and as a footnote to yesterday's post on Emily Dickinson -
[ME. gos(e)somer(e, app. f. GOOSE n. + SUMMER n. Cf. the synonymous Eng. dial. summer-goose (Craven), summer-colt, G. mädchensommer (lit. ‘girls' summer’), altweibersommer (‘old women's summer’); also G. sommerfäden, Du. zomerdraden, Sw. sommartråd, all literally ‘summer thread’.
The reason for the appellation is somewhat obscure. It is usually assumed that goose in this compound refers to the ‘downy’ appearance of gossamer. But it is to be noted that G. mädchen-, altweibersommer mean not only ‘gossamer’, but also a summer-like period in late autumn, a St. Martin's summer; that the obs. Sc. GO-SUMMER had the latter meaning; and that it is in the warm periods of autumn that gossamer is chiefly observed. These considerations suggest the possibility that the word may primarily have denoted a ‘St. Martin's summer’ (the time when geese were supposed to be in season: cf. G. Gänsemonat ‘geese-month’, November), and have been hence transferred to the characteristic phenomenon of the period. On this view summer-goose (which by etymologizing perversion appears also as summer-gauze) would be a transposition.] (O.E.D)
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Today, boys and girls, we’re going to look at ‘Song of the Chinchilla’ by Lisa Jarnot*. I liked the poem immediately – and I’ve given it to ...
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