"Nothing is so beautiful as spring." ~ G. M. Hopkins

 

Pedigree ~

Many of us will meet with family this weekend.  Do you know the origin of the word "pedigree?"  "Back in the Middle Ages, people were just as proud of their ancestry as many are today; in fact, numerous instances in the Bible, especially the First Book of Chronicles, show that such pride is very ancient.  It exists among all races.  But in England, the study of genealogy began to assume undue importance in the fourteenth century when, after the Norman Conquest, matters of inherited rights came into question.  Scholars, usually monks, were employed to trace back the lines of descent claimed by noblemen, or to prove that some remote relative was the legitimate heir to an estate or title after all the direct descendants had died or been killed in battle.  Hence, just as among scholars of our day certain signs or symbols have acquired particular significance--as the asterisk (*), the dagger, the double dagger--so did the genealogists of the Middle Ages also employ certain conventional significant symbols.

             Thus, it appears, the line of descent that one was engaged in tracing was marked by a symbol that was easy to make--a caret or inverted V having a straight line extending from slightly above the apex down through it to the base. [Sorry, if the keyboard has this symbol, I haven't discovered it; however, it looks like a bird's track.]

 

Some monk, probably, knowing the tracks that birds make in mud or snow, must have seen the resemblance between this symbol and the track made by a crane and, French being the court language, called it pied de grue.  The name of the mark was retained, and, marking the lines of descent, the line itself came to be called pied de grue, eventually corrupted into the English spelling, pedigree, under the influence of the French pronunciation."

~ 2107 CURIOUS WORD ORIGINS, SAYINGS & EXPRESSIONS from WHITE ELEPHANTS to a SONG and DANCE.  Charles Earle,Galahad Books, 1993.

 

HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND ~ Enjoy the holiday with your pedigree!