The originals were, as was claimed by The History Channel, the British "sappers" of WWII. Where did 'sapper' come from?

Where did 'sapper' come from?

Good question. I'm glad you asked that.

aw, faldage, I wanted to take it. Perhaps our french-speakers (bel?) could add a special perspective?

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

taken the trouble to find out

I knew I could count on you, Dr. Bill. Thanks.

from the link: Although the Italian word zappa had long been used to denote a garden hoe

So Frank was a garden hoe? And what's more...did he know that?

The Only WO'N!

Dear WO'N: I hope that doesn't make his daughters hoers.

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!

Thanks for clarifying the question, W'ON. No, really!

Dear WO'N: I hope that doesn't make his daughters hoers.

Or hoers d'oeuvres!


The Only WO'N!

And would it make his his son's rakes?

And would it make his son's rakes?

Hey, GT!!! Where's the Oirish?


The Only WO'N!

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