(looking up from book) "What's a dragoon?"
"Eh, a kind of cavalry. Medium, I think."
"Sounds like dragon."
"Yeah, it does. I have no idea what the etymology is. Hang on. (typing) Here we go, it does come from dragon, in French. Dragoons were mounted musketeers, and the muskets belched smoke and flames and so were called dragons by the French. At least by one account."
"Interesting."
"Oh, and it's also a verb. 'To subjugate by force,' as by sending a bunch of dragoons in, or simply 'to compel.' And in 1828 there was another sense: 'to persecute by abandoning to the rage of soldiers.' Clearly a case of verbing going on there."
"Verbing also being a case of verbing."
"Indeed. Wait, this is weird. Dragoon also appears in another 1828 definition, that of bidet."
(laughs)
"I learn that in 1828 a bidet was a small horse issued a dragoon to carry his baggage."
"Carry it to the latrine?"
"Ah, it makes perfect sense. Bidet is French for pony, from Old French bider, 'to trot', and the older type of bidet was meant to be straddled, rather like one would straddle a horse."
"Fascinating."
"Yeah, language is a funny thing."
"Sheds a whole new light on 'the trots.'"
(makes strangled noise)
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My bidet looks more like an autobot or a decepticon than a pony :P (my bidet is from japan). As for the dragoon, it's interesting to know the etymology because I didn't know why dragoons were called dragoons haha! :P
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