Mother Tongue and Child Speak

The word 'child' is derived from the Old English word 'cild' or 'childe', which referred to a 'youth of gentle birth'. The word 'gentle' in this case comes from 'gentil', an Old French word that denoted nobility and aristocracy. So it seems that in those days, the word was really meant to describe something quite specific.

Of course, we use 'children' today in a much broader sense. But I think how we got to the word is quite interesting. In the 10th century, they pluralised the word with two variants, namely, 'cildra' and 'cildru'. Then in the 12th century, they re-pluralised it as 'children', which is what we use today. So it's actually a pretty old word for its denotations of youth and innocence.

The interesting part is that the 12th century re-pluralisation - children - actually gave the word a double plural; 'cildr-', which already carried the sense of plurality, had it's existing grammatical property accentuated with an 'en'. Well, no one really knows why. But then again, no one really knows what happened during the Dark Ages. However, it's not as if the plural 'cildre' has completely disappeared. It survives in what is known today as Lancastershire dialect in the word 'childer', and more popularly in the word 'Childermas', which refers to the Festival of the Holy Innocents (that is, December 28, which commemorates Herod's massacre of all male infants in Bethlehem after the birth of Christ).

What's even more interesting is that the word has a further derivation. The Old English word 'cild' had earlier origins in Proto-Germanic language. The P.Gmc word we're concerned with is 'kiltham', probably an adjective of some sort, closely derived from 'kilþei', which meant 'womb' in the same language.

This literally brings to mind the fact that the English language, that is, what we commonly use today and what I'm using right now, is also a child of sorts, and has its mother(s). It's not a new idea, and there are certainly historical reasons for suggesting so. The English language has been called a bastard language, or a pirate language. That's because it's really a mix of the earlier forms of many Indo-European tongues that are still widely spoken today, including French, German and even Greek. Something like an illegitimate child. Loveapple could probably tell you much more about it, but that's if you know her. You could also look here if you want a closer acquaintance with your word of interest.

Otherwise, this is one child that I can and do love, and also that I can handle with much liberty and possible mistreatment without being charged for paedophilia.

So Happy Children's Day!