Sunday, March 18, 2007

 

Death, Books, and Goose Fat

On the subject of death and books, Eric Thomson draws my attention to this engraving, from Nouveau receuil d'ostéologie et de myologie by Jacques Gamelin (1738-1803), and comments, "If true - Death, where is thy sting?"



Eric also adds another word meaning "miscellany" related to food - smorgasbord. Here is the Online Etymology Dictionary's entry for the word:
1893, from Swed. smörgåsbord "open sandwich table," lit. "butter-goose table," from smörgås, which is said to mean "bread and butter," but is compounded from smör "butter" (related to smear) and gås, lit. "goose" (and from the root of Eng. goose), which is said to have a secondary meaning of "a clump (of butter)." The final element is bord "table" (cf. board (n.1)). Fig. sense of "medley, miscellany" is recorded from 1948.



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