|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
The originals were, as was claimed by The History Channel, the British "sappers" of WWII. Where did 'sapper' come from?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Where did 'sapper' come from?
Good question. I'm glad you asked that.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
aw, faldage, I wanted to take it. Perhaps our french-speakers (bel?) could add a special perspective?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Faldage: I also am glad he asked, but have taken the trouble to find out. The business of undermining city walls in a siege is very ancient - Remember Jericho? De trumpet blow, and de walls came a rumblin' down. Here is a URL with a lot of interesting information: http://www.clanntartan.org/articles/sappers.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
taken the trouble to find out
I knew I could count on you, Dr. Bill. Thanks.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
from the link: Although the Italian word zappa had long been used to denote a garden hoeSo Frank was a garden hoe?  And what's more...did he know that? The Only WO'N!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WO'N: I hope that doesn't make his daughters hoers.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Yet, sap in its other incarnations is, according to Webster's Unabridged 1913, of uncertain origin. Any thing else in the OED?
Sap \Sap\, n. [AS. s[ae]p; akin to OHG. saf, G. saft, Icel.
safi; of uncertain origin; possibly akin to L. sapere to
taste, to be wise, sapa must or new wine boiled thick. Cf.
Sapid, Sapient.]
1. The juice of plants of any kind, especially the ascending
and descending juices or circulating fluid essential to
nutrition.
Note: The ascending is the crude sap, the assimilation of
which takes place in the leaves, when it becomes the
elaborated sap suited to the growth of the plant.
2. The sapwood, or alburnum, of a tree.
3. A simpleton; a saphead; a milksop. [Slang]
The Only WO'N!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Thanks for clarifying the question, W'ON. No, really!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Dear WO'N: I hope that doesn't make his daughters hoers.Or hoers d'oeuvres!  The Only WO'N!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 279
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 279 |
And would it make his his son's rakes?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
So Frank was a garden hoe? And what's more...did he know that?
"You'd see them every day in a world of their own,
To some it might seem creepy what they do ....
The neighbours on the right
Sat and watched them every night.
I bet that you would too if they were you ...."
From Let's Make The Water Turn Black, Mothers of Invention, Mother's Day album
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,580
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
332
guests, and
0
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
