I was talking to the barn manager, Suzanne Ward, at Rock Creek after my first posting about where the word "curry" in curry comb came from. Suzanne is very knowledgeable when it comes to horses and when it comes to random tid-bits and facts. So, it should not have been a surprise to me that she had a more definitive answer regarding the curry comb.
According to Suzanne, the word curry as it relates to the curry comb was first used in a 14th century French poem called "Roman de Fauvel" by Gervais De Bus. Roman de Fauvel is translated as the Faun Colored Beast. In the poem there is a donkey whose name is Fauvel. "The donkey's name, which when broken down forms fau-vel, or "veiled lie", also forms an acrostic in which each letter stands for one of the seven deadly sins: Flaterie (Flattery), Avarice (Greed), Vilanie (Guile), Variété (Inconstancy), Envie (Envy), and Lacheté (Cowardice)." (1) It has also been suggested that historically the word "fauvel" is where the word english "favel" came from in relation to currying favor. In my previous posting I referenced the idea of the words "fauvel" and "favel" having a relationship with favor, as in currying favor. In the poem, " The English expression "to curry Fauvel", (now to "curry favor") arose from the scene in which potentates descended so low as to brush down the donkey and clean him off." (1)
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_de_Fauvel
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Why is it called a curry comb? - PART 1
I received an email from an instructor I work with about a question one of her students had asked her. Apparently her student wanted to know why curry combs are called curry combs. I stared reading through the small library of horse books I have acquired and while I was able to read all about what a curry comb looks like and what it does I was not able to find a whole lot of information regarding it's history.
The first thing I decided to research was the definition of the words curry and comb. Comb was self explanatory, so the next logical step seemed to be to look up what it means "to curry" something. According to www.merriam-webster.com, the word curry - a transitive verb - as it relates to horses dates back to the 13th century (1), specifically between 1250-1300 (2). It's etymology is listed as "Middle English currayen, from Anglo-French cunreier, correier to prepare, curry, from Vulgar Latin *conredare, from Latin com- + a base of Germanic origin; akin to Gothic garaiths arrayed" (1) At the bottom of the definition, Merriam Webster cites the idea of currying favor by stating, "— curry favor Middle English currayen favel to curry a chestnut horse: to seek to gain favor by flattery or attention." (1) Similarly, on www.dictionary.com they cite the idiom curry favor ["curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning: His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss." (2)] along with the verb definition of curry as it relates to grooming horses. "The word 'curry comb' itself, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is not recorded before the 16th century - though it also quotes, from 1398, the phrase 'coryed wyth an horse combe." (3)
After I determined the definition and origins of the word curry and the idioms that specifically relate to it I began to formulate my own theory as to why a curry comb is called a curry comb. Since the idiom that relates to the word curry is to curry favor, it seemed plausible to me that the curry comb got it's name from those who had to groom noblemen's, knight's, lord's, etc's horses; by grooming them well and making them clean and beautiful they were able to curry favor with the horses owner. However it was a book titled The Medieval Horse and Its Equipment, c. 1150- c. 1450 by John Clark from the Museum of London that provided the foundation for my theory. In his text on page 160 it states, "Kurath & Kuhn suggest the original meaning was no more than 'curry the master's horse' - presumably, to do dirty and menial work in order to get into the lord's good books." (4) Clark then goes on to cite, from Jones (1989a, 207-8), "...the development of the French estriller fauvel,' English 'curry favel' and Provencal 'saber de la falveta,' all found in the 14th century with similar meanings - to groom (use soft soap on, butter up) the (horse-)lord to win his favour." (4)
In conclusion, though it was difficult to find a large amount of texts or a variety of texts relating to the history of the curry comb, my initial theory appears to be valid -that the curry comb got it's name from those who groomed noblemen's et. al (noblemen, lord's, knights, etc.) horses in an attempt to gain their favor and to seek advancement.
End Notes:
(1) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curry
(2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Curry
(3) Clark, John. The Medieval Horse and It's Equipment, c. 1150-c. 1450. Museum of London. 2004. pg 158. http://books.google.com/books?id=A6mfmPBUUewC&lpg=PA160&ots=BBF-ibqjyU&dq=where%20did%20the%20curry%20comb%20get%20its%20name&pg=PA158
(4) Clark, John. The Medieval Horse and It's Equipment, c. 1150-c. 1450. Museum of London. 2004. pg 160. http://books.google.com/books?id=A6mfmPBUUewC&lpg=PA160&ots=BBF-ibqjyU&dq=where%20did%20the%20curry%20comb%20get%20its%20name&pg=PA160
The first thing I decided to research was the definition of the words curry and comb. Comb was self explanatory, so the next logical step seemed to be to look up what it means "to curry" something. According to www.merriam-webster.com, the word curry - a transitive verb - as it relates to horses dates back to the 13th century (1), specifically between 1250-1300 (2). It's etymology is listed as "Middle English currayen, from Anglo-French cunreier, correier to prepare, curry, from Vulgar Latin *conredare, from Latin com- + a base of Germanic origin; akin to Gothic garaiths arrayed" (1) At the bottom of the definition, Merriam Webster cites the idea of currying favor by stating, "— curry favor Middle English currayen favel to curry a chestnut horse: to seek to gain favor by flattery or attention." (1) Similarly, on www.dictionary.com they cite the idiom curry favor ["curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning: His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss." (2)] along with the verb definition of curry as it relates to grooming horses. "The word 'curry comb' itself, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is not recorded before the 16th century - though it also quotes, from 1398, the phrase 'coryed wyth an horse combe." (3)
After I determined the definition and origins of the word curry and the idioms that specifically relate to it I began to formulate my own theory as to why a curry comb is called a curry comb. Since the idiom that relates to the word curry is to curry favor, it seemed plausible to me that the curry comb got it's name from those who had to groom noblemen's, knight's, lord's, etc's horses; by grooming them well and making them clean and beautiful they were able to curry favor with the horses owner. However it was a book titled The Medieval Horse and Its Equipment, c. 1150- c. 1450 by John Clark from the Museum of London that provided the foundation for my theory. In his text on page 160 it states, "Kurath & Kuhn suggest the original meaning was no more than 'curry the master's horse' - presumably, to do dirty and menial work in order to get into the lord's good books." (4) Clark then goes on to cite, from Jones (1989a, 207-8), "...the development of the French estriller fauvel,' English 'curry favel' and Provencal 'saber de la falveta,' all found in the 14th century with similar meanings - to groom (use soft soap on, butter up) the (horse-)lord to win his favour." (4)
In conclusion, though it was difficult to find a large amount of texts or a variety of texts relating to the history of the curry comb, my initial theory appears to be valid -that the curry comb got it's name from those who groomed noblemen's et. al (noblemen, lord's, knights, etc.) horses in an attempt to gain their favor and to seek advancement.
End Notes:
(1) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curry
(2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Curry
(3) Clark, John. The Medieval Horse and It's Equipment, c. 1150-c. 1450. Museum of London. 2004. pg 158. http://books.google.com/books?id=A6mfmPBUUewC&lpg=PA160&ots=BBF-ibqjyU&dq=where%20did%20the%20curry%20comb%20get%20its%20name&pg=PA158
(4) Clark, John. The Medieval Horse and It's Equipment, c. 1150-c. 1450. Museum of London. 2004. pg 160. http://books.google.com/books?id=A6mfmPBUUewC&lpg=PA160&ots=BBF-ibqjyU&dq=where%20did%20the%20curry%20comb%20get%20its%20name&pg=PA160
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