Today we answer a visitor’s question and correct a few errors, egregious and otherwise. Question: Dear Bill: My name is John B. Lee. You may recall that we met at a literary festival where I read some poetry and we chatted. You bought a couple of my books. A few months ago, I was intrigued to discover that the word crokinole did not appear my Dictionary of Canadianisms, nor did it appear in Mel Hurtig’s The Canadian Encyclopedia. I went on a word hunt and discovered that even the Canadian manufacturer of the game did not know the etymology of the word. He said, “Your guess is as good as mine.” The game was invented and first played in Tavistock, Ontario. The French derivation of the word makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I began to Google the word to no avail. Then I came across a reference in an erotic language lexicon referring to the word “crok” as slang for penis. In that there are several games referred to as “in hole,” or “in ‘ole” games including golf for instance, I wondered if some dirty old man was having us on with his “crok in ‘ole” joke, much like the mischief of a dirty limerick. I made this suggestion to the owner of the business which manufactures the game and he wrote back to say that he found my explanation to be the most satisfactory suggestion he’d ever read concerning the origin of the word crokinole. Bill, do you have a better explanation. Have you ever explored the origins of the word crokinole? I tried out my theory on several etymological amateurs and they said it made absolute sense. What thinkst thou? ---all good things, John B. Lee
My Answer to the Crokinole Question: Dear John, First problem. THE dictionary of record for Canadian English is the second edition of The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Period. There is no other authority. The COD may be overly cautious or even on occasion wrong, but it stands the tests. You did NOT consult it, because it lists and etymologizes crokinole as a headword entry. I don’t know precisely which erroneous tomes you consulted, but the information you present is strictly Swiss cheese, pal. Your info is full of holes. For example, the French derivation makes perfect sense. Cogent, clear, correct. You are not thinking of lawn croquet played with mallets, are you? Crokinole is a board game in which one flicks wooden discs from the edge to the centre of a board. Or, in its modern version, plastic discs into a cup, as in the game of tiddlywinks. Croquignole was a French word in the 15th century— long before Tavistock, Ontario, was even a twinkle in a Scotchman's sporran! Croquignoler is the frequentative verb form of the earlier, simpler French verb croquer (to crunch, to flip, to flick), the frequentation of the root accomplished by a nasal infix so that croquer becomes croquignoler “to flick repeatedly.” That is what a frequentative alteration does to the root meaning of an action verb. It creates a new verb that describes frequent iterations of the action of the older, simpler verb. For example, volare is a Latin verb meaning ‘to fly.’ Its frequentative form is volitare meaning ‘to flit, to flap wings excessively frequently. Naturalist writers of ancient Rome used the verb volitare to describe the rapid-winged flight of bats. The early Latin poet Ennius used volitare in his famous poetic boast to the future: “Let none embellish me with monuments, or make a funeral of wailing. Why should they? Alive from lips to lips of men I go awinging.” I translate volito here as “I go awinging.” Ennius meant, of course, that his verse would live forever. This vaunting trope was common among Roman poets. You recall Horace’s description of his own poetic oeuvre, “I have reared a monument more lasting than bronze.” We today may think such boasting mere narcissistic preening, but Roman authors deemed it a quite permissible arrogance.
CROKINOLE 1. The game’s name refers directly to flicking the wooden disc from the edge of the crokinole board to the receiving goal depression at the centre. To check that, look it up in the most authoritative French dictionary of etymology: Le Robert dictionnaire historique de la langue française. A form of this game was played by Attic Greeks, by Egyptians, by Babylonians. 2. Nobody in Tavistock, Ontario thought up crokinole. Although it may have been “re-invented” in Tavistock, Ontario, by some gormless bumpkin, the Canadian game is a DIRECT COPY IN EVERY DETAIL of an 1825 (Early Victorian) British tavern game called squails. Look it up. Squails is plural. In Britain, squails was first ninepins, then squails was what became crokinole. Canadians cannot claim this game. They copied it from Brits. British immigrants probably brought it to Canada. 3. The French word on which crokinole is based is 600 years old. It’s in many modern languages, all borrowed, as the English word was, from continental French. And there is nothing more to be said. Your erotic etymology is a crock: supposititious, unsupported, and de trop. But clever. For goodness’ sake, John, do pass this email on to the guy who makes the crokinole boards. Trusting I have not been too abrupt and reminding you of how much I admire your powerful poetry, I remain,
© 2006 William Gordon Casselman
Hundreds of links to more of my word entries are available below.
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