"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
Friday, 16 October 2009
Tambour
A tambour is a frame made of two hoops - used for embroidering. It is also a hollowed out frame drum and the flexible shutter on a roll-top desk or sliding doors for cupboards.
Le tambour - from which our tambour and tambourine both come - is the French for a drum (and also the French for an embroidery frame). I assume the shape of the circular drum led to to its use for the tambourine and frame.
My daughter Helen commented in November 2008 in her Blog that she was now keeping a notebook of new words that she came across during her reading. "This week I bought a lovely little leather bound book to write new words in as I read them . I've added a few from "1984", but my favourite has to be persiflage (from the French persifler) which means banter." I later discovered that my older daughter, Bryony, also kept a similar notebook.
This inspired me to create a Word blog. This will include both new words, favourite words and the origins of phrases that we commonly use. A definition and some comment, perhaps even a relevant quotation, will acompany the word or phrase.
“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.” - Winnie the Pooh
I love embroidery & roll top desks. AND I never knew the name! You're amazing! Where do you find this stuff???
ReplyDeleteYou've got me wondering now, is an embroidery tambour the original origin of the tambourine?
ReplyDeleteLe tambour - from which our tambour and tambourine both come - is the French for a drum (and also the French for an embroidery frame). I assume the shape of the circular drum led to to its use for the tambourine and frame.
ReplyDelete