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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Reading a recent local fishing column on the fine art of chumming (tossing choopped fish parts or bait into the water, either on the surface in a slick or in a sunken bucket, to attract fish, it occurred to me how disparate were the two meanings I know for this word (the other, of course, being "chum" in the sense of a friend). So I was curious as to how this came to be and investigated. Seems the 'cut bait' def is traced to the mid-19C US, origin unknown. The etymology for the other nuance is more readily available. Here's what The Word Detective had to say (BTW, OneLook has just been reformatted and doesn't seem as comprensive as it used to be in bringing up each dictionary's definition(s)?): http://www.word-detective.com/back-r.html#chumAny suggestions on the origin of the fishing "chum" and the reason for their correlation?
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WO'N: One thing about word-detective's answer that is stupid. Those tourists aren't going
just to look at the sharks. They are hoping to get a big one to take a bait with a hook on it
and take the tour boat for a "Nantucket sleigh ride".
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Here's the other common chum, from Merriam Webster's, as in chum salmon:
Main Entry: 5chum
Function: noun
Etymology: Chinook Jargon c&m spotted, striped, from Lower Chinook {capost}&m variegated
Date: 1902
: CHUM SALMON
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And askually®, the origin of chum #1 isn't as evident as I thought. From Macquarie Dictionary: chum
noun 1. a mate or friend. --phrase 2. chum up (with), to become friendly with. [17thC British slang; origin unknown]http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/p/dictionary/slang-c.htmlWhat say ye, Brits?
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veteran
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What say ye, Brits?I'd say the Word Detective had it about right on the origin of "chum" as friend, Juan. It has a bit of a public school (private education, usually involving boarding) feel about it; quite a lot, actually. At the traditional boarding schools you would at some stage move up from a dormitory (dorm) to "chambers" - maybe at the really posh ones you'd never be in anything but chambers. But chambers would rarely be solo residences, you'd always share. And quite often you'd end up good friends with your chamber-mates; let's face it, they'd be as close to family as you'd get during school terms. Either you'd love them or hate them, I suspect.  Chamber-mate abbreviating to "chum" sounds vagely plausible to me, going via "chaymy" on to "chaym" then "ch'm". Interesting that if you call someone a chum these days in England, more often than not you'd be expressing dislike and giving them a warning. "Now look here, chum".
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