Saturday, February 17, 2007
Carnival - etymology
I just heard some guy on Radio 4 alluding quite convincingly to the derivation of "carnival" as "saying goodbye to meat" (carne + vale? ) - which had never occurred to me, I’m afraid to say. Interestingly, my Chambers dictionary reads as follows:
"probably from - caro flesh + levare to remove, the original carnival being Shrove Tuesday, the day before the Lent fast".
Posted by Dej on 17 Feb around 1pm
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