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stranger
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A possible origin for 'grig' with the meaning of "1. A cricket or grasshopper." is the french word 'grillon' http://www.wordreference.com/fren/grillon
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome Nick, I was about to post the following: Today's word 'grig' is said to be of obscure origin, but how can the word 'grig' not be in some way related to 'el grillo'. You took the French word and i the Spanish. There has to be a linguistic connection. el grillo
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The French and Spanish words are from Latin gryllus 'cricket' which was borrowed from Greek γρυλλος (grullos), where it means a dancer of γρυλλισμος (grullismos) 'an Egyptian dance'. Intreaguin, too, is that γρυλος, with long ypsilon and single lambda, is a word for 'pig, porker'. The word is said to be of obscure origin because it has not been tracked back to other languages. One would have to explain why Latin -ll- went to /j/ or /ʎ/ inthose languages, but to /g/ in English. And, which language did English borrow it from?
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pesky little bugs: the "locusts" of the biblical Ten Plagues, true?? As opposed to "locusts" here which in truth are cicadas?
----please, draw me a sheep----
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stranger
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Actually, Luke, the cicada is almost always called a "17-year locust" rather than simply "locust." I've heard of katydids being called "locust," but really the plain old garden variety grasshopper is the true locust. When they hop, they're grasshoppers; when they swarm, they're locusts.
The plagues of "locusts" that devastated the American Midwest in the 1930s were just that: swarming grasshoppers. They ate my grandpa's barn doors, shovel handles, and fenceposts. They were grasshoppers.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Doesn't the 17-year locust or cicada live for 17 years underground as a larva, then comes out and molts (not molt, what is it called when the cicada or butterfly_ imago emerges from the pupa)??** to live only a very short period? I was told only one day, but I can't find anything definite about it. I saw one molting in the place where we camped in Provence.Very nice. Adore the sound they make.
**(we call it ontpoppen, can't find the English word for it)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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They ate my grandpa's barn doors, shovel handles, and fenceposts. They were grasshoppers. !!! Yow. Nice to have you aBoard, Sandman.
to live only a very short period? Hah--here, we hear that darned buzzing (there you go, branny) for weeks. I don't hate the sound itself as much as I hate the fact that I know if I'm hearing it there are bugs around. Big, horrible ones.
Oops--welcome to you too, Nick.
Last edited by Jackie; 06/08/09 02:34 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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They ate my grandpa's barn doors, shovel handles, and fenceposts. They were grasshoppers. !!! Yow. Nice to have you aBoard, Sandman.
Oops--welcome to you too, Nick.  Sandman, when I read those lines again Jackie quoted, those barn doors, shovel handles and fence posts began to appear quite tasty to me even though I'm no grasshopper. (time for dinner I guess)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Actually, Luke, the cicada is almost always called a "17-year locust" rather than simply "locust." I've heard of katydids being called "locust," but really the plain old garden variety grasshopper is the true locust. When they hop, they're grasshoppers; when they swarm, they're locusts.
The plagues of "locusts" that devastated the American Midwest in the 1930s were just that: swarming grasshoppers. They ate my grandpa's barn doors, shovel handles, and fenceposts. They were grasshoppers. Exactly. Thanks for confirming it for me. Grasshoppers when jumping, swarming = locusts. We have them here too, in swarms just like Texas.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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