Friday, March 25, 2011
Hey, lady!
In some Christian denominations, March 25th commemorates the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (referred to as “Our Lady”) to tell her she will be the mother of Jesus. In olden days, this was known as “Lady Day” and was until 1752 considered to be the beginning of the new year. Happy New Year! “Lady” has an interesting origin: the Anglo-Saxon word hlafdige, literally “loaf kneader”. Indeed, the Anglo-Saxons put great store by bread as a social classifier: the word “lord” comes from hlafweard (“loaf warden” or “loaf keeper”) and the word for servant (now dead) was “loaf eater”.
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About Me
- Katherine Barber
- Canada's Word Lady, Katherine Barber is an expert on the English language and a frequent guest on radio and television. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Her witty and informative talks on the stories behind our words are very popular. Contact her at wordlady.barber@gmail.com to book her for speaking engagements; she can tailor her talks to almost any subject. She is also available as an expert witness for lawsuits.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAnother "aha!" moment (or two!). Too bad governments in this world don't seem to think much of this way of "getting high", especially for those who can't live without it.
So, there was more to the story of the year when the B.E. agreed to switch to the Gregorian calendar!
On the second part: I have seen the German addressing formula "knedige Frau" many years (and worlds) ago, but only recently did I see it was related to kneading (bread). How classy! The servants were thus "the eaters"! I more and more see how badly we have been mislead in our schools!