STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Down Yonder

• Down Yonder: The dawn of change
• Down Yonder: Still searchin’ for the front door
• Down Yonder: Crackers cuddle in the cold

Share and Enjoy [?]

“Mommy?” asked the little girl as she sat at the Gulfshore, under the shade of a casuarina tree.

“Why is this called a beach?”

“Well, daughter, that’s a tough one,” said the mother. “The study of the origin of words is called etymology and in English that’s a tricky task because modern English combines words from many languages, ancient languages in some cases.”

“So why is it called a beach?”

“No one knows for sure. When the word first appeared in the 16th century it was used by those who spoke the dialect of the southeast corner of English to mean, shingle. Since the shore of that English coast is course and pebbly, it is natural to assume the word for shingle would come to mean, shore.

“But our beach is pebbly,” said the girl. “It’s sandy. Why is it called sand?”

“That one’s a little easier,” replied the mother. “Sand is found widely in languages that spring from ancient German. It probably came from a prehistoric word, sandam, which went back to the Indo-European word, samdam, the base of which meant to grind or crush. In classical Latin, the word became, sabulum, which evolved into the French, sable, and Italian, sabbia. Sand is crushed or ground rock, which along our coast is mostly quartz that migrated here millions of years ago from the mountains.”

“What crushes it?” asked the little girl.

“Well, daughter,” replied the mother, rubbing her forehead. “The force of the Gulf of Mexico and the waves it produces crush the quartz, mixing in sea shells.”

“Why is it called a gulf and why are they called waves?”

“The word gulf, comes from the Greek, kilphos, which originally meant, bosom,” said the mother. “It was later extended to mean a trough between the waves. It developed through Vulgar Latin and Italian, golfo, to French, golphe, and finally into English and is related to the word, abyss. The Gulf of Mexico is the abyss between two shores.

“The word, wave, goes back to an Old English word, wawe or waeg, and comes from a verb which meant, move to and fro. See how the waves move back and forth? And the pelicans dip into the abyss between the waves.”

“Why are they called pelicans?” asked the little girl.

“The word, pelican, comes from the Greek, pelekan, through Latin, pelicanus, and is derived from the Greek, pelekus, which means, axe.

“Now, why don’t you be quiet for a while and I’ll peel you an orange.”

“Mommy?” asked the girl. “Why is it called an orange?”

“I’ll never learn,” said the mother, under her breath. “The name originated in northern India, where in Sanskrit it was called, naranga. It passed through Persia where it was called, narange, to the Arab world where it was called, naranj, to Spanish where it is today called, naranja. It came to English as orange because a town in southeastern France called, Orange, was once the center of trade for the fruit. It was brought to our country by the Europeans and is today one of the most important products of Florida.”

“Mommy?” asked the little girl. “Why is it called Florida?”

“That’s an easy one,” said the mother. “Ponce de Leon sailed here from Spain just before Easter, 1513, and found what he thought was an island. He called the new island, Florida, because it was adorned with bright flowers, a feast of flowers. The Spanish word for flower is, flora, which comes from the Latin, flos. In English, the word, florid, is usually associated with anything that is bright, fresh and lively. You, my darling daughter, are from Florida and are persistently florid.”