Hamstring
July 11, 2007
I pulled a hamstring last night. That’ll teach me to play football with boys that are much bigger and stronger than me. I do translations for a fitness magazine and I had often wondered where the "ham" in "hamstring" comes from, and while I was doing a search on the Internet to work out how to look after my poor traumatised muscle (the answer is RICE: rest, ice, compress, elevate), I came across the etymology of the word. It comes from ME hamme, OE hamm (bend of the knee) and ME string, streng, OE streng, akin to Latin stringere (to bind). Sums it up nicely, really.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some stretching to do.
Posted by céline, in Words, on July 11, 2007Best wishes for the recovery.
Posted by xl on July 11, 2007 6:50 PMI second xi's wishes.
I see from the French side of Céline's blog that the hamstring is "l'ischio-jambier".
I much prefer the English word. Less clinical !
As in modern English 'ham', meaning the back of the leg, and its extended meaning for the stuff we all eat.
Posted by Paul on July 12, 2007 5:50 PMThanks for the good wishes, it's getting better already and I'm hoping the world won't be deprived of my silky skills for much longer.
Paul, as a citizen of lentil-loving, muesli-making, animal-protecting Brighton & Hove, and on behalf of all Jews and Muslims, I must object to you saying that ham is "stuff we all eat".
Posted by céline on July 13, 2007 9:08 AMPoint taken
Posted by Paul on July 13, 2007 2:16 PMBy the way Xavier, the way I translated it into French is indeed rather clinical, a more common way of saying it would be "je me suis claqué la cuisse" or "je me suis fait un claquage à la cuisse".
Posted by céline on July 14, 2007 3:40 PMPrevious: July 10, 2007
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