Does anyone have any idea how the expression "part and parcel" came to mean "that which cannot be separated from the whole" or "an essential component" of [something]? It's such an odd phrase, when you think about it.
I realize it's an idiom, but when I started looking it up, I thought "parcel" only meant "package," and by extension in this phrase, "the whole." In other words, I thought the phrase literally meant "the part and the whole." Then I looked up "parcel" and discovered that one of its meanings is "portion." Therefore, "part and parcel" literally means "part and part," but the idiom means an essential part. I've never heard "parcel" used to mean "portion" in the U.S. Is it used that way in the UK?
One dictionary I looked at called "part and parcel" a "reduplicative" phrase, like "might and main." A sample sentence said, "Stress is part and parcel of my job." It would make just as much sense just to say, "Stress is part of my job," but it would sound silly to say, "Stress is a parcel of my job," at least to my ear.
It does seem more emphatic to say "part and parcel" than just "part." But still, it seems like a silly idiom to me.
It's also probably silly to ask why an idiom means what it means, but I wondered if anyone had any insight into this?
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
It seems like typical legal language where two near synonyms are collocated. The OED2 gives, the following definition for part and parcel "An integral part of a larger whole" with citations from 1451. Just a guess, but parcel looks like a diminutive, so it's a part and a smaller part. Parcel is also one of those words that exists in an r-less version, passel; cf. cuss and curse, bust and burst.
I never like to use Wiktionary as a source, but it says that an archaic meaning of parcel is "an integral or essential piece," and that's how it's used in the phrase.
The etymology of parcel in OED is so complex that I am just posting it here:
quote:
[< Anglo-Norman parcele, parcel, parcelle, parcell, percell portion, part, consignment, package, packet, parcel, item, object, detail, itemized account, and Old French, Middle French, French parcelle (12th cent. in Anglo-Norman in sense ‘part of a whole’) < post-classical Latin particella part, portion (8th cent. as particela) < particula PARTICULE n. + -ella -ELLA suffix. Compare post-classical Latin parcella (also percella) parcel of land (frequently c1212-1686 in British sources), detail, item (frequently c1300-1533 in British sources; from 13th or early 14th cent. in continental sources), part (frequently c1367-1564 in British sources), part in a play, role (1414 in a British source), Old Occitan parsela (13th cent., Occitan parcèla), Italian particella (1305-6). With use as adverb compare PART adv. In sense A. 2a after post-classical Latin particula (c1230-50 in the passage translated in quot. a1398 at sense A. 2a). In sense A. 2c after post-classical Latin particula (1557 in the passage translated in quot. 1571 at sense A. 2c). With parcel of land (see sense A. 5a) compare Anglo-Norman parcele de terre: 1321 Rolls of Parl. I. 387/1 Tenant de dis parceles de terre. The {gamma} forms are recorded in widespread use (especially in sense A. 6a) in southern England and the U.S. by Eng. Dial. Dict., several 20th-cent. English regional glossaries, and Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. They reflect early assimilatory loss of r before s (see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500-1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §401(c)). Older Scots forms in final -ial, -iall (and also modern Scots and English regional (northern) forms in -sh-) are perhaps influenced by PARTIAL adj.]
The OED also says that definition ("an integral or component part or member of something") is an archaic use of the word.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,
Interesting that "passel" continues to mean "a bunch" (in rustic American English) whereas "parcel" is not used that way here (in UK anywhere nowadays?)
The parcel of land usage is still current here in the U.S. also. I had forgotten about that. Kalleh, that OED history is waaay over my head!
As for "passel," it's the sort of thing Gabby Hays would have said on TV in the '50s--talking about "a whole passel of cats," or rabbits. But I've never heard anyone in my vicinity use it in actual serious conversation. Funny that a word meaning "portion" could also mean "a large collection" just because it lost its "r."
Wodmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Interesting that "passel" continues to mean "a bunch"
Yes, the OED has this definition:
quote:
6. a. A small party, collection, or assembly (of people, animals, or things); a detachment; a group, a lot, a set; a drove, a flock, a herd. Now Eng. regional and U.S. colloq. (esp. in form passel). In earlier instances prob. always implying a portion of a larger body or of a whole, but eventually losing this implication.
The phrase under discussion now makes more sense for me, saying something like "the whole thing or any part of it" rather than "a part and another part". It really is fun to track how these words change over time, and the OED is a good source to start at.
On the problem of Wiktionary and to some extant Etymology Online: it's one of overall control and voice (the mobile vulgus as editor) and sources *(the bits are usually cribbed from other, unacknowledged dictionaries and are rather undigested bits at that).
I was at the Art Institute with my niece today who said she had done a report on Claude Monet for school. I got real excited because he is one of my favorites, and I've enjoyed his art for years, attending many special exhibits on his work. My niece then told me her one source for the report...Wikipedia. Oh. my.
The term "metes" refers to a boundary defined by the measurement of each straight run, specified by a distance between the terminal points, and an orientation or direction. A direction may be a simple compass bearing, or a precise orientation determined by accurate survey methods. The term "bounds" refers to a more general boundary description, such as along a certain watercourse, a stone wall, an adjoining public road way, or an existing building.
