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[petra]

20K of original story.

Does everyone who knows one of the false etymologies of where the term "mollify" comes from have difficulty using it without imagining characters dressing each other up in drag to calm down, or is it just me?

Comments

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Until now, it was just you.

In the future, it's not just you.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I love sharing!

[giglet.livejournal.com]

2)It's just you. Or was.

1)Um. Wasn't that 10k a couple days ago?! Write! Write like the Wind!

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I read some darn thing about gay history that said the verb mollify had to do with mollies. So.

And, um, yes. But that was two very productive days ago.

(Don't ask about the state of the house.)

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Actually, I associate it more with oeufs mollets, and I definitely don't want to think about characters soft-boiling each other.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

Eep.

I got the etymology -- false or otherwise -- from a book of gay history that said the root is molly. It stuck.

[sterling-sara.livejournal.com]

This seems like the comment to respond to in correction.

No, mollify doesn't come from molly, though they share the root- the root is molle, Latin, meaning "soft". Mollify=to soften, molly=soft man. Molle was used for a brand of sodomite in some medieval or early Renaissance text that I can't remember right now, and from there on, though the references are thin until the 18th century.

The More You Know! Hope I'm not too presumptuous. :D

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

Aw, that's sad. I liked the crazy etymology.

I appreciate knowing it's wrong, though. Thank you.

[sterling-sara.livejournal.com]

If I may ask, what book did you get that from?

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

I can't remember, sorry. It was years ago.

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

ooh, so THAT'S where "molly" came from! awesome!

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

And so we *all* learn something.

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

is that actually where the term comes from? according to the online etymology dictionary which is usually pretty reliable:

c.1386 (implied in mollification), "to soften (a substance)," from O.Fr. mollifier, from L. mollificare "make soft, mollify" from mollificus "softening," from L. mollis "soft" + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Transf. sense of "soften in temper, appease, pacify" is recorded from c.1412.

whereas "molly" wasn't a popular term until MUCH later and my impression was that it derived from the girl's name (and of course "moll," the slang term for sex worker), although i have no footnote for that.

however that is a GREAT image, so i may just pretend!

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

No, unfortunately. But it's still funny to me.

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

"mollycoddle" on the other hand? DOES come from "molly." and the online ety dictionary entry is funny in its own right:

1833, originally a noun, "one who coddles himself," from Molly (pet name formation from Mary), used contemptuously from 1754 for "a milksop, an effeminate man" + coddle (q.v.). The verb is 1870, from the noun.

"milksop"? really?

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

Is milquetoast more or less to your liking?

I like that mollycoddle = wank. I did not know that.

[belmanoir.livejournal.com]

"milquetoast" is like one of my favorite words ever actually. there's something inherently hilarious about it.

[askmehow.livejournal.com]

It was just you. *glares*

@0,000 words?!? That's fantastic! Well done you!

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

*smiles*

I've been having good writing days. Thank you.