European precursors of the American ‘Indian summer’

27th December 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

The name ‘Indian summer’ (late 18th century) reflected the fact that to the Europeans living in the New World, this was a newly-discovered local phenomenon. But similar phenomena were already known in the Old World by various names.

the Shakespearean origin of ‘sea change’

8th December 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

from ‘Full Fathom Five’, Ariel’s song to Ferdinand in ‘The Tempest’, by Shakespeare, where ‘sea change’ denotes a change brought about by the action of the sea

‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’

8th December 2017.Reading time 7 minutes.

from the observation made by the soldier Marcellus in ‘Hamlet’, by Shakespeare, when the eponymous character is following the ghost of his father

the Shakespearean origin of ‘salad days’

6th December 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

‘salad days’: days of youthful inexperience—coined by Shakespeare in ‘Antony and Cleopatra’—alludes to the raw (green and cold) vegetables used in a salad

origin of ‘good wine needs no bush’

2nd December 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

first recorded in ‘As You Like It’, by Shakespeare—from the former practice of hanging a branch or bunch of ivy as a vintner’s sign in front of a tavern

origin of ‘cloud-cuckoo-land’

1st December 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

a realm of fantasy, dreams or impractical notions—1856 as ‘cuckoo-cloud-land’—from the name of the city built by the birds in ‘The Birds’, by Aristophanes

‘to take the cake’ – ‘to take the biscuit’

30th November 2017.Reading time 8 minutes.

‘take the cake’ (US, 1839) alludes probably to cake as the prize in a contest, but maybe not to cakewalk—‘take the biscuit’ (US, 1879) used in British English

‘ladybird’: the Virgin Mary’s beetle

26th November 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

The ladybird was so named on account of its seven spots, which were popularly believed to symbolise the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary.

meaning and origin of ‘forty winks’

16th November 2017.Reading time 6 minutes.

early 19th century—probably a jocular application of ‘forty’ as an indefinite term for a large number—‘wink’ in the sense of ‘a closing of the eyes for sleep’

meaning and origin of ‘Mrs Grundy’

13th November 2017.Reading time 17 minutes.

from Speed the Plough (1798), by Thomas Morton; Dame Ashfield is constantly fearing to give occasion for the sneers of Mrs Grundy, her unseen neighbour