KENNETH E. HALL. 10 February, 2016 Houston, TX
"There was an old woman what lived in the woods
Weela, weela, wal-ya...." -- Irish rope-skipping song
Weela, weela, wal-ya...." -- Irish rope-skipping song
What the heck is a DOULA?
I have studied languages all my life. Seriously. I learned my first words of FRENCH at age three, and could count to ten in JAPANESE before I was six. By age seven, I set as my lifetime goal to be, in my own words, a "polylinguist", and since that tender age I have made a determined effort to learn at least a word or two of peaceful greeting in as many languages as possible. Sadly, to date, I must admit that I have fallen short of my lofty goal. In fact, I have yet to completely master even ONE of them - my own included.
I have studied languages all my life. Seriously. I learned my first words of FRENCH at age three, and could count to ten in JAPANESE before I was six. By age seven, I set as my lifetime goal to be, in my own words, a "polylinguist", and since that tender age I have made a determined effort to learn at least a word or two of peaceful greeting in as many languages as possible. Sadly, to date, I must admit that I have fallen short of my lofty goal. In fact, I have yet to completely master even ONE of them - my own included.
When asked what my favorite language is, I readily answer ENGLISH! It is the language of those who brought me into this world, and the language with which I am most familiar. Although I am constantly learning new words, meanings, phrases, etc., in tongues as diverse as Tegalog, Arabic, Yórubà, and Hindi, one would figure I have little to learn of modern English.
This would be a big mistake to think so!
This would be a big mistake to think so!
☞ EVERY DAY I learn a word or two in ENGLISH!
One of my recent words stymied me, and took a little research. The word is DOULA.
I recently heard this in the context of childbirth - and figured it was a high-falootin' foreign substitute for the old-fashioned word "midwife." I was correct on both accounts, and wrong on both of those accounts at the same time!
"DOULA! What the heck could this be?!?!" I thought.
• At first I thought of "dooli" - the Hindi word for stretcher or litter, as used in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem "Gunga Din." The real Hindi word for stretcher is "डोली" pron. DÒLI. No cigar.
• Douala? No, that was a city in Cameroons, in west Africa.
Adoola boola bool a penny a pinch! I may have a loverly bunch o' cokynuts, but I had no idea where in the heck this word came from!
"Όλα προέρχεται από την ελληνική γλώσσα!"
I remember what I used to tell my kids, on those long, nighttime intercity trips long ago, when we'd talk about words and their origins. I'd tell them: "It's all coming from the Greek!" My kids had a field day when they heard that very expression in the movie "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding"!!! They all shouted:"This guy talks just like DADDY!"
Yeah, he did, and I've yet to see any royalties from that picture, either! ☹
Turns out, the word DOULA, in fact, comes from the Greek! Told you so!
δούλη (pron. THOOLI - the TH being pron. like the th in "the").
Way back in Ancient Greece, that word meant a female slave.
Way back in Ancient Greece, that word meant a female slave.
The word "DOULA" is, in fact, a high-falootin' word of American (U.S.) invention. They took the Ancient Greek word Thouli and made it doula, and assigned it to a relatively new type of neo-quasi-midwife-person who gives advice and emotional support to expectant mothers. Unlike the Greek slave of old, she does indeed know something about "birthin' babies." But unlike a true midwife, the doula is a sort of coach for mother-to-be and her spouse.
But you already knew all that. ---I didn't. ---I just learned it! In my own language, yet!
See what I mean?
No comments:
Post a Comment