The etymologies of ballot and bigot
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That's all I've got, so far, for linguistic commentary on the U.S. election results.
According to the OED, the etymology of ballot is
< (i) Middle French ballotte (French †ballotte) small ball (beginning of the 15th cent. as †balote), small coloured ball placed in a container to register a secret vote (1498) or its etymon (ii) Italian (originally regional (northern)) ballotta, †balota small ball (13th cent.), small coloured ball placed in a container to register a secret vote (1313; < balla (see bale n.3) + ‑otta ‑ot suffix).
And the entry for -ot says "Forming diminutive nouns. (No longer productive.)"
The suffix -ot was apparently never very productive in English — the OED lists only
piet "The magpie, Pica pica"
nysot "A wanton young woman; (also) a fool or simpleton."
carlot "A churl, carl, peasant."
I was surprised to see that the OED's list of -ot words doesn't include bigot, which is why I'm taking you down the bigot rabbit hole.
The OED entry for bigot just tells us that it came from French, suggests that Italian bigotto was also borrowed from French, and attributes French bigot to
< either English by God or an equivalent expression in another Germanic language (although there is apparently no evidential basis for this supposition)
with a possible connection to a 12th-century "offensive name given to the Normans", noting that "If not directly connected, it is likely that both words show the same or a similar ultimate etymology".
Wiktionary has essentially the same eytmology for ballot as the OED, except that it gives precedence to Italian over French, and brings in Germanic as the origin of "ball":
Borrowed from Italian balota (obsolete), ballotta (“small ball, especially one used to register a vote”), from balla (“bale, bundle”) + -otta (suffix forming diminutive nouns); or from Middle French balote (obsolete), ballotte (“small ball used to register a vote”) (also compare Middle French balotiage, French ballottage (“second ballot, runoff”)); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *ballu (“ball”).
Wiktionary give three senses for the Italian suffix -otto, noting that "The diminutive and pejorative senses of the suffix sometimes overlap":
- suffix used to form diminutives, especially with an endearing connotation
- suffix used to form pejoratives
- used to form demonyms and demonymic adjectives
Wiktionary also gives us 6 "Italian terms suffixed with -otta" and 74 "Italian terms suffixed with -otto".
This page explaining Italian alterazioni says that -otto "paradoxically combines strength and vigor with a likable clumsiness", giving the examples
- giovane (youngster) » giovanotto (young man, bachelor)
- contadino (peasant) » contadinotto (stout peasant)
Wiktionary's etymology for bigot expands on the "by God" idea:
From French bigot (“a sanctimonious person; a religious hypocrite”), from Middle French bigot, from Old French bigot, of disputed origin. It is most often believed to have derived from the identical Old French derogatory term bigot applied to the overly religious Normans, said to be known for frequently swearing Middle English bi God (“by God”) (compare Old English bī god, Middle High German bī got, Middle Dutch bi gode), which is also thought to be the origin of the surname Bigott, Bygott. (Compare the French use of "goddamns" to refer to the English in Joan of Arc's time, and les sommobiches (see son of a bitch) during World War I). From meaning "someone overly religious" it came to mean "someone overly devoted to their own religious opinion", and then to its current sense.
The French Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales supports the Germanic origin theory above. Liberman however opines that this has "too strong a taste of a folk etymological guess invented in retrospect" and prefers Grammont et al.'s theory that it derives from Albigot (“inhabitant of Albi”), named after the commune in southern France where Catharism (also known as Albigensianism[3]) is thought to have originated. Online Etymology Dictionary, however, does not list Grammont and Liberman's theory among their possible origins.
That's Anatoly Liberman, not me (and not a known relative of mine). Anatoly wrote at length about bigot on the OED blog in 2011 — "Nobody wants to be called a bigot" (pdf version for those who have trouble accessing the online page):
Nobody wants to be called a bigot, but accusations of bigotry are hurled at political opponents with great regularity, because (obviously) everyone who disagrees with us is a bigot, and it is to the popularity of this ignominious word that I ascribe the frequency with which I am asked about its origin. […]
Wherever it came from, the word has changed its meaning since the old days. It used to mean “hypocrite; someone who professes his religious views with excessive zeal.” Today a bigot is a fanatic, a dyed in the wool adherent of some political doctrine (which, as pointed out, does not coincide with ours).
