The etymology of "glasz"

[wowbright]

Since encountering the word "glasz" for the first time last week while perusing fan fiction, and after failing to find it in the Merriam-Webster or the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, I've been curious about the etymology.

I went to the university library today and it occurred to me that it would almost certainly have the complete Oxford English

Comments

[likeasouffle]

Oooh, this is really interesting. I kind of love etymology. Thank you for doing all this research and posting about it!

(Several years ago I was doing some similar research and learned that "schizophrenia" and "shit" share a common root, having to do with "being separate/detached from the body." I found it hilarious and awesome.)

[wowbright]

I majored in linguistics, which included classes in Old English and two other Indo-European languages. So really, any excuse I can get to crack open the OED is an excuse I'll take.

I love that about "schizophrenia" and "shit." It's amazing how these roots have changes as they've traveled through various languages to get to English.

Okay, now I want to look up all the Indo-European roots of all the swear words and find all the non-profane words built on the same root. Maybe I'll let myself do one every time I come to the library. That could be my little reward to myself for working hard on my real work!

[likeasouffle]

Okay, now I want to look up all the Indo-European roots of all the swear words and find all the non-profane words built on the same root.

OMG, best plan ever! You should post the results!

[wowbright]

Yes! I need some motivation to get me to go to the library more often instead of trying to cram all my library research into as few visits as possible. It will get me out of the home office more, especially now that winter is coming.

And I will definitely post the results, as long as I behave and follow through on my plan!

[frumiousme]

this is awesome information! the word is on the urban dictionary website (which makes sense for a neologism) thanks for doing the research and writing about it!

[wowbright]

Yeah, I saw it on Urban Dictionary, but people rarely put word origins in there and i really wanted to know where it came from. It's really almost pure chance that I found the Welsh word, too - I mean, what if I weren't obsessed with cerulean? If I hadn't looked that up right after glasz, I never would have found it. Or, at least not anytime soon.

Anyway, I'm glad you found it useful!

[verdandil]

Allow me to swoon all over this post. I'm fawning over the possible connection between 'cerulean' and 'glas'; it's kind of beautiful.

And forever in denial about the deep blue matter.

[wowbright]

You know I thought of you when I posted it and if I hadn't heard you comment on it within a couple of days I would have pm'ed you with "verdandil, you won't believe what I found in the dictionary!"

I was thinking about the deep blue and, really OED, explain this to me. If the cerulean warbler is no deep blue, how can "cerulean" always man "deep blue."

(On the other hand, maybe I don't know what deep blue is. I always thought of deep blue as royal blue or dark blue - could it mean something else entirely?)

[verdandil]

The difference between deep blue - suppose it is defined as the most saturated hue of primary blue with a low value - and our own definition of cerulean (because it has reached that point, really) is troubling, especially when other definitions have pointed towards "colour of the sky" which is evidently not deep blue. Not to mention, the few times I've seen the words, I'm sure it was meant to indicate a clear blue. And now I'm wondering if the definition of "cerulean" has shifted from its original meaning due to usage.

I've considered using glasz before, but couldn't find a proper definition. And now, I've just Google imaged the term; guess who appeared in the first two pictures and many more?

[wowbright]

Yes, Chris Colfer is really the main thing that shows up when I Google glasz, which made me think it was a word created by a Chris Colfer fan. Or borrowed from Welsh by a Chris Colfer fan.

I'm going to pull out more of my linguistic research guns on this word, but it may be a while until we get to the bottom of it.

[stacey_in_ma]

Late to posting (just found you and your LJ) but this is I believe where the Kurtsies found the term "glasz". :) I remember it was from a blog post. I'm not positive this was the actual one but this is the one that comes up in my Google search so this is probably it.

http://steakandpotatoes.blogspot.com/2010/01/glasz.html

[wowbright]

Oooh, thank you! I will look more into it. I remember vaguely playing a little with the Breton dialect in college (I majored in linguistics), so it will be fun to try to brush up!

And nice meeting you!