Language and etymology

Revision as of 13:42, 8 June 2021 by Bromley (talk | contribs)


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