Keep At Bay

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, my name is Brian Riddle. I’m calling from Indianapolis.

Hey, Brian.

And I’m curious about the phrase, to keep something at bay.

I’m curious of the origin in the kitchen, and so it’s been a topic of conversation for the past few weeks.

And we have a couple of theories about coming from bay leaves and laurel leaves.

I know the Romans used to use bay leaves as a crown, and they have protecting powers.

So I was wondering if it had something to do with that.

Bay leaves.

And why did this come up in your kitchen?

We used bay leaves to season.

And, you know, obviously we’re very familiar with that term.

And I think someone used it one day and we just got to talking about it.

Okay.

And this is your kitchen at home or did you say you work in one?

I work in a kitchen, yes.

I see.

So garlic keeps away vampires and bay leaves keep away fairies, pixies, brownies?

Perhaps anything.

Again, I’ve read that the Romans used them just to protect from basically evil deeds or evil things or evil spirits.

Okay, so your theory is that at bay, to keep somebody or something at bay comes from bay leaves.

I’ve got to say, that’s a new one for me, but I could buy that almost if I didn’t know better.

You know, it’s interesting to me.

I always thought at bay for the longest time, I thought it was, you know, a ship in a bay or a boat in a bay that’s sort of protected by those embracing arms of the landmass around it and on either side.

Absolutely.

We had the same ideas.

We had a few ideas.

You did.

But none were very satisfactory to us.

Well, Mistress Martha, have you ever been hunting with a dog?

I have not been hunting with a dog.

You, Grant?

Yeah, yeah, several times.

I used to go rabbit hunting with my father’s beagle.

Oh, my.

Well, do tell.

Well, this gets to the heart of At Bay, right?

Right.

It has to do with the baying of the hounds.

Yeah.

So when a dog bays at you, Brian, he keeps you away, right?

Because he’s barking at you.

He’s howling.

Or maybe he’s howling at a raccoon who’s been treed.

Or he’s howling that he’s discovered the rabbit that you’re going to try to shoot or what have you.

And so it’s about the baying of the hounds, keeping you or something or somebody away from somebody or something else.

Oh, okay. That’s very interesting.

Yeah, and it comes from French originally.

The verb in modern French is aboyer, A-B-O-Y-E-R, and ultimately made its way into English as to bay.

But my father’s beagle, what it would do when it would find a rabbit,

It has this particular kind of a yelp where if you don’t know what hunting dogs sound like, you think that they’re hurt.

You think that they’ve been wounded, hit by a car, or something dastardly has happened.

And it’s kind of your hair on the back of your neck stands up the first time you hear it.

I remember my mother just kind of really being incredibly uncomfortable when she heard our dog start baying because she’d caught the scent or sight of a rabbit.

Yeah, so it’s really not a peaceful image at all, the original one.

In fact, you know, sometimes a dictionary definition can just conjure an image.

In the Oxford English Dictionary, it says that at bay is used in hunting phrases.

And it’s relating to the position of a hunted animal when, unable to flee farther, it turns, faces the hounds, and defends itself at close quarters.

I mean, I read that, and I just, my heart kind of stopped.

I mean, that moment of fierce desperation is right there.

So we don’t think it has anything to do with bay leaves, although that is a great guess.

Thank you very much for the answer.

We’ll share it with the rest of the people here.

Well, what we want to know is if you’re going to share the food.

Is this Italian food, you said?

French.

French Mediterranean and Italian, yes.

We’ll be there.

In Indianapolis, right?

That’s right.

That’s correct, yes.

Okay.

Thank you very much, Martha.

Thanks for calling, Brian.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

It sounded like he had to get back to his kitchen.

I think he had something burning on the stove.

Yeah, his sauces were spoiling.

Well, call us from your kitchen, and you can send food deliveries, too.

1-877-929-9673

Or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.