chagrin

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sardith
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chagrin

Postby sardith » Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:32 am

Dr. Goodword,

Please dig into the word 'chagrin' for me. From what I can tell it has an uncertain history and sometimes those are the most interesting. What do you think?

Susan :)

LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu Jul 01, 2010 1:00 pm

Ditto, please.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

sardith
Lexiterian
Posts: 267
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:21 am
Location: Central California

chagrin

Postby sardith » Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:22 pm

Doc~

I ran across this word, 'chagrin' again and wondered if I might prevail upon you to reconsider and suss it out.

Thanks,
Sardith :)
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~

Perry Lassiter
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Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Oct 11, 2011 5:15 pm

Here is what I found from Amer Heritage Dict:
The ultimate etymology of the word chagrin, which comes directly to us from French, is considered uncertain by many etymologists. At one time chagrin was thought to be the same word as shagreen, “a leather or skin with a rough surface,” derived from French chagrin. The reasoning was that in French the word for this rough material, which was used to smooth and polish things, was extended to the notion of troubles that fret and annoy a person. It was later decided, however, that the sense “rough leather” and the sense “sorrow” each belonged to a different French word chagrin. Other etymologists have offered an alternative explanation, suggesting that the French word chagrin, “sorrow,” is a loan translation of the German word Katzenjammer, “a hangover from drinking.” A loan translation is a type of borrowing from another language in which the elements of a foreign word, as in Katzen, “cats,” and Jammer, “distress, seediness,” are assumed to be translated literally by corresponding elements in another language, in this case, chat, “cat,” and grigner, “to grimace.” The actual etymology is less colorful, with the word probably going back to a Germanic word, *gramī, meaning “sorrow, trouble.” Chagrin is first recorded in English in 1656 in the now obsolete sense “anxiety, melancholy.”
pl

LukeJavan8
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Postby LukeJavan8 » Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:59 pm

Who'd a thunk it? The Katzenjammer Kids.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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