The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-21
THE WORD CHATELAINE.
Something About the Derivation and
Meanings ot the Word.


Tudor jerks writes about reference
Books" in the March st. Nicholas. Mr..
Jerks says: Suppose a little boy is
reading story, and he comes to Il @
word "Chatclainc." 1t may seem to him
an Interesting bit of language. tie
thinks he would like to know what it
means. Consequently, he shuts his
book, Keeping his finger in the place
aud runs down stairs to where his
father is busy in the study preparing a
speech upon the coming school election.
"Father," he says, what is a chatc-
laine?"
We will suppose that his father is a
man who has sufficient information to
give a general answer to the question.
"A chatelaine," he may say. lis the
lady who is the presiding mistress Of
castle"
The bov opens mis- book and reads
again the sentence in which he found
the word. Then he gigges
THAT can't be righC," he says; for
here it speaks of lady VINO hung a
chatelaine to her belle Besides it says
that the chatelaire was of hammered
silver; so it can't be a lady who is
mistress of a castle"
oh" his father replies. chat is diff
ferent. There the word means a little
contrivancc ladies wear at their belts
to hold chains from which they suspend
keys and tablets, pinboxes. and such
things"
Then how did you come to make
such a mistake?" the boy asks.
1T was not a mistake" his father
replies. "The word means what I said,
too"
1t is queer that it should mean two
such different things, How does it hap
pen?" the boy asks.
Then the father-if he happens to be
the right kind of a father-puts aside
his work and says, Bring Inc the die /.
tionary"
The dictionary is brought, and open
ed to the word, and father and son
devote few moments to the inquiry
how q single word can have two mean
ings apparently so different. They ind
that "chatelaine" comes from the
French and was at first spelled cha aste-
laine, but that the s. has disappeared,
leaving only little footprint in the
shape of an accent over the n. Then it
is discovered that chaIelaina Is really
a form cf the word castelar,. a short
form of the Latin word castelanus,
meaning a man who is the keeper or
owner Of a castellum. or castle. Ana
| then the dictionary says ~. castle" so
! tEry turn back to castle. They find
| that castle comes from Castel or chas-
! tel which is the same word, in q diff
| ferent form, that now appears as
chateau" and that it comes from the
! Latin castrum, meaning 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, Cas-
| abianca, which is simply white
| house") Casa is the same word as
case" or cover,-that is, a covering
| from the weather,-and that comes
| from the Sanskrit root chhad. which
means a cover. Also from the same
! root come 'cassock," "chasuble," and
| casino" which, it may surprise you
! to learn are relatives of the chate-
| laine with which we started. Now
when we come to the meaning of chate-
! laine, we see that it meant, at first, the
mistress of q castle-that is, a keeper
! of the keys to its supplies and stores
the housGkeeper or housewife; and that
! her name was applied to the little
! bunch of keys carried at her relt, just
as in English we speak of house
/ wife" meaning a little case or box
| that coLtains needles. thread, scissors,
| thimble, and SO on. SO now we can see
| exactly how the same word can mean
! "a lady who is mistress of a castle, "
and "a little contrivauce for carrying
at the belt keys and other useful
! things"
After the boy has learned all these
/ things. lie turns to his father a lutte
/ SCornfuly, and says, "Humph! if
/ had known you Wee going 20 lock IL
/ Hl dictionary, l could have done that
/ myself" rhen, If his father doesn't
say, why didn't you we ourselves
may add that little moral to the ia
! tile,