Brrrr! It’s so cold! even in this ‘coast of the warm climate’. A couple of folk have said to me that the only way they could keep warm was to go back to bed straight after breakfast! Well, in bed they have lots to think about. Bed brings in history.
Bed (bedd) was named by the people of ancient Britain, as was sheet (scete). These words give us some colourful metaphors as in ‘bed of roses’; ‘you’ve made your bed, now lie on it’; and flower beds and river beds; also sheet giving us sheet metal, sheet music, sheet lightening, etc.
Pillow was also named long ago by the ancient English, but it’s actually made up from Latin pulvinus shades of the ancient Romans wandering around the Britain they hoped to conquer.
While bed, sheet and pillow were named early on, a change came.. The French ruled in Britain from 1066, for some three hundred years. Borrowing from this dominant people came naturally.
Thousands of our words have come to us through French, beginning in the 13th century. Three samples follow.
Blanket, is the first up, literally the ‘little white thing’ – blanc, white + et small. Probably the diminutive is an affectionate use. Though today’s blankets coming in come in various colours
we keep the term. It’s handy elsewhere in language as in blanket of fog, or snow or silence; or a blanket condemnation; and a ‘ wet blanket’ is one who spoils all the fun.
Quilt too, comes from French, out of Latin culite, the original quilt or top cover made up of soft filling between two layers of material.
Mattress brings us to a low point. Though it comes to us through French, it’s finally from Arabic, almatrah, – ‘a place where something is thrown’. Sounds a bit rough, but is very picturesque. Today’s mattresses may be filled with flock, hair, wire, springs etc. too heavy to throw anywhere.
The duvet, also a top cover, and also from French is an 18th century addition, from a word meaning ‘down’, the soft feathers of birds
But let’s finish on a high note. Let’s fly off to Iceland. There, in the 17th century, Europeans discovered the eider duck. With travel becoming ever easier, not too long after, we had acquired the eiderdown, a double-sided bed cover, filled with the soft feathers of the eider duck. That same eider duck plucks its breast feathers to line its nest. Eider, of course, is from an Icelandic word.
We’ve a lovely array of languages here, just to describe a bed. Lots to think about while you snuggle down after breakfast to keep warm.