the phone with a breezy intimacy. It’s hardly surprising, then, to find that the use of titles has changed over the course of centuries. But few have had such a chequered history as
Dame
.
Today, the use of
Dame
is very restricted. It’s the female equivalent of a knight of an order of chivalry, in the British honours system, and people notice it when someone well known receives it, such as Dame Judi Dench. It also has a limited use elsewhere. Lady baronets and some retired female judges can be called
Dame
. These are the last vestiges of a title which was originally widespread in English society.
When
dame
arrived from French in the 13th century, it was immediately used for ladies of high rank, and for any woman in charge of a community, such as an abbess or prioress. But it quickly went downmarket. By the 16th century, any woman married to a person with social standing, even if relatively low in rank (such as a squire or a yeoman), could be called
Dame
.
At the same time, the word was being used in a general way to describe ‘the lady of the house’ – a housewife. From there it was a short step to find it used for any mother, whatever her social position. And in the 14th century, a
mother tongue
was often referred to as a
dame’s tongue
.
The original vowel in
dame
, coming from French,was pronounced more like the one we hear in modern English
dam
, and this spelling, along with
damme
, was soon used. But
dam
, perceived to be a different word, began to attract negative connotations. It was used for female animals as well, and when used for a human mother it usually had a tone of ridicule or contempt. The emergence of the phrase the
devil and his dam
didn’t help.
In the early 20th century
dame
went further downmarket, especially in the United States, where it became the usual slang word for a woman. ‘There is nothin’ like a dame’ went the refrain (in
South Pacific
). Then a most curious development
combines English and Latin.
The pattern caught on. After a while, lawyers began to bring together pairs of words from the
same
language. To avoid a dispute over whether
cease
meant the same as
desist
(both words are from French), they simply said that someone should
cease and desist
. That’s also why we talk about a situation being
null and void
or someone being
aided and abetted
. English words were combined too – hence
have and hold
,
each and every
and
let or hindrance
. Lawyers sometimes went in for even longer sequences, such as
give, devise and bequeath
. This is one of the reasons legal English seems so wordy. (Another is that lawyers were often paid by the word.)
Chattels
has some interesting linguistic relatives. The French word is a development from Latin
capitalis
, and this has given us the word
capital
. It has, lessobviously, given us
cattle
. Today we think of cattle as cows, bulls, calves and other bovine animals. But until the 16th century it had a much more general sense. Any group of live animals held as property, or farmed for food or produce, could be called
cattle
. So we find the word being used for horses, sheep, goats, pigs, fowls (‘feathered cattle’) and even camels. ‘Take heed,’ says a writer in 1589, ‘thine own cattle sting thee not.’ He was talking about bees.
Dame
a form of address (13th century)
People are very sensitive about how others address them. The reason is that there are several choices, and each choice carries a nuance. We could guess a great deal about the relationship between the parties if we heard:
Hello, Mrs Jones
Hello, Jane
Hello, Janey
Hello, Mrs J
Hello, chick
Hello, Didi
Very few people know that Jane was called Didi by her family when she was little.
Our preference for using – or not using – titles can alter over quite short periods of time. Young people these days are much readier to use first names on initial acquaintance than are their seniors, and don’t so often get irritated when a cold-caller greets them over the phone with a breezy intimacy. It’s hardly surprising, then, to find that the use of titles has changed over the course of centuries. But few have had such a chequered history as
Dame
.
Today, the use of
Dame
is very restricted. It’s the female equivalent of a knight of an order of chivalry, in the British honours system, and people notice it when someone well known receives it, such as Dame Judi Dench. It also has a limited use elsewhere. Lady baronets and some retired female judges can be called
Dame
. These are the last vestiges of a title which was originally widespread in English society.
When
dame
arrived from French in the 13th century, it was immediately used for ladies of high rank, and for any woman in charge of a community, such as an abbess or prioress. But it quickly went downmarket. By the 16th century, any woman married to a person with social standing, even if relatively low in rank (such as a squire or a yeoman), could be called
Dame
.
At the same time, the word was being used in a general way to describe ‘the lady of the house’ – a housewife. From there it was a short step to find it used for any mother, whatever her social position. And in the 14th century, a
mother tongue
was often referred to as a
dame’s tongue
.
The original vowel in
dame
, coming from French,was pronounced more like the one we hear in modern English
dam
, and this spelling, along with
damme
, was soon used. But
dam
, perceived to be a different word, began to attract negative connotations. It was used for female animals as well, and when used for a human mother it usually had a tone of ridicule or contempt. The emergence of the phrase the
devil and his dam
didn’t help.
In the early 20th century
dame
went further downmarket, especially in the United States, where it became the usual slang word for a woman. ‘There is nothin’ like a dame’ went the refrain (in
South Pacific
). Then a most curious development
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