Language and etymology

Language and Etymology

communication, words, and word origins and evolution

Page purpose:

• study of purposes and forms of language
• study of the origin of words
• study of change in meaning of words over time
  

"Curry a favor"

• excellent demonstration of how language morphs across space and time
• in Old English, "curry" means "to cook"
  • after British colonization of India, the word became synonymous with the common Indian cooking spice, called today, "curry"
• "Curry a favor" has no relation to the spice
  • "curry" came from the Old French "torcher" for "groom" as in to wipe down and clean a horse
• origin of "curry a favor":
  • from the 14th century French satirical poem,Roman de Fauvel ("roman" = romance story or verse)
• in the story:
  • Fauvel was a horse or ass
  • the goddess Fortuna answers Fauvel's request to move into the palace and become a lord
    • priests and other lords visit Fauvel and "curry" (groom) him in order to gain his favor
  • "fauvel" refers to the brownish color of fallow (un-planted) field, and was a color symbolic of vanity
    • fauvel may also have been a play on the words, "false veil"
  • the expression "curry fauvel" was picked up by English speakers
    • but as memory of the story of Fauvel faded, the use of the word morphed into the more recognizable "favor"
    • thus, "curry favor" means to hypocritically flatter a vain person for some favor or advantage
• see
  • https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curry%20favor
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_de_Fauvel