Rudyard Kipling, "Surgeons and Soul," a speech given before the Royal College of Surgeons, February 1923. See: Kipling, Rudyard. 2007. A Book of Words. Rockville MD: Wildside Press. See also http://www.telelib.com/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/BookOfWords/index.html.
Back in 1971 there was an interesting story about a group of paleolithic people found living in the Philippines. They were called the Tasaday. Despite the fact that they were living quite close to a number of other tribes, it was stated that they were completely ignorant of many of the things that their neighbors were doing, including agriculture. Recent research makes it pretty clear that the Tasaday weren't quite what they first appeared to be. It seems likely they are the descendants of local tribespeople who fled into the jungle over the last couple of centuries (probably to escape slavery).
What makes them relevant just now is one of the pieces of evidence that was put forward to make the case that these were genuinely paleolithic people. It was alleged that their language had no agricultural metaphors (see http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-08/local/me-63_1_stone-age).
English, or course, is full of agricultural metaphors. We broadcast; we reap what we sow; sometimes we have a hard row to hoe. If the Tasaday language really had no metaphors or idioms or expressions related to agriculture or farming that would be pretty good evidence - not proof, but evidence - that we had actually found people who had successfully avoided their neighbors for something like 10,000 years. And that would be amazing.
But as I said before, recent research has fairly conclusively shown that the Tasaday aren't paleolithic survivals. They do interact (and even intermarry) with their neighbors. And even if they don't raise crops (they're hunters and gatherers), they certainly understand the concept of agriculture. So not so amazing.
Idioms and metaphors can reveal a lot. Not just about a language, but about the culture and the environment where that language developed. Historical linguists make connections among languages based on the words and concepts they have in common. For example, all of the most ancient Indo-European languages have similar words for "grain," "plow," "milk," "honey," "salt," "oak," "nut," "birch," "grass" and "snow." They don't have common terms for things like "banana," "bamboo," or "monkey." Exactly where proto-Indo-European originated is a subject of fierce debate - the two largest factions are the partisans of the "Kurgan" hypothesis (which puts the area of origin north of the Caspian Sea) and the Anatolian hypothesis (which puts the area of origin in Anatolia).
English as it's spoken today tells us a lot about the things that have been shaping our culture. Of course we have a huge vocabulary related to our technology ("It's not rocket science!"), but what's striking to me is how much of our language is derived from games and sports.
Name a sport and we've got an idiom based on it. We "kick off" a meeting, we "hit the bull's eye" when we're clever, we "bat a thousand" and it's a "slam dunk" when we get everything right. Of course, sometimes we're "behind the eight ball" and "down for the count." But as long as we're "up to par" and "don't back the wrong horse," we will probably "have the inside track" and be "safe at home."
I suppose it's not surprising that popular sports and games - football, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, golf, even horse racing - affect our language. But sports that are obscure to the point of near-invisibility can still have a remarkable influence on our day-to-day speech. Case in point: falconry.
Falconry ("hawking" is an acceptable synonym) is an ancient activity. The best evidence indicates it's at least 4,000 years old and probably began in the Middle East or Central Asia. Falconry was a status symbol from Europe to Mongolia, and the nobility devoted ridiculous amounts of time and money to it.
In 1486 the "Book of St. Albans," probably written by Julia Berners, Prioress of the Priory of St. Mary of Sopwell in Hertfordshire, England, specified a hierarchy of hawks and the social ranks of those who were permitted to use them:
- Emperor: Eagle, vulture, and merlin
- King: Gyr falcon and the tercel of the gyr falcon
- Prince: Falcon gentle and the tercel gentle
- Duke: Falcon of the loch
- Earl: Peregrine falcon
- Baron: Bustard
- Knight: Sacre and the sacret
- Esquire: Lanere and the laneret
- Lady: Marlyon
- Young man: Hobby
- Yeoman: Goshawk
- Poor man: Tercel
- Priest: Sparrowhawk
- Holy water clerk: Musket
- Knave or servant: Kestrel
In any case, although falconry is still around, it isn't widely practiced in North America or Europe (although it is still moderately popular in parts of the Middle East). The largest falconry organization in North America is the North American Falconers Association, with 2,000 members.
But even if it's not widely practiced these days, falconry is still a part of our language. A few examples*:
- Callow: From an Old English word for "bald," but in the sense of "unfledged"; basically a young and inexperienced bird.
- Chaperone: From the Old French chaperon meaning "hood" or "cowl," in the sense of a "protector."
- Hoodwinked: Falcons' heads are covered with a hood when they're being transported to keep them calm (they won't fly or attack when they're blindfolded).
- Codger: A "cadge" was a kind of perch or frame on which hawks were transported, and the person who carried the frame would be a "cadger" or "codger."
- Fed-up: When a hawk has eaten its fill its crop is full and it won't hunt.
- Gorge: To stuff with food (the word "gorge" is related to "gullet").
- Haggard: An untamed hawk, captured as an adult, often at the end of a migration when they were exhausted.
- With bated breath: From "abated," when a hawk is tethered or restrained.
- Wrapped around your finger: A hawk's leash or "jess" can be wrapped around a finger to keep it under control.
Most of us have never gone hawking. Most of us never will go hawking. But the idioms and metaphors of falconry are embedded in our language, and they show how important it once was. There are fossils in our language, and digging can sometimes produce some interesting insights about where we've come from.
* A word of warning: All of these etymologies are disputed. Don't get into arguments about them - etymologists can be mean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasaday_people
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combined%20Files/A42.%201997.%20Tasaday%20Linguistic%20Archaeology--rev%2011-07-09.pdf
http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_stone-age_tasaday
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-08/local/me-63_1_stone-age
http://www.idiomconnection.com/sports.html
http://knowledgestew.com/2015/03/modern-sayings-that-came-from-falconry.html
http://www.wingspan.co.nz/falconry_language.html
http://www.themodernapprentice.com/glossary.htm
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/under-the-thumb.html
http://www.islamunraveled.org/islam-myths/animals-arts/traineddogsandfalcons.php
http://www.n-a-f-a.com/?page=AboutNAFA
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