"James Lipton - ExaltationOfLarks" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lipton James)

A SWARM OF BEES
A BROOD OF HENS
A HOST OF ANGELS
An interesting term this. J. Donald Adams, in The Magic and Mystery of Words, says, "Angels in any quantity may be referred to only as a host. The word's title to that distinction is clear enough; host derives from the Latin hostis, meaning enemy, and hence came to mean an army. It was presumably applied to angels as the warriors of God."
A BEVY OF BEAUTIES
This is one of the few venereal terms whose origin is uncertain. Partridge marks it o.o.o. - of obscure origin; but hazards the guess that it derives from the Old French bevee, a drink or drinking.
A STRING OF PONIES
A COVEY OF PARTRIDGES
Here is an interesting etymological journey: the Latin cubare means "to be lying down" (both concubine, to be lying down with, and incubate, to be lying down on, also derive from this root). It becomes cover in Old French, whence cove or covy in Middle English. This it refers to nesting habits.
A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
A COLONY OF ANTS
A PASSEL OF BRATS
An American term, of course. J. Donald Adams went looking for this one, finding it finally in Wentworth's American Dialect Dictionary as "hull passel of young ones," "a passel 'o hogs," etc., but no etymology is given. My Southern friends assure me, however, that passel is simply 'parcel' in a regional accent.

PART II

The Unknown

These terms are authentic and authoritative. They were used, they were correct, and they are useful, correct - and available - today.

A MURDER OF CROWS
A KINDLE OF KITTENS
Kin, kindred, and the German Kinder are related to this word from the ME kindlen. To kindle literally means "to give birth."
A COWARDICE OF CURS
A LEAP OF LEOPARDS
A POD OF SEALS
The derivation of this word is obvious, since a pod contans several peas. It was borrowed by sailors to describe groups of seals.
A SLOTH OF BEARS
A RAFTER OF TURKEYS
Probably not what you think, if you see birds sitting on a beam. The term is related to raft in the sense of a "large and often motley collection of people and things, as a raft of books," according to Webster. It is also related to raff, which means a collection of things, and appears in some interesting variations in riffraff and raffish. Remember raff, we will encounter it again.
A PACE OF ASSES
From the Latin passus, a step or stride.
A WALK OF SNIPE
A GAM OF WHALES
A whaling voyage could last as long as three years, so when two whalers encountered each other on some remote sea, it called for a gam, an exchange of crews via whaleboats and the "gamming chair.' It was a happy time for a whaleman and obviously the whales' habit of sporting playfully on the surface of the sea gave rise to this fanciful term.
A NEST OF RABBITS
A GANG OF ELK
A FALL OF WOODCOCKS
A DULE OF DOVES
A corruption of the French deuil, mourning. The soft, sad ululation of the dove has always evoked an association with mourning.
A SKULK OF FOXES
A DISSIMULATION OF BIRDS
A PEEP OF CHICKENS
A BUSINESS OF FERRETS
A PITYING OF TURTLEDOVES
A PADDLING OF DUCKS
on water.
A BEVY OF ROEBUCKS
See earlier note on BEVY OF BEAUTIES. When applied to roes there would seem to be some support for the argument that it stems from the French word for drinking, since roes would frequently be seen together at a watering place.
A CRASH OF RHINOCEROSES