Musical hooks
CROTCHETY, adj. This adjective, which we now mainly use in the sense of “cranky” or “irritable,” is a nineteenth-century creation, and according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, originally it meant “characterized by odd fancies, eccentric in thought.” I can’t explain how we got from “fanciful eccentric” to “irritable,” and it turns out there are a lot of other things about this word that nobody can explain.
First of all, what’s a crotchet? Originally the word indicated a small hook, much like its French origin “crochet,” still familiar to English-speaking fiber artists. It acquired some other senses through the centuries, including a musical definition that the internet tells me British English still employs, though in the US we say “quarter note” instead.
This musical definition is possibly what gives rise to crotchet-as-odd-fancy, and thus to the adjective “crotchety.” Both “musical note” and “strange whim” are at play in this moment of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (II, iii), quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary. For context, Balthasar was singing poorly just before this exchange.
BALTHASAR
Note this before my notes;
There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting.DON PEDRO
Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks;
Note, notes, forsooth, and nothing.
Shakespeare’s cleverness aside, we can’t be sure that crotchet-as-note is the origin of the adjective “crotchety.” The Oxford English Dictionary says this of crotchet-as-peculiar-notion (I have edited the text to include linked definitions):
The original of this sense is obscure: it is nearly synonymous with crank
[crank, definition 3: A twist or fanciful turn of speech; a humorous turn, a verbal trick or conceit. Usually in quips and cranks, after Milton. Also, anything fantastic in behaviour, gesture, or action
crank, definition 4: An eccentric notion or action; a mental twist put into practice; a crotchet, whim, caprice.]
and might, like it, have the radical notion of ‘mental twist or crook’; but Cotgrave appears to connect it with the musical note […]: ‘Crochue, a Quauer in Musicke; whence Il a des crochues en teste, (we say) his head is full of crochets’
“Crotchet” is one of the definitions for “crank.” And when I reached for a synonym for contemporary usage of “crotchety,” my first impulse was “cranky.” We’re going in circles. That makes me crotchety.
Uncharacteristically—a caprice, a peculiar whim, a crotchet—I did not finish reading many books in the last two weeks of 2021. But here are a couple of good ones, one small-r romance or something like it, and the other something else entirely.
Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night (polyamory with cis m/nonbinary, cis m/cis f, cis f/cis f relationships, fantasy, novella) by Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian. This is beautiful and immersive. It’s a winter-solstice-themed story about a woman and a genderqueer character who have nothing in common except for their mysterious, chaotic, magical, missing boyfriend. They have to work together to find him after his magical experiment goes wrong. Solving the problem requires them to make their way through a strange and wonderful set of clues that bring them closer together. I thought Layla and Nat were both so richly drawn, especially considering how short this is, and the contrast of their ordinary lives and the eerie, ineffable nature of the magic is really great. The whole cast is marvelously queer. There were some genuine laughs for me, too. A gem.
In things that are neither Romance nor romance, I read The Chosen and the Beautiful, Nghi Vo’s fantasy reimagining of The Great Gatsby, which was lush and dark and very queer. The prose was gorgeous, but in a totally different way from the gorgeous prose of the other Nghi Vo book I’ve read (the novella When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, discussed here). I’m always impressed by authors who can do many different styles.
Happy New Year, Word Suitcase readers! Thank you for being here. This week’s word was a request from my spouse, so this is just a reminder that if you would like me to investigate a word, you can always reply to this email and let me know. I can’t promise to turn up anything interesting, but I will do my best. And I love hearing from you all!
And as always, if you know somebody who would appreciate this fanciful, eccentric (crotchety?) collection of thoughts on words and books in their inbox, feel free to forward this email their way.
