word histories

origin of ‘to bell the cat’ (to undertake a very dangerous mission)

4th Aug 2018.Reading time 20 minutes.

ultimately based on the fable of the mice, or rats, who proposed to hang a bell round the cat’s neck, so as to be warned of its approach

origin of ‘the lion’s share’: ‘le partage du lion’

24th May 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

‘the lion’s share’ (UK, 1790)—calque of French ‘le partage du lion’ (now ‘la part du lion’)—from ‘The Heifer, the She-Goat, and the Ewe, in partnership with the Lion’, a fable by Jean de La Fontaine (1621-95)