The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-03-30
A oaser Word.

suppose boy Is reading story, and
he comes to the word "cha.elaine."
1t may seem to him an interesting bit
OF language. He thinks he would like
to know what it means Consequently,
he shuts his book, keeping his finger
in the place, and runs down stairs
to where his father is busy in the
study.
Father" he says, "what is chate-
lainee''
We will suppose that his father is a
man Who has sufficient information
to give a general answer to the ques-
ton.
"a chatelaine," he may say, "is the
lady who is the presiding mistress of a
CASTLE"
The boy opens his book and reads
again the sentence in which he found
the word. Then he giggles.
eThat can't be right" he says, "for
here it speaks of lady who hung
chatelaine to her belt Besides, il says
that the chatelaine was made of ham
mered silver; so it can't be lady who
Is mistress Of a castle.n
oh" his father replies, "that Is diff
ferent. There the word means little
eOntrivanee ladies wear at their belts
to hold chains from which they sus-
pend keys and tablets, pinboxes, and
such things"
'Then how Gid you come to N axe
such mistaken the boy asks.
at was not a mistake" his father
replies. "The word means what 1 said,
too"
''It is queer that it should mean two
such different things. How does it
happen?' the boy asks.
Then the father-if he happens to be
the right kind of father-puts aside
his work and says, "Bring me the die
tionary"
The dictionary is brought, and open
ed to the word, and father and son de-
vote few moments to the inquiry how
a single word can have two meanings
apparently 50 different.
They Gnd that "ehatelaine" comes
from the French, and was at first spell
led chastelaine, but that the has dis
appeared, leaving only little footprint
in the shape of an accent over the a.
Then il IS discovered that chatelaine is
really a form of the word castellan, u
short form of the Latin word castellan-
US, meaning a man who is the keeper
or owner of a castellum, or castle. And
then the dictionary says "v. castle,
so they turn back to castle. They find
that castle comes from castel or chastel,
which is the same word ia q different
form, that now appears as chateau" "
and that it comes from the Latin cas-
trum, meaning q camp, while castrum
comes from casa, the Latin for hut, a
word still in the same form in italian.
a curious instance of this word is seen
in the name of the boy who stood upon
the burning deck, Casabianea, which
Is simply "Whitehouse". Casa is the
same word as 'case," or cover, that
is, covering from the weather,-and
that comes from the Sanskrit root
ehhad, which means u cover. Also
from the same root come ''csssock, {"
"chasubIe," and Casino which, it
may surprise you to learn, are rela-
tives Of the chateIaine with which We
started.
Now, when we come to the meaning
of chatelaine, we see that it meant, at
first, the mistress of castle-that is,
keeper of the keys to its supplies and
stores-the housekeeper or housewife ;
and her name was applied to the little
bunch of keys carried at her belt, just
as in English we speak of a "hOuse-
wife, " meaning little case or box that
contains needles, thread, scissors, Thin
ble, and so on. So now we can see ex-
actly how the same word can mean "a
lady who is mistress of CASTLE" and
ga little contrivance for carrying at the
belt keys and other useful things"
After the boy has learned all these
] things, he turns 20 his father a little
seornfully, and says, "Humph. if
had known you were going to look in
the dictionary, could have done that
myself" Then, if his father doesn't
say, "Why didn't your" we ourselves
may add that little moral % the fable
Tudor jerks in St. Nicholas.