Sunday, May 17, 2009
We Interrupt this Weekend to Gloat Briefly.
I have no idea if this story is true with its claim that Egypt wants Obama to speak from Al-Azhar (I'd be a lot more comfortable if the source was an Egyptian paper) and that the Secret Service is vetting it as a possible site, but I will interrupt my weekend to gloat that back on May 11 I suggested Al-Azhar as an ideal venue. It's my blog and I'll gloat if I want to. I know many other bloggers have raised the subject since then, perhaps independently. Thank you, We now return to the weekend.
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3 comments:
gloat is an odd word ...
1575, "to look at furtively," from O.N. glotta "smile scornfully," or M.H.G. glotzen "to stare, gloat." Sense of "to look at with malicious satisfaction" first recorded 1748.
also, Perhaps of Scandinavian origin; see ghel-2 in Indo-European roots
ENTRY: ghel-2
DEFINITION: To shine; with derivatives referring to colors, bright materials, gold (probably “yellow metal”), and bile or gall.
Oldest form *hel-, becoming *ghel- in centum languages.
Derivatives include gold, arsenic, melancholy, Hare Krishna, gleam, glimpse, and glide.
I. Words denoting colors. 1. Suffixed form *ghel-wo-. yellow, from Old English geolu, yellow, from Germanic *gelwaz. 2. Suffixed variant form *ghl-ro-. chloro-; chlorite1, from Greek khlros, green, greenish yellow. 3. Suffixed variant form *ghlo-wo-. chloasma, from Greek khloos (< *khlo-wo-s), greenish color. 4. O-grade form *ghol-. podzol, from Russian zola, ashes (from their color). 5. Suffixed form *ghel-i-. Hare Krishna, Harijan, from Sanskrit hari-, tawny yellow. 6. Possibly suffixed zero-grade form *gh-wo- in Latin fulvus, tawny (with dialectal f- as in fel, gall): griseofulvin.
II. Words denoting gold. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form *gh-to-. a. gold, from Old English gold, gold; b. gild1, from Old English gyldan, to gild, from Germanic denominative verb *gulthjan; c. guilder, gulden, from Middle Dutch gulden, golden; d. gowan, from Middle English gollan, yellow flower, possibly from a source akin to Old Norse gullinn, golden. a–d all from Germanic *gultham, gold. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol-to-. zloty, from Polish zoto, gold. 3. Suffixed full-grade form *ghel-no-. arsenic, from Syriac zarnk, orpiment, from Middle Iranian *zarnik-, from Old Iranian *zarna-, golden.
III. Words denoting bile. 1. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol-no-. gall1, from Old English gealla, gall, from Germanic *galln-, bile. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *ghol--. chole-, choler, cholera; acholia, melancholy, from Greek khol, bile. 3. Suffixed full-grade form *ghel-n-. felon2, from Latin fel, bile.
IV. A range of Germanic words (where no preforms are given, the words are late creations). 1. gleam, from Old English glm, bright light, gleam, from Germanic *glaimiz. 2. glimpse, from Middle English glimsen, to glimpse, from a source akin to Middle High German glimsen, to gleam. 3. glint, from Middle English glent, a glint, and glenten, to shine, from a source akin to Swedish dialectal glinta, to shine. 4. glimmer, from Middle English glimeren, to glimmer, from a source akin to Swedish glimra, glimmer. 5. glitter, from Old Norse glitra, to shine. 6. glitz, from Old High German glzan, to sparkle. 7. glisten, from Old English glisnian, to shine. 8. glister, from Middle Dutch glinsteren or Middle Low German glisteren, to shine. 9. glass, glaze, glazier, from Old English glæs, glass, from Germanic *glasam, glass. 10. glare1, from Middle English glaren, to glitter, stare, from a source akin to Middle Low German glaren, to glisten, from Germanic *glaz-. 11. gloss1, from a source perhaps akin to Icelandic glossi, a spark. 12. glance2, from Old High German glanz, bright. 13. gleg, from Old Norse glöggr, clear-sighted. 14. glad1, from Old English glæd, shining, joyful, from Germanic *gladaz. 15. glee; gleeman, from Old English glo, sport, merriment, from Germanic *gleujam. 16a. gleed, from Old English gld, ember; b. glogg, from Old Norse glodh, ember. Both a and b from Germanic *gl-di-. 17a. glow, from Old English glwan, to glow; b. glower, from Middle English gloren, to gleam, stare, probably from a source akin to Norwegian dialectal glora, to gleam, stare; c. gloat, from a source perhaps akin to Old Norse glotta, to smile (scornfully). a–c all from Germanic *gl-. 18. gloaming, from Old English glm, twilight, from Germanic *gl-m-. 19. Possibly distantly related to this root is Germanic *gldan, to glide. a. glide, from Old English gldan, to slip, glide; b. glissade, from Old French glier, to glide; c. glitch, from Old High German gltan, to glide; d. glede, from Old English glida, kite (< “gliding, hovering bird”), from derivative Germanic *glidn-. 20. glib, from a source possibly akin to Middle Low German glibberich, slippery. (Pokorny 1. hel- 429.)
Whoa. I think we've ventured into the "too much information" stage here. I had no idea of the Indo-European root of "gloat." I just wanted to gloat, that's all. Thanks for all the etymology (I think.
sorry, just being silly ... it's sunday after all.
t'was a good call.
still, gloat be an odd word.
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