Pall

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Dr. Goodword
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Pall

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Nov 26, 2022 6:57 pm

• pall •


Pronunciation: pawl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, Verb

Meaning: 1. [Noun] The cloth covering a casket. 2. [Noun] Any covering that obscures vision, as a pall of fog over the valley. 3. [Noun] A glum mood, as a pall of sadness that fell over the festivities. 4. [Verb] To make or become flat, stale, insipid, or boring.

Notes: Today's seemingly simple fellow is far more complex than it seems. This word has two sets of meanings and grammatical functions (noun and verb) that are totally unrelated. It is, in fact, two lexical orphans, neither having suffixed nor prefixed forms other than the regular forms of tense and number (see Word History for details).

In Play: The nominal senses of this Good Word are probably familiar: "Mortimer dismayed the mourners by exclaiming, 'The whole casket? I thought pall-bearers only carried the pall!'" The verb, however, is often confused with to pale. They are not synonymous, though: "The Pepsi-Cola in his glass had palled from standing out too long." Other things pall, too: "Phoebe felt the conversation beginning to pall after an hour trying to escape the topic of men."

Word History: In fact, we have two discrete words today only coincidentally spelled the same. The noun comes from Old English pæll "cloak, covering" from Latin pallium "cloak, altar cloth". The verb, however, split off from appall, which comes from Old French apalir "to grow faint" (today apâlir), ultimately from Latin pallere "to grow pale". The root here is akin to pale and pallid, both from Latin. The same root (pel- "pale, gray") surfaced with a suffix in Old Germanic in a word which Latin may well have borrowed as falco "falcon". Greek polios "gray" shares the same source. We see that word in English poliomyelitis, from Greek polios + myelos "marrow" + -itis "inflammation". (Today we thank John M. Dunlap for helping us lift the pall of mystery from this remarkably Good Word.)
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David Myer
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Re: Pall

Postby David Myer » Mon Nov 28, 2022 6:02 am

So why are they pall bearers and not coffin or casket bearers? And now I think of it, I have never seen a cloth covering a coffin. The veil is usually worn by the next of kin!

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Slava
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Re: Pall

Postby Slava » Mon Nov 28, 2022 7:12 am

I bet we've all seen a cloth covering a coffin, if only in movies or TV shows. Or can someone somehow really have never seen a military funeral enacted?

I gather pallbearer does come from those who held the cloth over the coffin, and just by extension it's used for those who carry it.
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David Myer
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Re: Pall

Postby David Myer » Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:20 am

Well, I have certainly seen pictures of USA coffins shrouded with the National flag. Does that still count as a pall?

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Slava
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Re: Pall

Postby Slava » Thu Dec 01, 2022 11:08 am

I don't see why it wouldn't count as a pall. Not appalling, I hope.
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Re: Pall

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Dec 01, 2022 4:56 pm

As an active deacon of a large metropolitan church and the patriarch of a very large family, I have attended hundreds of funerals. I have been a pallbearer at many funerals. That meant carrying the casket in a group of four or six. I have seen sad ones and even funny ones. In my later years I have not been able to do this.

In the poem, Casey at the Bat, a humorous poem I love, despite having absolutely no interest in baseball, we read, "A pallor wreathed the features of the patrons of the game." I have no remembrance of any wreathing of pallor in my life. So, I consider myself blessed.

I also express "season's greetings" to my Agora friends on this first day of December. Watch Dolly Parton's extravaganza tonight if you dare.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Re: Pall

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:04 pm

During the funeral Mass in the Roman Catholic
ceremony the casket is covered in a white pall.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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