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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Would that be 'charm' in the sense of 'to put a spell on someone' or charm like sort of pleasing? Is there something like a tradition attached to it?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Would that be 'charm' in the sense of 'to put a spell on someone' or charm like sort of pleasing? Is there something like a tradition attached to it? Good question. Apparently both. And neither. It's a separate listing for the same word in the AHD4. They don't go into the history of the divergent meanings of the word.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Charm from Latin carmen 'song' originally meant 'a verse said or sung to avert some supposed bad event' (14th century), cf. incantation. Later, it meant 'amulet, talisman'. Later (in the 16th century) it meant 'some pleasing quality', and in the mid-19th century it came to mean 'a small ornament attached to a watch or girdle'. First citation for the final meaning is a novel, LKook Before You Leap (1865) by Mrs Fannie Alexander [nee French, an Irish writer, 1825-1902], ( link to later edition). "How do you know?" asked Sir Frederic, laughing, and picking up a small charm in the shape of a heart, formed of malachite and gold, which, in nervously playing with, Miss Delvigne had detached from her chain.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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thanks, zmj, because I didn't know!
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