A simple word, "tote," meaning "carry" or perhaps "pull [something heavy]" but to my surprise the Webster's Second Int'l says "origin unknown." Can anyone tell me its source?

NB: Sample use, from "Ol' Man River" <g>: "Tote that barge, lift that bail, get a little drunk, and you land in jail."

Can anyone tell me its source?

The AHD suggests that it is "Perhaps (via Black West African English) of Bantu origin; akin to Kongo -tota, to pick up, and Swahili -tuta, to pile up, carry."


http://www.bartleby.com/61/55/T0285500.html

Sounds good to me.

http://w3.arizona.edu/~ling/hh/322/Handout23.pdf words of African origin
... voodoo, goober, cooter, chigger, gumbo, tote, banjo, okra,
...

Welcome aBoard, Iskohn.
Your question brings to mind a related colloquialism, and I'll put it even though I think it's been mentioned before.
In the southern U.S., at least, about a generation ago,
some people would say, for ex., that they "carried" so-and-so to the store, meaning that they took them to the store.

"carried" so-and-so to the store, meaning that they took them to the store.

Also, many people use the phrase "pick up" as in "I'll pick you up at 8:00" and of course they don't mean it literally. Kind of the same vain as the above!

Kind of the same vain as the above!
Pretty hopeless endeavor, I should say, Beanster!

Darn all you Brit-speakers, anyway: I'm gettin' to where I danged near type such things as endeavour, and think for a second that they look right...[/curmudge]

Thank you, thank you, wwh and Faldage! It sounds good, and the African source may explain why Webster's Second Int'l did not pick it up.

As for "picking someone up at 8" -- well, in the days of four-legged transport, you might have to pick up your friend (or at least give him/her a leg up -- another great phrase) to put him/her on your horse!

vain

ARGH! I knew the correct spelling there, it just apparently chose to remain in my fingers...

Brings whole new meanings to Carly Simon song "You're so vain."

The word "vain" seems to be two words. "Vain" as in "vanity" is one. But remember the Commandment in the Bible "Though shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain." I could not find it in the German Bible, but I remember having read that the word was "wehen" related to the word "wind" but meaning swearing, cursing, profanity. Perhaps someone more proficient in German can help me with this.

vain
adj.
OFr < L vanus, empty, vain: see WANT
1 having no real value or significance; worthless, empty, idle, hollow, etc. !vain pomp"
2 without force or effect; futile, fruitless, unprofitable, unavailing, etc. !a vain endeavor"
3 having or showing an excessively high regard for one‘s self, looks, possessions, ability, etc.; indulging in or resulting from personal vanity; conceited
4 [Archaic] lacking in sense; foolish
in vain
1 fruitlessly; vainly
2 lightly; profanely; irreverently
vain4ness
n.
SYN.—vain, in this connection, applies to that which has little or no real value, worth, or meaning [vain studies]; idle refers to that which is baseless or worthless because it can never be realized [idle hopes, idle talk]; empty and hollow are used of that which only appears to be genuine, sincere, worthwhile, etc. [empty threats, hollow pleasures]; otiose applies to that which has no real purpose or function and is therefore useless or superfluous [otiose remarks] See also FUTILE

I see no conflict between the two general meanings of "vain," as herein defined. One is no different nor the other.

re: African roots

but. [In current use 1676–7; origin unascertained.
For an alleged Negro origin there is no foundation; the quot. 1676–7 from Virginia does not refer to Negroes; later the word is found well-established in the New England States; evidence for an Indian origin is also wanting.]
1676–7 (Feb.) Grievances of Glouc. Co. (Va.), (Col. Office Rec., P.R.O. 5/1371, p. 326), They [Governor's out-guard] were by Beverly comanded to goe to work, fall trees and mawle and toat rails, which many+refusing to doe, he presently disarm'd them.

'wehen'

Hmmm? 'Wehen' is a verb meaning 'to sway', but I didn't find it in the Die Zehn Gebote. Nor did I find Weh or Wehe (meaning pain or woe), which is what I thought you might have meant.
'Wehen' describes a woman's labour while giving birth too.

To swear or to curse is 'fluchen' or 'verfluchen', respectively. Or even 'verdammen' (in a more biblical vein ;-) but that isn't in there either.

Lastly (after being so little help), I do know a saying using 'wehen':

Sich den Staub von der Seele wehen lassen
To let the dust waft gently from the soul

BTW, the German (and informal English) word for 'to tote' is schleppen :-)

well we in NY tend to drop the final en and and use schlep-- as in "i had the grandkid with me, and had to schlep around a diaper bag, too" and those small metal luggage carts? they are schleppers or schleppies.. as in "i came home from the trip with a ton of stuff-- but i had my schlepper and bungies with me, so it wasn't too bad"-- there are lots of german/yidish word in the NY english-- Essa Bagel is a local Bagel shop-- based on the german/yidish-- eat a bagel-- (i don't know the proper german verb-- so i not even going to try..)

Interestingly, the word vano, the equivalent of "vain" in Spanish has three distinct meanings.
1) Vain as in someone given to vanity, though it is not that commonly used
2) Vain as in "in vain"
3) The opening in a wall which contains a window or a door. It is not the window or door itself, but the hole in the brickwork. This one is, I think, much closer to the Latin meaning of "empty", as a vano contains nothing but air!