Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Carousing on a Carousel

When thinking of the title for today's blog post, I'm now wondering about the roots of the word "carousel" and why it's geared toward tikes.  Yikes!  

Ashley and Adam had a blast on their first carousel ride this past weekend when we visited family in NY.  Thanks to Uncle Harvey for taking the photos while we whirled away.  





Update:  My curiosity got the best of me and I looked up the root of both "carousel" and "carouse".  Turns out they have nothing to do with each other.  Whew!


ca·rouse

 [kuh-rouz] verb, ca·roused,ca·rous·ing, noun
verb (used without object)
1.
to engage in a drunken revel: They caroused all night.
2.
to drink deeply and frequently.
noun
3.
carousal.
Origin: 
1550–60;  variant of garouse  < German gar aus  ( trinken (to drink)fully out, i.e. drain the cup; compare Middle French carous  < dialectalGerman gar ūs


car·ou·sel

 [kar-uh-selkar-uh-sel] 
noun
1.
merry-go-round  def 1 .
2.
a continuously revolving belt, track or other device on which items are placed for later retrieval: a baggage carousel atan airport.
Origin: 
1640–50;  < French:  kind of tournament < Italian carosello  kind of ballgame < Neapolitan dialect carusello  game played with clay balls, clayball, literally, little head, equivalent to carus o shorn head (perhapsbased on the Greek  stem kors-  shave) + -ello  diminutive suffix

carousel, carousal.

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