Fur - name and origin

[brandy-uk]

O.K.

 

here is a good question..

 

'Who can find out where the word FUR came from...?'

 

what country or origin , how has it changed? etc etc..

 

Now that may confuse some people.. so let me explain..

 

'Curfew' = restricted time or bed time..

 

"Coming from the french Cuvee le feur (cover the fire) in which during the Norman invasion of England , The new Norman overlords made all peasants cover their fire at 9pm-ish.. this meant that with no fire to sit around and to keep awake to.. you had nothing better to do, but go to bed and not cause trouble. A special pottery cover was invented to cover the fire called a cuvee la feur- which became Anglosized into Curfew...

 

'Curfew' = Norman/french word

 

 

wow.. that was long..

 

now who can find out where the fur came from?

 

 

kisses

 

brandy

xxxxx

[Cunning Fox]

What an awsome topic, you never cease to amaze me with your interesting thoughts!

 

Unfortunatly I can't answer your question, however a little rumour that I can remember hearing a long time ago is that when the story Cinderalla was translated from German to English her slippers changed from fur to glass as an error in the translation.

 

O.K now I'm looking up my old (1967) dictionary that I have on "extended loan" from my old school.

 

Right large amount of waffle of what fur is (I think we have discovered that for ourselves) then at the bottom

 

[F f. Gmc]

 

Meaning: F - French (of course)

f. - from (obvious)

Gmc - Germanic (who didnt see that comming)

 

The Germanic family of langages is later listed in the etymology notes as including Gothic, Scandinavian, Frisian, English, Dutch (Flemish), and German.

 

And here endith the first part of today's English lesson. Hopefully our head-mistress will be able to provide extra credit to those who are able to contribute a more substantial answer.

[Smother]

fur

1301, probably from O.Fr. fourrer "to line, sheathe," from fuerre "sheath, covering," from Frank. *fodr (cf. O.H.G. >*poul-/*pul-fotar "a cover"), from P.Gmc. *fothram "sheath." The n. (c.1366) is from the verb. It was first applied c.1430 to "animal hair still on the animal." Furrier (1576) is on the model of clothier.

 

Found at etymonline, an online etymology dictionary. And just because I was curious ...

 

etymology

1398, from Gk. etymologia, from etymon "true sense" (neut. of etymos "true," related to eteos "true") + logos "word." In classical times, of meanings; later, of histories. Latinized by Cicero as veriloquium.

 

And for the fuzzy lovers ...

 

angora

1819, from Angora, city in central Turkey (ancient Ancyra, modern Ankara), which gave its name to the goat, and to its silk-like wool, and to a cat whose fur resembles it. The city name is from the Gk. word for "anchor, bend" (see angle (n.)).

 

mohair

1570, "fine hair of the Angora goat," also "a fabric made from this," from M.Fr. mocayart, It. mocaiarro, both from Arabic mukhayyar "cloth of goat hair," lit. "selected, choice," from khayyana "he chose." Spelling infl. in Eng. by association with hair. Moire "watered silk" (1660) probably represents Eng. mohair borrowed into Fr. and back into English.

[Smother]

I guess it would only make sense to post this meaning as well.

 

fetish

1613, fatisso, from Port. fetiço "charm, sorcery," originally feitiço "made artfully, artificial," from L. facticius "made by art," from facere "to make" (see factitious). L. facticius in Sp. has become hechizo "magic, witchcraft, sorcery." Probably introduced by Port. sailors and traders as a name for charms and talismans worshipped by the inhabitants of the Guinea coast of Africa. Popularized in anthropology by C. de Brosses' Le Culte des Dieux Fétiches (1760), which influenced the word's spelling in Eng. (Fr. fétiche, also from the Port. word). Figurative sense of "something irrationally revered" is Amer.Eng. 1837. Fetishism in the purely psycho-sexual sense first recorded 1897 in writings of Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)

[brandy-uk]

OK..

 

we have the word fur appearing in the french language and being brought into English around the 14th Century..

 

That would make sense as the english language was not commonly ussed in clerical or written England until it became a lawful language under Henry V ..who used the common tongue to unite his people against the new enemy- The French...

 

In order to stop Wales Scotland and England from being split by little continual wars, he forced all written documents to be conversed in Anglish-English..this was the dream of his forefather Edward III (1333-1377) , who also wanted a singular spoken tongue in his kingdom.

 

So the written English Word of fur appears in the written England from about 1300 onwards..

 

what is the latin..?

[fur999]

I can't help but wondering what the Welsh or gaelic word for 'fur' is? Is there an exact translation?

 

Any ideas? Sorry i can't contribute to the previous lines of discussion, I didn't really pay attention in English due to being forced to read such delights as Silas Marner and Shakespeare. Not really the most interesting scripts when you are a pubescent 15 year old!

 

999xxx

[Cunning Fox]

999 not paying attention during your English lessions?

 

I think our head-mistress should hold you back after class and maybe that would get your attention!

[ReFur]

What a great thread!