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gaggle / skein
Jul. 16th, 2012 07:21 amThis week's theme: doublets.
gaggle (GAG-uhl) - n., a flock of geese on the ground or in the water; a group or gathering of related things, esp. a group of noisy people; a cackling sound characteristic of geese.
skein (SKAYN) - n., a flock of geese in flight, esp. in a line or a V formation; a length of yarn or thread gathered in a long loose coil; anything wound in or suggestive of such a coil; a succession or series of similar or interrelated things, esp. (sports) a string of victories.
For gaggle, the sound came first, which was then applied to the group of geese, and thence the metaphoric extensions. Dates to the mid-1300s as gagel (gagelen for the verb for the sound), of Germanic roots but ultimately probably imitative. For skein, the yarn sense comes first, dating to the mid-1400s, when it was spelled skeine or skaine, from Middle French escaigne, a hang of yarn, attested from the 1350s but of origin obscure, possibly from Celtic roots or from Latin scamnum bench, stool.
---L.
gaggle (GAG-uhl) - n., a flock of geese on the ground or in the water; a group or gathering of related things, esp. a group of noisy people; a cackling sound characteristic of geese.
skein (SKAYN) - n., a flock of geese in flight, esp. in a line or a V formation; a length of yarn or thread gathered in a long loose coil; anything wound in or suggestive of such a coil; a succession or series of similar or interrelated things, esp. (sports) a string of victories.
For gaggle, the sound came first, which was then applied to the group of geese, and thence the metaphoric extensions. Dates to the mid-1300s as gagel (gagelen for the verb for the sound), of Germanic roots but ultimately probably imitative. For skein, the yarn sense comes first, dating to the mid-1400s, when it was spelled skeine or skaine, from Middle French escaigne, a hang of yarn, attested from the 1350s but of origin obscure, possibly from Celtic roots or from Latin scamnum bench, stool.
---L.
