"'Come, none o' that 'ere, old Strike-a-light,' interposed Mr.
Weller, elbowing himself into the front rank. 'Beg your pardon,
sir, but this here officer o' yourn in the gambooge tops, 'ull never
earn a decent livin' as a master o' the ceremonies any vere. This
here, sir' continued Mr. Weller,...."
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Gamboge \Gam*boge"\, n.
A concrete juice, or gum resin, produced by several species
of trees in Siam, Ceylon, and Malabar. It is brought in
masses, or cylindrical rolls, from Cambodia, or Cambogia, --
whence its name. The best kind is of a dense, compact
texture, and of a beatiful reddish yellow. Taking internally,
it is a strong and harsh cathartic and emetic. [Written also
camboge.]
It would be fascinating to see those rolls of tree gum. I would love to see a color photograph of such rolls.
Do you think the gamboge came from some connection between 'gam-' and gum?
Obscure fact: Le Cambodge is the only country name in French that ends with an "e" and is masculine.
"Gum" is "gomme" in French and "gummi" in Latin, from Greek "kommi".
Cambodge/Cambodia are versions of the indigenous name "Kampuchea", the meaning and origin of which I don't know.
This is just a little riff on what might have been, but wasn't:
Let's say Cambodia did derive from a word that meant 'land of the gum trees,' then we could modernize the name and call it Gumbodia.
But thanks, hibernicus, for the more correct explanation.
And I enjoyed reading and thinking about your obscure fact. It has been very, very long since I studied French; I have forgotten most of what I'd once learned. But, based on what you have written, L'Angleterre and L'Allemagne (not sure of spellings) would both be feminine, yes?
I remembered "gummi" meaning rubber in German. I searched for "Gummischlauch" and here's what I got:
ENGLISH GERMAN
Direct Matches
rubber hose [tech.] der Gummischlauch
So Gummi Bears are just Rubber Bears, yes?
Bon soir, wwh!
I like the ribbed gummis.
I think they call them Gummi Worms.
You are soooooooo bad, Dr. Bill!!
I like the ribbed gummis.
Any particular flavour?
(You are talking about Gummi Bears, right?)
L'Angleterre and L'Allemagne (not sure of spellings) would both be feminine, yes?
They would indeed! And both correctly spelled to boot. But watch out for "Canada" - it ends in "a" but it's masculine: "le Canada", "au Canada".
I believe he's talking about prophylactics.
Real gummibears, OTOH, are made by Haribo in Bonn. The company name stands for Hans Richter Bonn. They have a jingle, which is I guess a kind of Ohrwurm: "Haribo macht Kinder froh, / Und auch die Eltern ebenso." (Haribo makes children happy, / And likewise also parents.) At Karneval time, when the floats are passing by in the parades, kids and adults alike cry out for Kamelle and Gummibärchen. University students have been known to protest: "Freiheit für die Gummibärchen! Weg mit der Plastiktüte!" (Freedom for the gummi bears! Down with the plastic bag!) Ah, Karnevalzeit ...
Gummi also means 'eraser' in German. It also is slang term, as is the English 'rubber', for condom. You used to hear about gum arabic, but I guess it's gone out of style. Both the English and the German words are from the French, thence from Latin and finally from Greek.
"Haribo macht Kinder froh, / Und auch die Eltern ebenso."
It's "Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso". And yes, the fact that it's firmly lodged in my memory does say something about the power of a catchy slogan.
>Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso, . . . catcy slogan.
Whereas the only German phrase that really stuck with me like that was a line from a Morgenstern poem "ein lattenzaun, mit zwischenraum, hindurchzuschaun." I liked the poem, but that little phrase struck me as utterly cute. Plus the last line reminds me of an Emo Philipps song called "most states".
So much for the power of advertizing. But why are baby lice called nits?
Anglo-Saxon hnitu.
Where did that come from?
I allus liked "Den Pflaumenbaum glaubt man ihm kaum." I can hear it in the German version of My Fair Lady.
OE hnitu came from the PIE root *knid, *k'nid, *sknid 'louse, egg of the louse, nit'. So, it's safe to say that the Proto-Indo-Europeans knew about lice, nits, and the louse reproductive cycle. I see the word survives in Armenian anic, Albanian thëni, Greek konis (konidos), Middle Irish sned, Welsh nedd pl., Breton nez.
ah, the vermicious knid...
"We are the knights who say nit."
And everybody had them. I remember reading a quote in a
history book about Julian the Apostate, in Constantinople's
highest level of personal hygiene, having them skipping around in his beard.
And weren't those fancy powdered wigs of yore to cover up the shaved heads? One of the few 'cures' for lice. There were also pubic wigs (at least in restoration times) called merkins. Ah, the good old days.
And an alternative to gummirings, there is Prince Albert piercing, male infibulation of the frenulum. I have seen a
picture of an African native with chicken feathers through the frenulum, said to enhance sensation. Weird.
http://www.piercingpleasure.com/piercing_history.htm
"Haribo macht Kinder froh, / Und auch die Eltern ebenso."-jheemIt's "Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso". -hibernitcussThere's some pickin' and grinnin' goin' on here, y'all
And at the bottom of the page, the Oath of Strasbourg is mentioned. One of the first texts in a kind of Romance language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Strasbourg
There were also pubic wigs (at least in restoration times) called merkins.OMG! He said
the word! Dr Bill will explode!
Run away! Run away!
Run away! Run away!
To the concert hall?
Dear Sparteye: the only thing I got perturbed about was
ignorant use of "merkin" as sly anti-American allusion.
Anyone interested in that can look it up in Quinion.
> sly anti-American
nah, we only tease those we love, Bill :)
Dear Mav: the stinkiest part of the "merkin" business is that it was started by American journalists to mock those
Americans who were even quietly patriotic.