Mary O'Connell wrote from Douglas, Cork, asking about the word hearse. Her dictionary says the word comes from a French word meaning a harrow. She is puzzled.
Hearse is from Middle English herse, itself from Middle French herce which had the meaning harrow, and an extended sense, a frame, triangular in shape like the old harrows, into which candles were placed, especially during the service of Tenebrae in Holy Week. The English of Chaucer's time used both the literal and extended senses of the word.
They often built a harrow-shaped frame over a coffin; this they decorated with lighted candles, and called a herse. In time the word was extended to mean, first of all the bier, and later the vehicle used to bring the dead to the grave.
The word rehearse is etymologically related to hearse. Rehearse comes from Middle French, rehercier, which means to repeat; the original meaning of the French word is "harrow again". So when an acting company rehearses, they go over the same ground again and again until all the problems have been smoothed out.
The Middle French herce is, probably by way of Italian erspice, from Latin hirpex, a large rake, and this seems to be of Oscan origin, probably akin to Oscan hirpus, a wolf, which has, like the harrow, rather sharp teeth. Oscan is an extinct language of ancient southern Italy, a member of the Indo-European family.
Mark Walsh from Waterford wrote to ask about cloud-cuckoo- land. This is a translation by William Arrowsmith of the Greek nephelokokkygia, a name coined by Aristophanes in his comedy, The Birds, first staged in Athens in 414 BC. Two Athenian gurriers try to convince the birds that they should build a city of their own. The passage in which Arrowsmith translates Aristophanes's coinage runs like this:
Pisthetairos: Well, what do you suggest instead?
Euelpides: Something big, smacking of the clouds. A pinch of fluff and rare air. A swollen sound.
Pisthetairos: I've got it. Listen - CLOUDCUCKOOLAND!
Euelpides: That's it! The perfect name. And it's a big word too.
Mary Ryan from Harold's Cross wonders where the word easel originated. It came into English from Dutch ezel, an ass, in the 17th century; they both, in a sense, are beasts of burden. Ezel is related to Old English assa, which may be a diminutive of Old Northumbrian asal, direct from Old Irish asal, courtesy of our monks. All are from Latin asinus.