Transcript of “Footprints on Language”
You’re listening to a special edition of A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Today we’re looking back at some of our favorite conversations about cats and dogs, and a few other animals besides.
Cats and dogs prowl around inside some interesting English words.
For example, the adjective chatoyant. That’s C-H-A-T-O-Y-A-N-T. It describes something that’s shimmering like a cat’s eyes, like you might talk about a chatoyant gemstone.
And chatoyant comes from the French word for cat.
And don’t forget about sleuth. You and I do a lot of sleuthing.
And sleuth is a shortening of the word sleuthhound. In the 15th century, the name sleuthhound applied to a bloodhound with a strong sense of smell.
But it wasn’t until the 19th century that sleuth came to apply to a private investigator instead of to the dog.
