Welcome to the Wordlady blog!

This blog is about the fascinating, fun, and challenging things about the English language. I hope to entertain you and to help you with problems or just questions you might have with spelling and usage. I go beyond just stating what is right and what is wrong, and provide some history or some tips to help you remember. Is something puzzling you? Feel free to email me at wordlady.barber@gmail.com.
You can also order my best-selling books, Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to do With Pigs and Only in Canada You Say. Fun and informative!

Subscribe!

Subscribe! Fun facts about English delivered weekly right to your inbox. IT'S FREE! Fill in your email address below.
Privacy policy: we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any point.

Search This Blog

Thursday, December 4, 2014

12 Days of Wordlady: Partridge



I am starting today a series to keep you entertained during December and early January, looking at each of the gifts mentioned in the well-known "Twelve Days of Christmas" song. And, before you start protesting, yes, I know that the first day is Christmas itself and the last day Epiphany, but I don't delude myself that you would rather be reading daily Wordlady blog posts than having fun with your family over the holidays, so I'm spreading the joy a little bit.

First up: The Partridge.

Inquiring minds will of course want to know....

What does it have to do with farting?


When partridges are scared, they take off with a loud cackle and whirring sound of their wings. For this reason, the ancient Greeks called the bird a perdok, which was related to their verb perdesthai, which meant "to break wind." If you go even further back than Greek, into Indo-European, you find the root perd meaning "to break wind". As we have seen, this migrated down through Greek and Latin and French and English to give us "partridge". 

But it also migrated through Germanic into English, undergoing a few consonant and vowel changes to give us the word "fart"!

OK, you are never going to be able to hear this song in the same way again. 

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

If you or a friend would be interested in taking my "Rollicking History of English" course in downtown Toronto in the new year, please get in touch (wordlady.barber@gmail.com).

For why we write "twelfth" rather than "twelvth":
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2015/01/12-days-of-wordlady-twelfth-day.html

For pipers, click here:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2015/01/12-days-of-wordlady-pipers.html 

For lords a-leaping:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2015/01/12-days-of-wordlady-lords-leaping.html  

For why I'm not the Word Wench:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-nine-ladies-dancing.html

For why milkmaids work in a dairy rather than a milkery:
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-8-maids-milking.html

For what swans have to do with singing, click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-swans-swimming.html



Why we don't say "gooses" and "gooselings: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-geese-laying.html


For why we don't say "fiveth", "fiveteen", and "fivety", click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-fifth-day.html  

For why it was OK to call the Virgin Mary a "bird", click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-calling-birds.html

For what French hens have to do with syphilis, click here: 
http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-french-hens.html

For turtle-doves, click here: http://katherinebarber.blogspot.ca/2014/12/12-days-of-wordlady-turtle-doves.html




P.S. If you find the English language fascinating, you might enjoy regular updates about English usage and word origins from Wordlady. Receive every new post delivered right to your inbox! You can either:
use the subscribe window at the top of this page
(if you are reading this on a mobile device): send me an email at wordlady.barber@gmail.com

Privacy policy: we will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. You can unsubscribe at any point.

Follow me on twitter: @thewordlady


1 comment:

  1. Not related to Christmas but related to birds. Why are a bunch of crows called a murder? What is the origin?

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
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.