spitzer etymology of pet
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8/10/2019 Spitzer Etymology of Pet
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Linguistic Society of merica
On the Etymology of petAuthor(s): Leo SpitzerSource: Language, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1950), pp. 533-538Published by: Linguistic Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/410403.
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MISCELLANEA
533
*-md-n-,
the
-n-
being
part
of
a suffix
-no-
(perhaps
with a
passive
meaning,
as
in
TfKVoo?).
The
second
explanation
seems
preferable.
(3)
In
pipyva,
pEpLE~laV
cf.
Boisacq
627
f.;
Ernout-Meillet
605),
it
seems
more
probable
that
the
-v-
is due to
a
dissimilatory change
*r-r
>
p-v.
Al-
though
in
Greek the
only
common dissimilation of *r-r is
regressive,
resulting
in
---p
(cf. Schwyzer
1.259),
the
comparison
with
pEXL/Eo0aXL
points
to the con-
clusion
that
progressive
dissimilations
do
occur
in
reduplicative
formations
of
this kind.
The
interpretation
of
giptyva
etc.
as
reduplicative
is
strengthened
by
the
parallel
formations
in the
epic language:
p~p4upa,
yeplzplw,
etc.
Although
it
cannot
be
proved,
it
seems
possible
that
all
these
forms
had an
intensive
quality,
which
perhaps
was
originally
developed
from an iterative
meaning (still
partly
preserved
in
l4&ivmos?).
Thus
the
identification
with the
Sanskrit type seems fully justified.
The
interpretation
of
Skt.
/i
as
IE
i makes
it
necessary
to
explain
the
change
of
quantity
in
the
vowel-a
very
common, though
unexplained, phenomenon
when
Skt.
i derives
from
IE
a.
The usual
explanation
is
by
'metrische
Dehnung'
(cf.
Schwyzer
1.648):
the
distribution
of
long
and short
vowels
is
determined
by
prosody,
with
i
occurring only
in
syllables
that would
otherwise
be
metrically
short;
thus
bharibharti
:
bharibhrati.
This
may
be
right,
at least
in
part,
as far
as the status
of the
recorded
language
is
concerned.
But
it
is
possible
to show
another source of
the
lengthening
of the
i,
which
may
have
favored the
develop-
ment of
a
lengthened
vowel
in
other
cases.
Sturtevant has shown
(IlH
Laryngeals
68) that the
lengthening
of the re-
duplication syllable
in
the Sanskrit
perfect
type
vdavsa
is
often caused
by
the
original
presence
of an initial
laryngeal
in
the
root;
I
have identified
such
forms
with
the so-called Attic
reduplication
perfects
in
Greek
(Lg.
26.365
ff.).
In the
list
of
roots
forming
this
lengthened
perfect,
we find that
quite
a number
have
intensive
reduplications
of the
type
bharibharti,
e.g.
vaiic-, van-,
vrj-, vrt-,
vrdh-.
We
may
therefore
perhaps
draw
the
conclusion
that
at
least
in
some forms
the
long
i
originated
from
*-iA-,
just
as in
Gk.
6lbriredo.
he later distribution
may
be
merely metrical,
but this
does
not
necessarily
affect
the
origin.
ON
THE
ETYMOLOGY OF
pet
LEO
SPITZER,
JOHNS
HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
The
NED
lists three
different nouns of
the form
pet:
pet,
'a
domesticated,
fondled
young
animal'
(esp.
pet
lamb),'
'a
spoiled child',
attested
from the
16th
to the 18th
century
only
as a
Northern
English (Scottish)
1
Pet
lamb
is
glossed
in
1674-91
'a
cade lamb'.
As
for the
word
cade
itself,
the
explana-
tion
by way
of Fr.
cadel,
attested
by
Cotgrave
in the
meaning
'a
castling,
a
starveling,
one
that hath need
much
of
cockering
and
pampering',
has been
rejected by
the NED
on the
basis
of Paul
Meyer's
statement that the
form
cadel
cannot
be
authentic for
French
(Lat.
catellus would give only chaVl),but only for Provengal. But Meyer was not aware of the
existence of OFr. chadeler
to
direct,
govern'
(from
the
quite
different VL
word
*capitelldre,
with
-p'd-
>
-t-;
cf.
Lat.
sapidus
>
OFr.
sade),
attested in the
Roland
and
found in
Cot-
grave (with
the
meaning
'to
pamper'
and
in
an
obviously
Normandian form
cadeler;
cf.
FEW
s.v.
capitellum),
and
indeed
still
found
in
modern
French
dialects
(ibid.).