The questions asked in connection with bigot are four:
-
- Does bigot have anything to do with the word god?
- Is bigot (from an etymological point of view) the same word as Spanish bigote “moustache”?
- Is Romance big- “goat” the root of bigot?
- Did bigot, if it was coined as a term of abuse, target some religious group?
For his answers to these questions, you should read the whole thing — but I can't resist quoting how he starts:
Before I answer those questions, I should warn our readers against the information one can occasionally find in the Internet and in printed sources. For example, in October 1997, the Catholic Digest published on pp. 117-120 an article titled “Asphalt, Bigot, and Comma.” It informed the subscribers that asphalt goes back to Leopold von Asphalt (1802-1880), that bigot derives from Nathaniel Bigot (1575-1660), an English Puritan preacher, and that comma traces back to Domenico da Comma (1264-1316), an Italian Dominican scholar whose signature punctuation mark led to a charge of heresy by the Inquisition (commas, apparently, were not found in the earliest manuscripts of the Bible and were therefore considered an insult to God). Many other gentlemen, including Mr. Botch, Mr. Doldrum, and Mr. Fiasco, enlivened the pages of that publication. I wrote a politely indignant letter to the editor but received no answer. Beware of amateur etymologists.
I'll close with his picture of Salvador Dali, captioned as "a person who was certainly an ‘hombre de bigotes’ but not a bigot":
Update — Philip Anderson asks: "Does ’harlot’ not belong to the same category? Wiktionary suggests it is a diminutive."
The OED's etymology:
< Anglo-Norman harlot, Anglo-Norman and Middle French herlot, arlot (plural herloz, herlos) vagabond, beggar (12th cent.), rogue, scoundrel (14th cent.) < a first element of uncertain origin (probably originally the same word as the first element of harlequin n.) + ‑ot suffix.
The OED invites us to
Compare post-classical Latin harlotus, herelotus vagrant, hedge-priest (from 13th cent. in British sources), arlotus, erlotus glutton (14th cent.).
So why isn't harlot on the -ot list? Maybe the deciding issue is which side of the channel the word was formed on?
Wiktionary offers:
From Middle English harlot, from Old French harlot, herlot, arlot (“vagabond; tramp”), of obscure origin. Likely to be ultimately of Germanic origin, either from a derivation of *harjaz (“army; camp; warrior; military leader”) or from a diminutive of *karilaz (“man; fellow”). Compare English carlot.
And carlot is on the OED's -ot list. So…
Update — we should note that turbot has a completely different background:
From Middle English turbot, turbut, from Anglo-Norman turbut, Old French turbot, torbot, from Old Swedish tornbut, from törn (“thorn”) + but (“butt, flatfish”).
Philip Anderson said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:14 am
It seems unlikely that Normans would have been swearing in Middle English. And I would have described their style as a mixture of brutality and piety, rather than over-religious.
Does ’harlot’ not belong to the same category? Wiktionary suggests it is a diminutive.
David said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:19 am
>The suffix -ot was apparently never very productive in English — the OED lists only [3 words]
French Wiktionary lists several dozen more: https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/Cat%C3%A9gorie:Mots_en_fran%C3%A7ais_suffix%C3%A9s_avec_-ot?useskin=vector
I think OED is missing at least the proper names Pierrot, Margot and Merlot. Maybe also "Huguenot", but the etymology of that one is disputed and it might be a loanword from German or Dutch.
