Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

OT - camelot

1 view
Skip to first unread message

MC

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 10:45:59 AM9/9/12
to
Would anyone happen to know why "camelot" means "paperboy" in French?

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

James Hogg

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 11:04:55 AM9/9/12
to
MC wrote:
> Would anyone happen to know why "camelot" means "paperboy" in French?

I have a small etymological dictionary which says that "camelot" in the
sense of "�toffe grossi�re" is borrowed from Arabic "hamlat" and that
this word has been confused with a 16th-c word "coesme", meaning
"mercier", which in the 18th c became a slang word for "intrigant
dangereux" and then gave the forms "coesmelotie" (mercier) and
"camelotier", meaning "trafiquant sans scrupule" and then "marchand
ambulant".

--
James

James Hogg

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 11:15:08 AM9/9/12
to
You can find something similar at this site:
http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/cameloteuse
Enter "camelot" as well.

--
James

Pierre Jelenc

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 12:45:21 PM9/9/12
to
In article <copespaz-E92806...@news.eternal-september.org>,
MC <cope...@mapca.inter.net> wrote:
>Would anyone happen to know why "camelot" means "paperboy" in French?

It doesn't really; it means itinerant street peddler of shoddy small
goods, as found in weekly village markets and the like. I had never heard
of the "paperboy" meaning, but apparently it is used (or was used) in that
meaning, simply by extension of its original meaning.

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org

MC

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 1:56:01 PM9/9/12
to
In article <k2ih31$5tb$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
rc...@panix.com (Pierre Jelenc) wrote:

> In article <copespaz-E92806...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> MC <cope...@mapca.inter.net> wrote:
> >Would anyone happen to know why "camelot" means "paperboy" in French?
>
> It doesn't really; it means itinerant street peddler of shoddy small
> goods, as found in weekly village markets and the like. I had never heard
> of the "paperboy" meaning, but apparently it is used (or was used) in that
> meaning, simply by extension of its original meaning.
>
> Pierre

Merci !

MC

unread,
Sep 9, 2012, 1:56:15 PM9/9/12
to
In article <k2ib75$v5t$1...@dont-email.me>,
James Hogg <Jas....@gOUTmail.com> wrote:

> MC wrote:
> > Would anyone happen to know why "camelot" means "paperboy" in French?
>
> I have a small etymological dictionary which says that "camelot" in the
> sense of "étoffe grossière" is borrowed from Arabic "hamlat" and that
> this word has been confused with a 16th-c word "coesme", meaning
> "mercier", which in the 18th c became a slang word for "intrigant
> dangereux" and then gave the forms "coesmelotie" (mercier) and
> "camelotier", meaning "trafiquant sans scrupule" and then "marchand
> ambulant".

Merci !
0 new messages