Welcome to Gaia! ::

Topic: Goose & gossamer

With the exception of 1646 (the year when the Great Plague was at its worst) and the two world wars, the Goose Fair of Nottingham, England reportedly has been held each year since 1284. We're celebrating this year's fair with a look at the linguistic link between the words goose and gossamer.

Gossamer most likely started out as goos somer, a term that refers to the part of the year that Americans now call Indian summer and the British sometimes call Saint Luke's summer (Saint Luke's Day is October 8th). Because the late-year warm spell usually coincides with the prime season for eating geese, it was natural for the English to call this stretch of weather goose summer. Although that original meaning disappeared from English, it continued in German, where November was known as Gansemonat, literally, "Goose-month."

By the 14th century, gossamer was being used to refer to the film of cobwebs that often float in the warm autumn air and get caught in grass or bushes. That sense gave birth to the modern noun gossamer, which means "something light, delicate or insubstantial," and also to the adjective gossamer, which first appeared in print around the turn of the 19th century.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.