Word Study

‘Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire!’ My great-grandmother had a great time at the greatest fair in the state, where she ate a great mountain of funnel cake and was greatly disappointed when she had to leave.

What did you notice about my little story? I hope it was the ridiculous number of times I used the word great! One of the most interesting—and most frustrating—features of the English language is the number of different ways we can use a single word. Understanding these various uses and shades of meaning is a vital part of an interpreter’s practice.

I’m sure that my fellow interpreters realize that we shouldn’t interpret every one of those uses of great with the same sign, but perhaps you haven’t thought about what we should use instead. My purpose here isn’t to give suggestions for signs, but to discuss the various meanings of words so that you can figure that out for yourself. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure my ITP professors repeated ‘What does it mean?’ hundreds of times! Even so, I sometimes find myself defaulting to a familiar sign because I don’t fully understand the meaning of the word in that particular context—or don’t give myself enough processing time to grasp the context.

So here we begin with the little word great.

Etymonline gives the meaning and origins of great from the Old English as ‘big, tall, thick, stout, massive; coarse’. It is also related to the Dutch word groot. (I am Groot?) When Middle English came along, great took over the meaning of another word:  mickle – meaning ‘great, large; much, abundant; a great deal’. It is related to our modern word much. (1) I kind of wish we still used mickle. What a fun word!

Great balls of fire!: This is an idiomatic expression that definitely shouldn’t be interpreted literally. In fact, the word great isn’t really important to understanding the idiom. But the phrase is an expression of surprise or amazement. It is probably best known from the song by the same name sung by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1957, but the phrase seems to have been around since the 1800s. (2)

Great-grandmother/grandfather, etc: According to Etymonline, we started adding the great- as a prefix to indicate familial relationships further in the past, probably based on French. (You know that English isn’t a single language, right? It’s three languages, wrapped in a trench coat, hitting other languages over the head and stealing random words and grammar.) In Old English, the way to say great-grandfather was þridda fæder, or third father (that first letter is how Old English represented the /th/ sound, NOT a p).(3) I’ve tried a couple of things, including  fingerspelling great or signing something like MY MOTHER HER GRANDFATHER, but the choice depends on the time and setting, and if I can work out or know the relationship to that extent.

A great time: Here, the word is acting as an adjective expressing enjoyment and making a positive evaluation. There are so many synonyms you could use, like amazing, awesome, excellent, fantastic or terrific.

The greatest fair: This is the superlative form of the adjective great, making a comparison. Synonyms that would work are most impressive, best, finest, CHAMP.

A great mountain: Great is acting as an adjective again, but this time it means a large quantity or a lot. The mountain is a figurative representation of the amount of funnel cake, a metaphor using exaggeration.

Greatly disappointed: The word takes the role of an adverb here, expressing the degree to which one is disappointed. Other words that would convey the same meaning in this context are seriously, extremely, or deeply.

As you can see, our English language is great and great and greatly varied.

The Literary Life of an Interpreter

‘[Catherine and Isabella]…were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together. Yes, novels; for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding—joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust. Alas! If the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it.’ (4)

Jane Austen was a British author who was born in 1775 and died in 1817 at the age of 41. She completed six novels, four of which were published anonymously during her lifetime and two posthumously, along with shorter writings and partially completed novels.  Jane wrote about the society she knew with wit and humor that many modern readers miss when they go into her novels without knowing what to expect.

The above excerpt is one such example. Northanger Abbey is the shortest of Jane’s completed novels. It’s about a young woman named Catherine who is an avid reader of Gothic novels—popular reading of the time—and begins to think that she sees such dramatic circumstances around her. This leads to a number of embarrassing experiences. Jane Austen staunchly defends novels against those who call them frivolous or worthless, while satirizing those who read Gothic novels without discernment, as Catherine does.

If you’ve never read a Jane Austen book, Northanger Abbey would be an excellent introduction to her work. It’s short and humorous, with entertaining characters and situations. It’s also a great place to start your own literary life if you aren’t in the habit of much reading. You can listen to the first episode in a podcast series about Northanger Abbey here.

Resources
etymonline.com – fantastic for finding out the origins of words. Beware of the rabbit hole!
Project Gutenberg – online resource with many books that are in the public domain.
The Literary Life – an amazing podcast that walks through classic literature

Citations:
1 https://www.etymonline.com/word/mickle
2 https://idiomorigins.org/origin/great-balls-of-fire
3 https://www.etymonline.com/word/great-grandfather
4 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/121/pg121-images.html#link2HCH0005