We'll enjoy some horse-related words, some unfamiliar, some familiar but with interesting equine aspects. With luck, this horse theme will tie into several future themes.

capriole - a playful leap or jump; a caper
In root this is a goat-word, not a horse-word, but it also means a leap by a trained horse, with a backward kick of the hind legs
[from It capriola, somersault (via Fr), and ultimately from L capreolus, diminutive of caper, capr-, goat. Nice image, of a goat cavorting in somersaults]

quote:

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Borumoter first took his gage at lil lolly lavvander waader since when capriole capriole covets limbs of a crane and was it the twylyd or the mounth of the yare or the feint of her smell made the seomen assalt of her (in imageascene all: whimwhim whimwhim).
-James Joyce, Finnegans Wake (I trust this example is clear?)

Frank Kermode, Shakespeare's Language, discussing the mourning at Juliet's "funeral" in Romeo and Juliet:
Of course we know Juliet isn't dead, and we know that the Nurse is sly. The absurdity of [her mourning] speech is followed by Friar Laurence's necessarily insincere exhortations. It is impossible not to see this as a deliberate flaunting of expectations – all this required what an Elizabethan called "a sudden rash half-capriole" of snit, a moment of poetic high spirits, and a taste for the unexpected.

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...we had a real Giles Goatboy as the hero in Titanic?

Two words which by etymology refer figuratively to a small horse:

chevalet - the bridge of a stringed instrument
[from French; literally "little horse"]

bidet – this familiar word comes from the French for a small horse or pony; that is, one easily straddled

That makes so much sense for the origin of "bidet." Did "Chevrolet" come from "chevalet."

[This message was edited by Kalleh on Mon Feb 9th, 2004 at 11:17.]

Some words about worthless or broken-down horses:

harridan - a scolding, vicious old woman
[probably from F haridelle, a gaunt woman, a worn-out horse, a nag]

crock - slang: something decrepit and worn out; also, to make weak or disabled ("crock up")
[Earlier, old ewe that past child-bearing; Norw. krake, sickly animal, and M. Dutch kraecke, broken-down horse]

More of this sort to come.

I found that, in fact, Chevrolets were named after Louis Chevrolet, with no relation to "chevalet."

It's an interesting story. Why do I think that in this day and age Louis would have filed a major lawsuit for Durant continuing to use his name, even after Chevrolet left the company?

caparison - ornamental trappings for a horse; more generally, richly ornamented clothing; finery. verb: to outfit in such trappings or clothing
Typically used for horses and other animals, but can be applied to people and things.

quote:

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Because I am allegedly handling what Clyde calls "the tourist trade," I have been caparisoned in a costume of sorts.
- John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces (Pulizer Prize winner)

Already during the reign of Charles VI contemporary paintings depict the mad King lying on his bed richly caparisoned in garments, the fabrics of which had made the wealth of Renaissance Florence.
- Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris (Knopf 2002)

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That book is an unending source of delight! Y'all should try it!

My calendar of Forgotten English words had a great one last week: CHIROLOGY - The art of conversing with the hands and fingers.

It seems Samuel Pepys had a little chirology going with a woman accompanying him and his wife (!) to the theatre... very, very clever. Ahh, the joys of holding hands in a carriage in London.

More words from broken-down horses:

spavined – 1. old and decrepit; over-the-hill; marked by damage, deterioration, or ruin: a junkyard full of spavined vehicles 2. (of a horse) afflicted with spavin, a swelling of the hock (ankle)

tacky – 1. in neglected disrepair: a tacky old cabin in the woods 2. in bad taste or offensive: tacky clothes; a tacky remark [from tackey, an inferior horse]

Note: to nag (scold, complain, or find fault constantly; noun: a person who does so) and a nag (a horse, especially one old or worn-out) appear to come from two different roots.

Tack means (amongst other things) a horse's gear; its saddle and bridle. Is there any connection with tackey? Webster's says that tackey is from Southern U.S. Has anyone heard it used? I've certainly never come across it.

The OED Online defines tacky (also tackey or tackie) as both a noun and an adjective, and note that it originated in the U.S. As a noun, it means "a degenerate ‘weedy’ horse" (1800)or "a poor white of the Southern States from Virginia to Georgia" (1889).

As an adjective, it means "dowdy, shabby; in poor taste, cheap, vulgar". (1862)

I've never heard it used as a noun before, but often as an adjective. I've also heard it frequently with its other definition: "slightly sticky or adhesive: said of gum, glue, or varnish nearly dry" (OED Online, earliest quote 1788).

M-W says that tacky in the "poor taste" sense comes from "tacky a low class person" while tacky meaning "somewhat sticky to the touch" or "characterized by tack", comes from tack, "to join in a slight or hasty manner", from "Middle English takken, from tak".

By the way, the OED Online credits Malvina Reynolds for coining the term ticky-tacky in 1962. While traveling on a California freeway with her husband in 1961, she noticed a string of houses that all looked pretty much alike, and that inspired her to write "Little Boxes". (I've heard she wrote it in 19 minutes.) Pete Seeger sang it at Carnegie Hall in 1963.

Tinman

[This message was edited by tinman on Sun Feb 15th, 2004 at 23:00.]

We began this theme with a word (capriole) from a horse's leap.
Here are several more leaping-horse words.

gambol – to dance and skip about in play; to frolic.
[French gambade horse's jump, ultimately from L. Latin gamba hock of a horse, leg and from G kampe a joint or bend]

gambado – a capering, leaping or gamboling movement (also, a low leap of a horse in which all four feet leave the ground)

Some sources attribute gamble to the root that gave us gambol and gambado (the notion of frolic leading to that of financial speculation). But this view is not universal.

desultory – jumping from one subject to another, without order or rational connection; disconnected (desultory thoughts; a desultory speech; desultory shopping)
[lit. noun meaning "a circus rider who jumps from one galloping horse to another" from de- down + salire to jump, leap]

quote:

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I'll spoil your gay gambado!
He is the son of your Mikado!
– Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado

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