How many of us who have had canine family members have not
at one time or another blamed ill-timed Silent-But-Deadlies on the poor dog? Currently, I am reading How Dogs Love Us, which led me to the linguistic justification for
such blame. The author, neuroscientist
Gregory Berns, a professor at Emory University, enlists the help of his dog
Callie, whom his family rescued from a local humane society. In researching Callie’s mixed pedigree, Berns
discovered that she has some “feist” in her.
I was familiar with the word “feisty” meaning “full of spirit or determination;
plucky or spunky,” as The American Heritage Dictionary defines it, but not
familiar with the meaning which Chambers
Slang Dictionary supplies of “a small dog; thus having the characteristics
of such a yappy, snappy, energetic creature.”
Never having heard of feist as a breed of dog, I immediately
looked it up. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “feist” as “Chiefly Southern US A small mongrel dog”
from the Middle English word “fist”meaning “a blowing, breaking wind.” This definition does not capture the idea of
farting associated with the Middle English word.
Chambers Slang
Dictionary actually defines the noun “feist” as “a truculent,
short-tempered person or animal,” with “feisty” as the adjectival form. In defining “feisty,” Chambers goes into more
of the vulgar
(24 March 2013) associations going back to the 15th century form,
“fist”: “a foul smell, the breaking of
wind.” Chambers qualifies its definition with the possibility that “the
dog was so named because one’s own smells could be blamed upon it,” admitting
this interpretation is doubtful.
However, until neuroscientists discover a way to interpret dog thoughts
into human words, dogs will continue to take the blame for stinky human
indiscretions, especially after meals of beans.
Until now, I thought
that “feisty” was a formal, somewhat complimentary adjective. I had no clue that “feist” and “feisty” are words
of Southern regional slang with strong associations with farting. The next time someone accuses me of being
feisty, I will search the immediate area for a dog to blame.
LAGNIAPPE: Supposedly
in human grammar, dogs are referred to with the neutral pronoun, “it” as opposed
to by human gender. In this entry, I have chosen to
write in doggie grammar, referring to dogs with human pronouns, as in my world, pets are
family members.
LAGNIAPPE: The AHD entry for “feist” refers the reader
to pezd- in the appendix of Indo-European roots. The entry reads, “To fart . . . from Old
English fisting, a breaking of wind.” The appendix goes on to list root words
meaning to fart from Middle English (fisten)
and from Germanic (*fistiz), ending
with ”petard” from the Latin pedere,
to fart. The familiar phrase of being
“hoisted by one’s own petard,” blown up by one’s own bomb, takes on new meaning. Now one “hoisted by one’s own petard” can
mean being incapacitated by one’s own farts.
LAGNIAPPE: On regional variations in languages, please see
the “Our
Living Language” note at “andiron” in the AHD.
*Feist* has to be related to the verb *foist*. This would give a new perspective to the true origin and meaning of "foisting (one's) ideas on (someone).
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