On the
basis of a cadeler 'to
pamper',
a cadel
'one
that hath
need ...
of
...
pampering'
has been
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534 MISCELLANEA
word,
the first
meaning
occurring
n
1539
(certane
ettis,
applied
to
parroquets,
monkeys,
peacocks,
swans),
the second
in
1508.
Of
this
noun
the
NED de-
clares
the
etymon
to be
unknown,
but
probably
different
rom
that
of
peat,
a
noun whichwas in use c. 1570-1640as a termof endearmentorgirls (= 'pet of
a
woman')
and
also
in
the
meaning merry
or
spoiled
girl'.
pet2
(to
be in
a
pet)
'offence
at
being
(or
feeling) slighted',
'a fit of
peevish-
ness',
used from
the
beginning
hroughout
England,
now
obsolescent,
attested
directly
in
1590
in
the
phrase
to take
the
pet, indirectly
n
1552
by
the
adjective
pettish
(which
is
glossed
by
such Latin
words
as
impetuosus,
effraenis,
iracundus).
This word
the
NED
only
tentatively
connects
with
pet1;
by
this
hypothesis
'being
n
a
pet'
would
be
characteristic
f a
pet
child.
pets
breaking
wind,
fart',
attested
only
once
(in Barclay)
n
1515
n
the
phrase
(though
all
their
cunning scantly
be)
worth
a
pet.
This term
is
correctly
traced
by
the NED to Fr.
pet
< Lat.
piditum.
It
does
not
seem to have occurred
o
etymologists
hat all three
words
might
in
reality
be
one,
the
original onceptbeing
that
of
pet3,
which
has a
clear
French
etymology
and
whose use
in
the
phrase
(not)
worth
a
pet
reflects
Old
French
usage:
we are
dealing
with
the realistic
medieval
expression
of a
minimum
quantity (=
'[not]
an
iota'),
attested
for Old
French
by
Dreyling,
Die
Ausdrucksweise
der fibertriebenen
Verkleinerung
6
note
3
(1888):
Je
ne
ti
mesferai
un
pet
(Rom.
de
Renard;
cf.
also
MHG
umb
dich
geb
ich
nit
ein
farz,
ME
bi
alle men
set
I
a
farte),
and
surviving
n
modern
French
dialects
(Rouchi
pete 'peu de chose', H6cart). Skeat was well inspiredwhen he mentioned,in
connection
with
petl,
the French
phrase
mon
peton
used
by
Rabelais
as a
term
of
endearment
or a
child-though
in
translating
he
phrase
'my
little foot'
he
was led
astray2
by
Cotgrave's
definition
of
peton:
a
little
foot,
the
slender
stalk
of a
leafe;
mon
peton,
my
pretty
spryngall,my
gentle
mp
(any
such
flattering
or
dandlingphrase,
bestowed
by
nurses
on their
suckling
boies)'.
In this
entry
the
famous
lexicographer
ombined
he French
derivative
of
pied,
peton
little
foot'
(whose
existence cannot
be
denied,
and which
has survived
in
many
French
dialects
along
with the derivative
verb
petonner
pi6tiner'3)
with
the
phrase
coined as a back-formation. The semantic development of cadeleris parallel, according to
FEW,
to
that of It.
governare
to direct'
>
'to feed
(animals)'.
There is
then
no
reason
why
cade
lamb should
not
go
back
to a
*cadel-lamb.
t
must
be
assumed
that
pet
lamb
(attested
1674-91)
took the
place
of
cade
lamb,
the
adjectival
use
of
pet
echoing
that
of
cade.
[The
term cade
'pet
lamb'
(also
used
as a
call
to
sheep)
is still
current
throughout
Rhode
Island,
as
well as
in
isolated
communities
in
southeastern
Connecticut
and on
Cape
Cod.
See
Linguistic
atlas of
New
England,
Map
202.-BB]
1
He
further
suggests
a
relationship
with Fr.
petit. Although
it
would
be
tempting
to
assume
a
back-formation
petty
>
pet
in Scottish
English,
after
the
peculiarly
Scottish
pattern
seen
in Davie
:
Dave,
this connection
must
be discarded.
English
petty
has a
stylis-
tic
ring quite
different
from that
of the
more
popular
pet:
it
belongs
to the semantic
areas
of
administrative
and
legal
language
(petty oficer,
treason,
larceny),
of
plant
names
(petti-
chaps, petty cotton), or French cuisine (pettitoes < Fr. petite oie; the NED's doubts are
unfounded),
and
of fashions
(petticoat).
3
The
two stems
have sometimes
coalesced
in
popular
consciousness.
