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A Welsh blackbird
The Welsh name for a blackbird is Y Derrin Dhu, literally 'a black bird', and anyone knowing these friendly, cheeky bird's personalities knows them as plucky and personable, hard working too, especially when they have a nestful of chicks to feed. They are seemingly less wary of humans than many other species of bird and if you regularly put food out for them, they will very soon be hopping down while you are still there, even skipping about near your feet as they feed, seemingly unconcerned that you are still around. This could have given rise to the English expression 'derring do' meaning with gusto and daring, as it suits the bird and the sound is so similar it could easily have changed over time. English ears may have heard the Welsh name voiced and taken it to be a description rather than a name, so adopted it for any behaviour similar to the 'derrin dhu'. That's how words often come into a language. Some think it comes from the English word 'daring', but why then change it to derring and what does the 'do' mean? It would have stayed at 'daring do' whatever that might mean. My conclusion is that it was the Welsh expression which gave rise to the phrase.English has ever been a language that assimiliated words from other languages. |
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Fool on the Hill
A blog about the state of the world
www.oneworldnet.co.uk/blog/index.php
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May, 2012
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