Ginger [Late Old English gingifer, gingiber conflated in Middle English with Old French gingi(m)bre, both from medieval Latin gingiber, zingeber from Latin zingiber(i from Greek ziggiberis from Pali singivera from Dravidian: cf. Tamil inci ginger, ver foot (Sanskrit srngavera infl. by srnga horn from its antler-shaped root).]
I like to think that zingeber means carrying zing. It doesn't, but I'd like to think that. Getting back to reality, I do like that we can trace ginger about as far back as any word in English.
In other news, my sister and I each pronounce crayons with one syllable: crans. The OED doesn't agree starting a second syllable with a schwa. I think it might be more of a duration of the sound that ellides the second syllable. I'm not too worried though.
So you're saying that when you say "crayons" is rhymes with bans, fans, and pans?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to ask for a recording of you and your sister pronouncing these words.
Yes. Actually what brought it up with Marcy and me was that we were talking about the myriad "crans" that the Ocean Spray people have implemented as a prefix.
ReplyDelete