Autumn

The season of autumn falls into place in the Northern Hemisphere this week (in 2022 on the 22nd, though sometimes it is on the 23rd). The word "autumn" has a bit of a convoluted etymology. I have written about this particular word origin before. (see this post and another) but I keep finding little additions and so I write again.

"Autumn" is derived from Latin autumnus, and archaic auctumnus. It might have come from the ancient Etruscan root autu. It all these forms it is associated with the passing of the year. Two alternative etymologies I found are the Proto-Indo-European h₃ewǵ- ("cold") or *h₂sows- ("dry").

It was used as the Old French word autompne  and automne in modern French and autumpne in Middle English. It was rarely used during the Medieval period, but by the 16th century, it was in common use.

Before the 16th century, the season was usually called "harvest." That sense is still common in the Dutch herfst, the German Herbst and the Scots hairst. 

The use of harvest for the season gradually fell out of usage as people moved from rural life to working and living in towns. "Harvest" came to mean only the actual activity of reaping crops. "Autumn", as well as "fall", gradually became the replacement words for the season.

Though "fall" as a season is now associated primarily with English speakers in North America, its origins go back to old Germanic languages. The derivation might be from the Old English fiæll or feallan or the Old Norse fall. However, these similar words have the meaning "to fall from a height." 

The use of it for the season comes in 16th-century England. It seems to be a contraction of Middle English expressions like "fall of the leaf" and "fall of the year." and refers to the falling of leaves from deciduous trees. 

When 17th century Englishmen began emigrating to the new North American colonies, "fall" came with them, though it would become nearly obsolete in Britain.

The oddest usage I found was the word "backend" which had once been a common name for the season in Northern England. 

gams, gambits, gammons and gambling

Classic gams
Mitzi Gaynor

Mary Tyler Moore

The word "gams" to mean "legs" is an old usage. You don't hear it used much these days though it was common in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

This plural noun refers to human legs, especially related to the shapeliness of a woman's leg, and appears in the late 18th century. It was probably a variant of the heraldic term gamb, which represented something closer to an animal's leg and may have come from Old Northern French gambe which did mean "leg."

Seemingly unrelated is a rare use of gam to mean in American English usage of the mid-19th century for a social meeting or informal conversation that was originally related to whalers at sea.

I took a guess that gam might be connected to gambit. That word's origin is uncertain but might be from the dialect gam meaning a "game." Dictionaries also mention it may be a shortened form of "gammon" So then I look that up. It can mean in Britain a side of bacon and more recently is used as an insult - which seem irrelevant. But it can also mean the winning of a backgammon game before the loser removes any men from the board. 

I only knew "gambit" as meaning an action, or opening remark, usually a bit risky in the effort to gain an advantage. You hear it used in the game of chess, as when someone makes an opening move in which they sacrifice a piece to get a possible advantage later. 

This tenuous connection to everything I've written above gets a bit closer when you see that the origin (mid-17th century Italian) from an earlier gambett, from Italian gambetto, which literally means "tripping up," comes from gamba meaning - once again - "leg." Full circle.

Did you watch the Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit, or read the book? 

Several examples of gambits in that story

and very nice gams on the lead actress, Anya Taylor Joy.

And finally, we have gamble which everyone knows means taking a risky chance, most often on a game. This word from the early 18th century comes from the obsolete verb gamel "to play games."

Pompadour

Madame Pompadour without a pompadour hairstyle, 1758)

The pompadour is a hairstyle. Not many people get a hairstyle named after them. In modern times, I can only think of the "Rachel" named for the Rachel Green character on TV's Friends and played by Jennifer Aniston. 

Back in the 18th century, Madame de Pompadour was a mistress to King Louis XV and his political advisor. The hairstyle is named for her, But the name for this hairstyle has nothing in common with the hairstyle of Madame de Pompadour. She wore her hair back rather than up, and without the extra volume on the top. The name for the hairstyle wasn't coined until after her time.

In the 1890s, the Gibson Girl look used the style. The 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, references Jay Gatsby as having had a pompadour in his youth. It came back in vogue for women again in the 1940s.

Betty Grable 1942     Link

The men's version appeared in the 1950s and early 1960s, worn by early country, rock and roll and movie stars such as Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, James Dean, and Tony Curtis. 

Elvis  1954   Link

It had a revival in the 2000s with celebrities including John Travolta in Grease, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham, Rihanna, Bruno Mars and others.