S Frankel said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:19 am
Not clear what the first element of 'harlot' is. It's not related to 'whore'. etymonline says:
c. 1200 (late 12c. in surnames), "vagabond, man of no fixed occupation, idle rogue," from Old French herlot, arlot "vagabond, tramp, vagrant; rascal, scoundrel," with cognates in Old Provençal (arlot), Old Spanish (arlote), and Italian (arlotto), but of unknown origin. Usually male in Middle English and Old French. Used in positive as well as pejorative senses by Chaucer; applied in Middle English to jesters, buffoons, jugglers, later to actors. Secondary sense of "prostitute, unchaste woman" probably had developed by 14c., certainly by early 15c., but this was reinforced by its use euphemistically for "strumpet, whore" in 16c. English translations of the Bible. The word may be Germanic, with an original sense of "camp follower," if the first element is hari "army," as some suspect.
ardj said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:22 am
Regret all efforts to read A Liberman / OED blog by linking from this post return "Bad Gateway". Mind you, that is about how helpful the OED is nowadays, unless you have library access or a private fortune.
[(myl) I've added a .pdf version on the LLOG site — it's got the usual formatting problems of .pdf generated by Chrome, but it should be readable.]
ardj said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:23 am
Forgot to say thanks for -ot suffix stuff.
/df said,
November 6, 2024 @ 9:41 am
Dali is shown with his ocelot Babou, a cosmopolitan feline who frequented New York and Paris (commuting on the SS France), as well as, presumably, Port Lligat.
According to Wiktionary, "ocelot" is a term created by Count Buffon from a native Mexican word for jaguar (Panthera onca, where the ç in the Portuguese for ounce has lost its cedilla, but otherwise recapitulating Panthera uncia, the Snow Leopard); in turn "jaguar" derives from a native Brazilian word.
So Dali's pet was definitely not ounce-l-ot as one might have guessed.
Robert Coren said,
November 6, 2024 @ 9:42 am
Spigot?
J.W. Brewer said,
November 6, 2024 @ 10:23 am
I have seen thus far exactly one comment on the election of linguistic interest. At some point yesterday the GOP presidential candidate sent out a message on social media (not sure if it was a tweet or via some other platform) saying "Republicans: We are doing GREAT! Stay on Line. Do not let them move you. STAY ON LINE AND VOTE!" Leaving aside the ALLCAPS and Random Capitalization, someone noted with interest the candidate's usage of the regionalism "on line" rather than the prestige-standard "in line." The "on line" variant has traditionally been closely associated with the NYC area (where the candidate has spent almost all of his life until recently shifting his legal domicile to Florida) and is typically explained as a calque of the way you would say it in either German or Yiddish. But I don't know to what extent it has or hasn't spread geographically in more recent decades.
For bonus interest: another social media message was sent out later in the day in the name of the candidate saying inter alia "If you are in line by the cutoff they must let you vote. GO NOW and STAY IN LINE!" My working theory is that the "in" rather than "on" is one of several "tells" in context that that message was drafted by a staffer rather than the candidate himself.
Rodger C said,
November 6, 2024 @ 11:46 am
I was taught that Spanish bigotes (nearly always plural in my experience) is derived from the facial hair style brought to southern Europe by the Normans.
Barbara Phillips Long said,
November 6, 2024 @ 11:51 am
@J.W. Brewer —
I grew up in the norther foothills of the Catskills, went to college in the Finger Lakes, and always used “in line.” I did not encounter “on line” until we were transferred to Kentucky.
If “on line” was common in New York City, wouldn’t it show up often in quotes in the New York Times, the New Yorker, New York Magazine, the New York Post, and other publications? I do not recall seeing it in print.
Yves Rehbein said,
November 6, 2024 @ 12:17 pm
The Latin translation of ball should be pila IIRC, so logically ballot should correspond to poll, right?
The only logical rhyme to harlot I can think of is Lotterliese, lottern, cp. OE loddere "beggar" (cf.
Pfeifet, "lottern Vb. ‘liederlich leben, schlampen, sich herumtreiben’ (17. Jh.), […] mhd. lot(t)er ‘lockerer Mensch, Taugenichts, Gaukler’, mnd. lōder, lodder, loderer, aengl. loddere ‘Bettler’." [DWDS]).
