"Origins of words" by Susie Dent, Countdown 09/02/18 (word from places: cantaluope melon, mayonnaise, denim, jeans, jersey, lesbian, balaclava, cardigan, raglan)

I want to talk a little bit about words that came over into English from places. Because it's chock-a- block with words that originated in one praticular place, and they've slipped into the mainstream so much that the place name that they stem from is noe pretty much unrecognisable. Sometimes we just don't know that it comes from a place. A cantaloupe melon, for example, comes from Cantalupo, a place in Italy, whose name actually means "singing wolf", which makes this cantaloupe melon a little bit more sinister. Mayonnaise - the French captured the island of Menorca during the Seven Years' War, and the victory was apparently celebrated with a huge amount of feasting, together with a very special condimentthat was native to that particular place. The capital of Menorca is Port Mahon and the "aise" in mayonnaise means native to. Which is where we get mayonnaise today. Most people probably know that denim was originally serge de Nimes, it was a fabric from Nimes, in France. The serge eventualyy got dropped off and de Nines became denim. Similarly jeans were named after their place of origin, which was Genoa in Italy. A jersey - we wear jerseys all the time. Knitted pullovers that were native to Jersey, in the English Channel, originally worn by fishermen. Kept them very warm in the winter. Lesbian comes from the Greek island of Lesbos, the home of the great Greek poetess Sappho. She was the leader of a religious community that was dedicated to Aphrodite, goddess of love - who dave us aphrodisiac - and her surviving lyric poemsexpress often intense affection for the girls who were members of this community. Balaclava - close-fitting woolen hood or hat, covering the ears and neck - originally worn by soldiers in the Crimean War. And Balaclava was a small port in southern Crimea, in the Ukraine. And in 1854, it was yhe scene of that very famous battle involving the Charge of the Light Brigade. And curiously, two people involved in that war as well also gave their names to the items of clothing. So, from places to people. The Earl of Cardigan, who led the charge, gave us the cardigan, obviously. He was said to wear that knitted type of buttoned sweater to keep himself warm. And possibly less well-known, the first Baron Raglan gave his name to hot only a type of coat, an overcoat, but also the raglan sleeve. And what he wore was quite peculiar, in a way. At least, it ws different from the fashion of the time, because the sleeves continued in one piece up to the neck, so it produced a larger and looser armhole that people weren't used to. But it suted this particular Baron Raglan. And that was because his right arm has been amputated after the Battle of Waterloo, because he'd had it so severely injured. So, the raglan sleeve goes all the way back to a one-armed general.