smithereens

[prettygoodword]

smithereens - pl.n., fragments or small bits.


Especially when considered as a whole. Always plural. Not an especially unusual word, I admit, but I still think it's pretty good. Dates from the 1820s, from Irish English, from Gaelic smidiríní, diminutive of smiodar, fragment -- broken not just into fragments but a little fragments.

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

I have the impression there are very few such common and widely-understood English words borrowed from all the Gaelic languages in everyday use.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Aside from whiskey and banshee, of course?

A little searching finds a list that includes bog, bucket, car, crockery, flannel, slogan, and truant.

---L.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Add "brogue" (the shoe) which is not in very broad use nowadays, and "plaid" which is.

OED is not showing "bucket"...however...apparently "bun" in the sense of "tail end" is from Gaelic; it was used for the tail of a hare (the other bun) and then transferred to human parts.

All in all, a remarkably sparse inheritance.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

A few place name elements, such as dun, plus the high tor.

Not a huge haul, all in all.

---L.