18.05.26: clothes washing [2]: derivatives and Neo-Latin (1) sordid vestments

Referring to:

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2026/05/180526-clothes-washing-1-transcription.html

https://www.facebook.com/reel/3452819201540306

Magister Andrews’ video is a short but excellent example of the ‘pitfalls’ of derivatives.

I once read somewhere — though I shall not disclose where — the unshakeable belief that Latin can be understood purely by looking at words and ‘working them out’ through English derivatives. That is partially true: derivatives can help, but their meanings are often far narrower than the original Latin and not always as obvious as some make them out to be.

[i] A large number of English derivatives are not directly from Latin, but entered English through French, usually after the Norman Conquest of 1066:

La. fundō, fundere [3]: to pour. However, the original verb has a whole range of meanings, one of which can extend to ‘make by melting; to melt, cast, found’.

Fr. fonderie; Engl. foundry

[ii] Some English nouns are direct borrowings, with no spelling changes, from French rather than Latin:

fondant cream < Fr. fondant

[iii] La. sordidus, -a, -um: dirty; filthy

English ‘sordid’ is a Mediaeval borrowing directly from Latin, although it also exists in French: sordide.

Here, in the derivative, we see a gradual shift from referring to something physically dirty to an abstract sense of moral ‘dirtiness’. Consequently, two words coexist in English with different nuances:

You can read dirty or sordid little stories in a tabloid newspaper.

Magister Andrews’ clothes, however, are good old Germanic dirty — not sordid!

[iv] La. vestīmentum, -ī [2/n]: article of clothing

Old Fr. vestement: clothing; clothes

Engl. vestment: an article of clothing worn by the clergy

However, the Old English noun was retained:

OE clāþ [klāth]: cloth; clāþas [klāthas]: clothes

And so, again, we see the coexistence of two nouns, one Germanic and the other indirectly from Latin but with a highly specialised meaning:

After the service, the priest removed his vestments, put on his old clothes, and went to work in his garden.