A.Word.A.Day--sangfroid

A.Word.A.Day

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Apr 14, 2003

This week's theme
Words derived from many different languages

This week's words
sangfroid
dragoman
hinterland
apparat
blighty

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

After a recent week of words from law, where many of the words are of French origin, I received this email from a reader:

"I propose you no longer feature words which have a base or stem from the French language. I no longer see that as a positive e-mail." In these times when emotions run high, it's understandable why someone would say that, why US lawmakers would rename French fries and French toast in their cafeteria menus. Or why some German professors think they need to exclude English terms from their vocabulary.

This is not the first time linguistic revisionism is being attempted. During World War I, in the US, some had tried to rename sauerkraut as "liberty cabbage", for example. But we're all so interconnected, as are our languages, that any such attempt quickly falls flat on its face.

"Freedom fries" they say? Well, there's still some French remaining, as the word fry comes from Old French frire. "Freedom toast"? What about toast which comes from Middle French toster. Thinking along these lines, we may even have to rename the US (from Old French estat). Estimates vary, but at least one-quarter of words in the English language have a French influence. In the two lines that the above-mentioned reader sent us, at least six words have French connections (propose, feature, base, language, positive, mail).

A language isn't owned by a country. French belongs as much to Senegal or Canada or anyone else who speaks it as it does to France.

To celebrate the diversity of the English language, this week we'll look at five words that have come into English from five different languages.

sangfroid

sangfroid or sang-froid (san-FRWA) noun

Calmness, especially under stress.

[From French sang-froid (literally cold blood).]

"Sergei Karjakin has an awkward gait. His long arms do not swing at all as he glides along, but for a 12-year-old with a slight build and a sensible side-parting he has considerable sangfroid."
Nigel Farndale; He's a Cold-blooded Chess Genius at 12; The Vancouver Sun (Canada); Jan 8, 2003.

"Lemony Snicket's approach is wholly different, featuring the offhand sang-froid of a standup comedian."
Kristi Beavin; Roller Skates; The Horn Book Magazine (Boston); Nov/Dec 2001.

X-Bonus

People hate as they love, unreasonably. -William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist (1811-1863)

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