Anyone in Britain will tell you that the weather has been truly Baltic over the past week. January started with heavy rain, then continued with snow, ice, frost and freezing fog. Here in Caithness we’ve been lucky, and have only had a minimal amount of snow and ice, although it has been cold. Other parts of the UK have been badly affected.
But this morning, as if activated by a light switch, the snow and ice disappeared overnight. The weather has changed with a warm wind from the south, and the forecast for the rest of the week is positively balmy. While I like the snow and the beauty it brings, I can do without the cold.
Snowy Skies
Hunkering indoors in a blanket hoodie is a good way to avoid the chill. While doing so, I heard a word, probably in a movie, and thought, ‘where does that come from?’. The word was ‘tweezers’. With the resources of the internet at my beck and call, I did some research, and it was much more interesting than expected.
‘Tweezers’ comes from the noun ‘tweeze’. A tweeze was a case used by surgeons or barbers for carrying small instruments. ‘Tweeze’ is believed to come from French ‘etui’ (plural etuis), which was anglicised into ‘tweeze’. Today, an etui is usually a sewing box with fold-out sides – searching for ‘etui box’ will bring up many examples. Over time, the plural ‘tweezes’ became ‘tweezers’. ‘Tweezers’ first appeared in the early 1600s, and by the middle of that century was also being used to denote the instrument as well as the container. But what was the instrument called before then? The internet could not provide a definitive answer.
Following on from last week’s word of ‘Twixmas’, today is a far older holiday – Plough Monday. It’s the first Monday after 6 January, and marks the return to work after the Christmas holidays. First recorded in the 15th century, on this day the plough was blessed, and young men would take it round the village collecting coins and sometimes performing a mumming play. The EFDSS has more information here.
Although I’ve had to unpick and reknit a row or two due to inattention, no tweezers were required. The sleeve is coming along. Unlike a gansey sleeve, where the knitting is faster as you get closer to the cuff, this is the opposite because the sleeves are bell-shaped and thus wider at the cuff. The original yarn has now been used up, and a new one started. It’s very similar in colour and weight, but it too is from a Colourmart set, and when it’s gone it’s gone. I’ll have to start digging through boxes.
I wiah it would turn warmer here!
That’s interesting that tweezers comes from etui. Often, French words starting with “et” turn into “st” – like Etienne becoming Steven. Maybe it’s the “w” sound – “stweeze” is harder to say.
Or maybe it was assumed to be shortened from either “(it)’s (a) tweeze, or “his/’is tweeze”.
Linguistic speculation is fun.
Many thanks once again for an enlightening post. It has been truly Baltic here in the NW of England – I suspect even colder because having been to the Baltic I don’t recall it being this cold! The temperature has risen and the snow has almost disappeared. Things were so bad that I was marooned at home for seven days, something which had begun to grind after a while – in the past I have lived in places cut off for a couple of weeks and didn’t mind. Perhaps it’s an age thing?
The knitting is coming along famously – the colours are glorious! What a talent you have!
Love the bell sleeves and the color changes!
I agree – snow is beautiful. It calms everything down for a bit. But it has been cold. We had one warmish day but I fear the cold will begin again. Perfect knitting weather and do enjoy wearing lots of knitted things when I go out.