I just read a snippet of folklore that tells me "a dream of grasshoppers means that something is confusing you."
I can't argue with that. But I'm pretty sure that the thing confusing me would be "why am I dreaming about grasshoppers?"
The fascination with dreams and their interpretations is common to every culture and to every period in human history. From ancient mythologies to world religions, from regional lore to classic literature, from occult mysticism to modern psychology, dreams are universally familiar to all, and yet never fully understood by anyone.
Even the word dream is somewhat mysterious in that its origins are surprisingly vague.
The Old English use of the word (from citations dating back to 975) suggests meanings of "joy, pleasure, gladness, mirth, rejoicing" and "the sound of a musical instrument; music, melody; noise." It isn't until Middle English (around 1300) that we start seeing the first evidence of dream meaning "a vision during sleep"; even so, language historians are fairly certain that this meaning must trace back to the oldest of English -- although there are no known citations to prove it.
As I said, somewhat mysterious (just like dreams themselves, you might say).
For a word of uncertain provenance, dream has certainly well-established itself over the past 1,000 years, and today takes up a remarkable amount of space in the English lexicon.
In the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED, there are no fewer than 150 derivatives, compounds and phrases that are rooted in the word dream.
The earliest of these appeared before 1050 and included glee-dream ("the delight of minstrelsy"), man-dream ("human joy; loud mirth"), and orgledream ("instrumental music").
By the end of the 13th century, the "vision during sleep" meaning had become primary and we began to see such terms as dreamer ("one who has visions in sleep; a visionary; an idle speculator") and dream-reader ("one who reads or interprets dreams"). In the mid-1500s, there were not only dream-readers, but also dream-doctors ("those who profess to interpret dreams").
From 1515, we find citations for an expression you might guess is much more recent: beyond one's wildest dreams.
A hundred years later, dream terms emerged that haven't enjoyed the same longevity -- e.g., John-a-dream ("a dreamy fellow; one occupied in idle meditation") and out-dream ("to expel by dreams"). But certain dream forms of the 17th century have survived quite nicely -- e.g., the noun daydream and the past-tense verb dreamt.
After a span of 800 years (1000 to 1800), in which some 50 dream words are known to have entered the English language, there was a surge of nearly 60 dream terms to appear during the 1800s, including dream-child ("a child seen in a dream; an imaginary child"), dream-while ("the apparent duration of a dream"), dreamlet ("a short or brief dream"), dreamage ("the stuff of dreams") and the still commonly used dreamland, daydreamer, dreamlike, and pipe dream.
Since 1900, there have been about 50 more additions to the list of English dream language -- notably dreamlessness (first OED citation 1905), sweet dreams (1908), the American dream (1916), dream team (1925), dreamboat (1947), dreamscape (1959), dream-sequence (1959), dream ticket (1960), dream on (1962), in your dreams (1986), and dreamcatcher (1991). It would seem that our language does indeed bear out our timeless fascination with dreams, dreaming and everything dreamishly dreamlike.
I'm not sure if that's an observation to be qualified as good, bad or indifferent, but I must admit to a bit of feel-good optimism from a related observation: in the extensively thorough OED, with its 150-plua dream forms, there are precisely a mere 16 terms rooted in the word nightmare. So, sleep well and sweet dreams.
Edmeston resident Christine A. Lindberg, senior U.S. lexicographer for Oxford University Press, is the principal content editor of Oxford's American English dictionaries and thesauruses. Opinions expressed by Lindberg in this column are done so independently, and do not necessarily reflect the policies and practices of Oxford University Press. Have a question or comment relating to the English language? Email languagewithlindberg@gmail.com. Selected submissions will be answered here periodically.
Let's Look At The Language
What will my dream-doctor say about this orgledream in my head?
- Let's Look At The Language
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'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
By Christine A. Lindberg A song that "owns" a particular day of the year is rare.
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Here comes Santa Claus ... where'd he get that snazzy red suit?
Years ago, I had a book of letters written to Santa Claus, and I remember that, among all the messages of "bring me this," "bring me that," and "I'll leave you a plate of cookies," one little boy had written, "Dear Santa, Where did you get your snazzy red suit?" I wouldn't be surprised if the author of that question grew up to be either a reporter or a fashion consultant, but in any event, I hope he got an answer to his question.
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Where do I plug in these Electric Prunes?
Those of us who make the family feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas magically appear on the table know there's nothing magic about it.
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The sometimes-cryptic language of company names
Cream cheese originated in 1872 as the result of William Lawrence's failure to duplicate the French cheese Neufchatel. By 1880, he knew his "accidental cheese" was good enough for distribution, so he packaged it in foil wrappers and called it Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
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Humorist Will Rogers: One of the crown jewels in American language
Defined as "a humorous writer, performer or artist," a humorist could technically be anyone who makes you laugh, but my concept of a humorist is not nearly so broad
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Not quite an 'Ode to Pepé Le Pew' after gross, stinky encounter
My previous column ended with the words "sweet dreams," which are nice if you can get 'em, but sometimes the occasion of slumber time is a few degrees short of sweet.
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Names of hurricanes don't match reality
When the storm named Irene barreled up into Edmeston four weeks ago, I didn't think I'd still be looking down upon the vestiges of her destruction from my upstairs windows.
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Sometimes an unremarkable day is the one we should cherish the most
Ten years ago today, it was a summery Sept. 10 here in Central New York. The temperature hovered in the 80s and there was an occasional drizzle here and there.
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'Don't miss it, don't even be late' The Great New York State Fair is here
"Our state fair is a great state fair! Don't miss it, don't even be late. It's dollars to doughnuts that our state fair is the best state fair in our state!"
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Some of it's all Greek to me, but mostly it's just herbaceously aromatic
For the past five years, I've been a container gardener (having given up the backyard to my dogs).
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Like gods on the heptagram, so are the days of our week
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'Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?' just not the same
When the Baltimore Orioles' third baseman took the field on May 30, 1982, not even Nostradamus could have foreseen that one of the most celebrated streaks in baseball was beginning at that very moment. The player was Cal Ripken Jr., whose 2,131st consecutive game on Sept. 6, 1995, surpassed Lou Gehrig's "unsurpassable" record.
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A frabjous Fourth of July to everyone!
If there's one date in history that every American can cite, it's the day that the Continental Congress gave its nod to the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776.
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I wonder if ancient Romans ever put sanctions on that two-faced Janus
Someone recently asked me if I could explain the meaning of the word "sanction.
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June is bustin' out all over!
When "Carousel," the second stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, the audience left the theater in buoyant spirits.
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Go ahead and have a rat on a stick, but please don't call it a lollipop
I recent read that this Tuesday is National Escargot Day. I was unable to find any compelling evidence that this is an official national day for any nation in particular, but it does seem that throughout the U.K. and North America, French restaurants have happily adopted the day as a time to celebrate their garlicky little mollusks.
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Onomatopoeic power of wheatgrass souffle
“The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named” is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of “onomatopoeia” (Ah-Nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh).
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The language of Benjamin Franklin, in whatever name he used
When Benjamin Franklin died 221 years ago this month, the entire Western world mourned, yet his gravestone reads (in full), “Benjamin and Deborah Franklin 1790.”
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There's nothing like a good spoonerism to tickle a bunny phone
The English economist Sir Roy Forbes Harrod (1900"1978) once said that, compared to all the scholars he had known at Oxford and Cambridge, the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844"1930) was the most exceptional in "scholarship, devotion to duty, and wisdom." There is no reason to question Harrod's assessment, but that's not exactly the imprint by which Spooner is best remembered.
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'We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne'
