debouche

[scw1217]

I stumbled across this word while reading a portion of the memoirs of General William T. Sherman. He, of course, was a soldier and it appears to be a word mainly in reference to soldiers. However, that said, I was fascinated by the fact that debouche is still a word, but bouch is not. (See links.) I'd be interested to know what other words derived from it's word history.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=debouch

de·bouch /dɪˈbuʃ, -ˈbaʊtʃ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-boosh, -bouch] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used without object)
1. to march out from a narrow or confined place into open country, as a body of troops: The platoon debouched from the defile into the plain.
2. Physical Geography.
a. to emerge from a relatively narrow valley upon an open plain: A river or glacier debouches on the plains.
b. to flow from a small valley into a larger one.
3. to come forth; emerge.
–noun
4. débouché.
[Origin: 1655–65; < F déboucher, equiv. to dé- dis-1 + -boucher, v. deriv. of bouche mouth < L bucca cheek, jaw]

And here is the obsolete bouch.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bouch

Bouch

e \Bouche\, Bouch \Bouch\, n. [F. bouche mouth, victuals.] 1. A mouth. [Obs.]

2. An allowance of meat and drink for the tables of inferior officers or servants in a nobleman's palace or at court. [Obs.]

[Perry]

Debouche, as to come out of the mouth, makes sense. a single word for entering the mouth of a cave or gully doesn't seem to make sense.

The verb mouth is (I believe) reserved for forming words without vocalising.

[skinem]

SCW, you MUST be brilliant! I read his memoirs about 2 months ago and just read a historical fiction about his march.
He had and used a larger vocabulary than you typically hear used today.

[Bailey]

SCW, you MUST be brilliant! I read his memoirs about 2 months ago and just read a historical fiction about his march.
He had and used a larger vocabulary than you typically hear used today.

But the all southern gentlemen of that time did. And so did they up north, it was a gentler time when people spoke volumes because they had the time to.

mark hurry-hurry Bailey

[scw1217]

SCW, you MUST be brilliant! I read his memoirs about 2 months ago and just read a historical fiction about his march.
He had and used a larger vocabulary than you typically hear used today.

Either brilliant or crazy, all depending on your point of view! It's a fascinating read and as you said well written. I was an enthralled by the portions about Florida and California as about the Civil War itself. He provides some great descriptions of places that is unusual in most Civil War era biographies.

As to debouche, I have decided I kind of like the word. Curiosity is what drew me to wondering about other words derived from a similar origin.

[skinem]

SCW, you MUST be brilliant! I read his memoirs about 2 months ago and just read a historical fiction about his march.
He had and used a larger vocabulary than you typically hear used today.

Either brilliant or crazy, all depending on your point of view! It's a fascinating read and as you said well written. I was an enthralled by the portions about Florida and California as about the Civil War itself. He provides some great descriptions of places that is unusual in most Civil War era biographies.

As to debouche, I have decided I kind of like the word. Curiosity is what drew me to wondering about other words derived from a similar origin.

Brilliant, of course!
Now, there is some question as to whether Sherman himself was brilliant or crazy. Personally, I don't see them as mutually exclusive.

[scw1217]

Brilliant, of course!
Now, there is some question as to whether Sherman himself was brilliant or crazy. Personally, I don't see them as mutually exclusive.

You will recall he was deeply offended when a newspaper report portrayed him as such at the start of the war and went to great length to say he was not!

[skinem]

Brilliant, of course!
Now, there is some question as to whether Sherman himself was brilliant or crazy. Personally, I don't see them as mutually exclusive.

You will recall he was deeply offended when a newspaper report portrayed him as such at the start of the war and went to great length to say he was not!

Yup--it did hurt him to think people were saying that about him. But, from letters some of his staff wrote, they feared for his stability following the deaths of his two boys.

Either way, a great soldier.