As for bigot, the by-god my oh my cretin in g-d we trust holier than thou etymology does not strike me as absurd as it used to. Putain.
J.W. Brewer said,
November 6, 2024 @ 12:19 pm
@Barbara Phillips Long: I think of it as a sufficiently specific NYC-ism that I would not expect it to have radiated out far enough from the Five Boroughs to affect usage in the northern Catskills or Finger Lakes. I would have been quite surprised to hear my late maternal grandmother (who grew up way upstate in Watertown, N.Y. and subsequently lived in Ithaca and then the suburbs of Buffalo) use it. I have not dug into the archives of the publications you mention, although one can imagine the snippy copy editors of The New Yorker, at least, silently cleaning up non-standard usage at the expense of accurate transcription.
Of course your Kentucky evidence suggests that parochial NYC-ites may overestimate the distinctiveness of their own regionalisms. Here's a 2008 comment from languagehat (in a thread on his own blog):
"Do Americans really say wait on line in that sense? New Yorkers do; it used to be a nice neat isogloss surrounding the city. It may have spread to a larger area in the Northeast for all I know. I knew I had become a New Yorker when it stopped sounding strange to me."
But perhaps a better isogloss map would show several non-contiguous regions of usage?
D.O. said,
November 6, 2024 @ 1:55 pm
In Russian, what is known to Americans as "ballot paper" is called [избирательный] бюллетень. The head word is the last one obviously from the same source as English bulletin, originally from the Italian bulla, which on the way of becoming bulletin went through bullettino ("little passport"?) stage. Another word with a diminutive suffix, but a different one.
Philip Taylor said,
November 6, 2024 @ 3:15 pm
I was surprised by one statement in Anatoly Liberman's discussion of the possible etymologies of "bigot" — "The ingenious derivation of bigot from Visigothi, that is, Visigoths, who were converted to Christianity in the fourth century and embraced Arianism (and were, consequently, looked upon as heretics), shatters at the difference between the initial consonants" (my emphasis). Anatoly can surely not be unaware that many native speakers of (e.g.,) Catalan cannot distinguish between /b/ and /v/, and I would be surprised if he were not aware that in the Goedilic family of languages "b" ceases to be pronounced /b/ and moves far closer to /v/ when followed by an "h".
David Morris said,
November 6, 2024 @ 3:20 pm
Faggot? diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis "bundle of wood" (etymology.com)
Cuconnacht said,
November 6, 2024 @ 5:12 pm
Bergamot? (From Bergamo.)
Benjamin E. Orsatti said,
November 6, 2024 @ 5:44 pm
Marmot!
(Actually, according to Wiktionary, it's actually a contraction of "mus monti" (mountain rat)).
JPL said,
November 6, 2024 @ 6:07 pm
Nobody seems to have mentioned 'pilot'. I have no idea of the significance of '-ot' in that case.
Philip Anderson said,
November 6, 2024 @ 6:38 pm
“In support of the "by God" theory the surnames Bigott, Bygott are attested in Normandy and in England from the 11c.”
Roger Bigod/Bigot and Robert le Bigot came to England from Normandy in 1066; I really can’t believe the Normans were swearing in English even before they conquered England – it stinks of folk etymology. A connection with southern France seems more likely. A similar origin has been offered for Iberian ‘bigots’/bigode’, from Visigoths swearing in Germanic. Maybe ‘Visigoth’ itself was the origin?
Or Latin ‘biga’ as Wiktionary suggests – it gives the meaning of tree trunk’, but the dictionary meaning of two yoked horses would not be inappropriate for a moustache.
Philip Anderson said,
November 6, 2024 @ 6:59 pm
An earlier mention of Margot reminded me of the exchange between Margot Asquith and Jean Harlow (one of many I think):
JH: “Tell me, is it mar-got or mar-go?”
MA: “The ‘t’ is silent, as in Harlow.”
(from memory)
Coby said,
November 6, 2024 @ 8:47 pm
In French, ballot means (1) bale or bundle, (2) jerk or nitwit.