Thus
Martellibre
in
his
Glossaire
vend6mois
translates
peter
'pi6tiner,
remuer
s'agiter-Les
chevaux
pbtent
dans
l'6curie,
c'est-A-dire
donnent
des
coups
de
pieds'.
The idea
'kick of a horse'
predomi-
nates also in
Fr.
pitarrade-in
spite
of the
fact that
these
words
originally
referred
to
the
'peditum'
of horses
as
signs
of restlessness.
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MISCELLANEA 535
found
by
him
in
Rabelais-which
however
may
have had a different
origin.
For
if
we
study
the
passage
of Rabelais in
question
(Pantagruel,
Ch.
3)
more
closely,
we
shall
come
to
the
conclusion
that it is rather
a
derivative
of
pet
'fart' that must have been meant by the author. The situation is as follows.
Gargantua's
wife
Badebec, having
died
in
childbirth,
is
being
mourned
by
her
husband
in
such
comically
erotic terms
as
mon
petit
con
... ma
braguette,
ma
savate,
ma
pantoufle;
then,
turning
to
his new-born
son,
the
healthy
child
Pantagruel (un
si
beau
filz,
tant
joyeux,
tant
riant,
tant
joly),
Gargantua
continues
in
the
same
vein
to
address
the
baby
with the terms mon
coillon,
mon
peton.
It
seems
clear to
me-pace
both Plattard
(in
the Lefranc
edition
of
Rabelais
3,
p.
19
note
12)
and Sain6an
(La
langue
de Rabelais
2.170),
who
follow
Cotgrave
in
their translation
'little
foot'-that
peton
coupled
with coillon
must
be
a more
graphic
word.
Moreover,
as we learn
from
Plattard
(loc.cit.),
the churchman Antoine du
Saix in
1532
quoted, among
those
nursery
words
('mignotises')
which
should
be
avoided
by judicious
parents,
the
phrase
mon
petau-obviously
synonymous
with Rabelais'
mon
peton,
and
showing
a suffix
(-aud)
which
we find used with
derivatives
from Fr.
pet
(see
below),
not from
pied.
Peton
and
petau,
used
as
nursery words,
contain then the
stem
pet.4
At this
point
I
may
quote
from
Ivan Pauli's book
Enfant,
gargon,
fille
(Lund,
1919),
from the
chapter
Termes
scatologiques,
in
which the Swedish
author
lists
the
Romance words
for
'child,
boy,
girl'
traceable to
such
concepts
as
'stercus'
and
'peditum'
(216-23):
Quand il s'agit des derniers n6s, soit des enfants, soit des animaux, la tendance
cacoph6mique
apparatt
tres
nettement. La
piti6
et
la
tendresse,
qu'inspirent
ces
petits
Atres
si
faibles
et si
ch6tifs,
sont
rendues
dans
la
langage
du
peuple par
les
6pith6tes
les
plus
crues.
Dans
le
Poitou,
on
appelle
le
dernier n6
bouze,
dans
la
Provence:
petoun
ou
cago-nis.
La
m~me
expression
se
retrouve dans
le
Doubs
sous
la forme de
chie-nid
(Mont-
b6liard:
tchenni). C'est
probablement
une
allusion au
plus
petit
oiseau
de
la
couv6e
"qui
n'a
pas
la
force
de
faire ses
excr6ments
hors
du
nid,
comme
font
les
autres
au
bout de
quel-
ques jours" (Beauquier).
Le
sicilien dit caca-nidu.
Il
est
interessant
de
trouver
une
expres-
sion tout
'i
fait
correspondante
dans
les
dialectes
su6dois, oil,
d'apres
Rietz,
bo-skit
(ou
bo-fis)
d6signe
"den
senast
f6dde av
valpar
kattungar,
kycklingar
m.
fl.
husdjur."
*One may also consider that for Rabelais the analogy between a healthy new-born
child and
a
'peditum'
was
given
by
the
proverbial
phrase glorieux
comme
un
pet
(attested
by
Gottschalk,
Die
sprichw6rtlichen
Redensarten der frz.
Spr. 155,
for the
15th
century).
Mistral,
s.v.
pet,
explains
the
phrase very cleverly:
'On
dit
en
frangais
"glorieux
comme
un
pet",
qui
chante
dAs
qu'il
est
ne.'
In
the edition of
Lyons
1537
(text
J
according
to the
Lefranc
edition)
we
find,
after
mon
coillon,
mon
peton,
the
words mon voisson.
In
this
noun,
which
means
'fitch, polecat
(Putorius foetidus)'-the
malodorous
animal
par excellence,
the
etymology
from
vesser
(