Just a small correction to the corrector - you may "pique" one's curiosity -
hence the other is "piqued" (pronounced "peaked").
----- Original Message -----
From: "Leslie B. Potter" <lbpotter(a)comcast.net>
To: <pagenweb(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [PAGENWEB] body
John, your posting was interesting and peaked my curiosity. So I
pulled
out my "Dictionary of Word Origins" by John Ayto. Here is what I found
at page 306 thereof:
JAIL - Etymologically, a jail is a 'little cage.' The word comes
ultimately from Vulgar Latin *gaviola, which was an alteration of an
earlier *caveola, a diminutive for of Latin cavea 'cage' (source of
English cage). It passed into English in two distinct versions: jail
came vial Old French jaiole; but the Old Northern French form of the
word was gaiole, and this produced English goal. Until the 17th century
goal was pronounced with a hard /g/ sound, but then it gradually fell
into line phonetically with jail. There has been a tendency for British
English to use the spelling goal, while American [English] perfers jail,
but there are now signs that jail in on the increase in Britain.
Words are definitely fascinating.
Leslie Potter
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