In American Spanish, 'ballot' is balota; in Spain it's boletín de voto.
By the way, both Charlie Chaplin and Charles de Gaulle were called Charlot (of which Charlotte is the feminine).
Peter Taylor said,
November 7, 2024 @ 5:55 am
@Coby, the only word I've heard used in Spain is papeleta. I suppose it's not impossible that boletín de voto is used in describing foreign ballot papers, because the Spanish system is different. (Rather than making a mark on a single paper which lists all candidatures, one selects a paper which lists one's preferred candidature and places said paper in an envelope).
Robert Coren said,
November 7, 2024 @ 10:10 am
@Philip Anderson: In the version I heard many decades ago, Harlow didn't ask, she just pronounced the "t", eliciting the response you quoted. I would guess that the story is almost certainly apocryphal in any case.
I had a college classmate whose name was spelled "Margo", presumably to avoid this confusion. This seems to be more common nowadays, not to mention the entirely pretentious spelling that properly belongs only to a type of wine, thanks to a certain movie star.
Daniel Deutsch said,
November 7, 2024 @ 5:54 pm
Charlie Chaplin
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlot
Philip Anderson said,
November 8, 2024 @ 2:44 am
I think that most English words and names with the diminutive -ot were borrowed from French in that form, so not many were created in English. Chariot is another, from char.
David Marjanović said,
November 9, 2024 @ 12:05 pm
No idea about Yiddish, but in German "queue" is Warteschlange (noun), schlangestehen (verb), and if you're in one you're in der Schlange, literally "in the snake".
I suspect good old vowel reduction instead: stay'n line can be interpreted any which way. Compare similar reanalyses like one in the same…
J.W. Brewer said,
November 9, 2024 @ 3:11 pm
David M.: The broader NYC-ism is "wait on X" for many X's where AmEng would more typically "wait for X," which has been noted to be parallel to using "auf" as the typical preposition after "warten." Waiting on rather than in line is not a very clean application of that more general tendency (since "waiting for line" is hardly standard or even coherent …), but is I think widely assumed (perhaps incorrectly?) to have arisen among NYC speakers by analogy.
The Rolling Stones song "Waiting On a Friend" (not "For a Friend") is often taken as evidence that Mick Jagger had spent considerable time in Manhattan at around that point in his career, although maybe someone should try to find previously overlooked evidence of the "on" construction being used by other Englishmen of his generation who grew up in Kent?
Philip Taylor said,
November 10, 2024 @ 5:13 am
As an (almost) lifelong resident of Kent, "waiting on" someone does not ring any bells, but "waiting on" something (e.g., "waiting on the outcome of the election") would seem quite natural and not restricted to Kent, although the subject (the entitity doing the waiting) would more commonly be be a thing rather than a person —
1) The whole world is waiting on the outcome of the Election
2) Businesses waiting on the outcome of the election
3) The regime may be waiting on the outcome of the election
4) People are waiting on the outcome of the election
5) The "freedom" and "sovereignty" that I subscribe to, isn't waiting on the outcome of the election.
Sources omitted to avoid unnecessary moderation delays, but all can be found on the web. There are also examples of personal waiting on, but fewer —
1) Am I the only one that can't sleep waiting on the outcome of the election ?
2) I'm waiting on the outcome of the election to decide myself
3) While we are waiting on the outcome of the election
Philip Anderson said,
November 10, 2024 @ 7:18 am
Like Philip Taylor, I recognise the “waiting on (the outcome of) an event” usage, with the implication that what comes next will be dependent on what that outcome turns out to be.
Thomas said,
November 11, 2024 @ 4:13 am
This post sent me down a wiktionary rabbit hole only to discover that in fact English “ball” and French “fou” are descendants from the same PIE root. For me as a linguistic layman, this is quite impressive.
Robert Coren said,
November 13, 2024 @ 10:14 am
@Thomas: That reminds me of something I read many years ago demonstrating how English "wig" ultimately came from Latin "pilus".