from L. pugnus, hence E. pugnacious, etc.
Latin pugnus (fist) yielded Spanish puño (fist), and puño yielded puñal (a dagger held in the fist). On the English side, pugnus gave us pugilist and pugnacious, two words that pack a punch (another pugnus-related word). A short list of the Spanish and English words appears in the diagram below.
The poniard (it ryhmes with "boneyard" and is cousin to the puñal, which rhymes with "spoon y'all") has appeared countless times in swashbuckler movies. In sword-fighting scenes, the sword hand uses the sword (natch) for long distance work, while the other hand takes the poniard in fist and goes to work up-close and personal. Never get in a fist fight with a poniard man.
Latin pugnus had a Greek cousin, pygme.
"The term Pygmy, considered derisive by the people it purports to describe, derives from the Greek word pygme - a unit of length defining the distance from the elbow to the knuckles (a cubit - JS) - used by Greek writers including Homer to name a people shrouded in myth more than two millennia ago." (National Geographic, Nov. 1989 - The Efe, Archers of the African Rain Forest - Rob't C. Bailey)
You can tell from their body language that these Pygmies are uncomfortable with Mr. Big. They probably sense he looks down on them.
As a point of interest, the duke, of "put up your dukes," comes from rhyming Cockney slang. Duke of York was slang for fork. Duke was extracted from the phrase and took on the meaning of the fist that held the fork, then fist in general. Put up your dukes means (as you've always known) put up your fists. "Outside for knuckle drill, muchachos!"
Copyright © 2007 - Jerry Schnell - All rights reserved
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