The etymology of "glasz"

[wowbright]

Since encountering the word "glasz" for the first time last week while perusing fan fiction, and after failing to find it in the Merriam-Webster or the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, I've been curious about the etymology.

I went to the university library today and it occurred to me that it would almost certainly have the complete Oxford English Dictionary (OED) on hand. If you're not familiar with the OED and you are interested in words, you really need to become acquainted. With more than 616,000 entries, it is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Plus, each entry includes a reliable history of the origins of each word, and often notes on similar words in related languages.

So I asked my reference librarian to point me to the OED. As much as I love big, fat 20+ volume books, I opted for the online version because it is updated more frequently, and I suspected that glasz is a neologism.

Alas, glasz is so new that it's not in the online OED. I felt a bit defeated, but then I decided to look up cerulean, which is my other recent obsession. And there, in the etymological notes for cerulean was a reference to the Welsh word glas:

Latin cærule-us dark blue, dark green, applied to the sky, the sea (Mediterranean), but occas. to leaves, fields: compare Welsh glas. In the mod. languages always taken as deep blue.

I kind of want to fault the OED here for not being absolutely clear on why it's pulling out the Welsh glas here, but I think it's safe to assume that it's implying that cerulean and glas share an Indo-European root. (Also, I'm a little annoyed that OED says cerulean is always taken as deep blue, but that's just because I don't want it to be so.)

Anyway, I looked up glas in the Welsh-English dictionary of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and this is what I got:

1. sky n. blue adj. pale adj. grey adj. green adj. young adj. raw adj.

So, finally, I understand why people are using the word glasz to describe Kurt's eyes. What I don't understand is why they spell it that way. If I ever end up using it, I'll probably keep the Welsh spelling and italicize it, just like when I use non-naturalized French words in my writing. But I doubt I'll ever use it, unless Kurt or Blaine end up going to Wales, or Kurt turns out to have a Welsh relative I haven't met yet. Because I just don't see it coming up naturally for them, otherwise.

Comments

[likeasouffle.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this is really interesting. I kind of love etymology. Thank you for doing all this research and posting about it!

(Several years ago I was doing some similar research and learned that "schizophrenia" and "shit" share a common root, having to do with "being separate/detached from the body." I found it hilarious and awesome.)

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

I majored in linguistics, which included classes in Old English and two other Indo-European languages. So really, any excuse I can get to crack open the OED is an excuse I'll take.

I love that about "schizophrenia" and "shit." It's amazing how these roots have changes as they've traveled through various languages to get to English.

Okay, now I want to look up all the Indo-European roots of all the swear words and find all the non-profane words built on the same root. Maybe I'll let myself do one every time I come to the library. That could be my little reward to myself for working hard on my real work!

[likeasouffle.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I want to look up all the Indo-European roots of all the swear words and find all the non-profane words built on the same root.

OMG, best plan ever! You should post the results!

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Yes! I need some motivation to get me to go to the library more often instead of trying to cram all my library research into as few visits as possible. It will get me out of the home office more, especially now that winter is coming.

And I will definitely post the results, as long as I behave and follow through on my plan!

[frumiousme.livejournal.com]

this is awesome information! the word is on the urban dictionary website (which makes sense for a neologism) thanks for doing the research and writing about it!

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw it on Urban Dictionary, but people rarely put word origins in there and i really wanted to know where it came from. It's really almost pure chance that I found the Welsh word, too – I mean, what if I weren't obsessed with cerulean? If I hadn't looked that up right after glasz, I never would have found it. Or, at least not anytime soon.

Anyway, I'm glad you found it useful!

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

Allow me to swoon all over this post. I'm fawning over the possible connection between 'cerulean' and 'glas'; it's kind of beautiful.

And forever in denial about the deep blue matter.

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

You know I thought of you when I posted it and if I hadn't heard you comment on it within a couple of days I would have pm'ed you with "verdandil, you won't believe what I found in the dictionary!"

I was thinking about the deep blue and, really OED, explain this to me. If the cerulean warbler is no deep blue, how can "cerulean" always man "deep blue."

(On the other hand, maybe I don't know what deep blue is. I always thought of deep blue as royal blue or dark blue - could it mean something else entirely?)

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

The difference between deep blue - suppose it is defined as the most saturated hue of primary blue with a low value - and our own definition of cerulean (because it has reached that point, really) is troubling, especially when other definitions have pointed towards "colour of the sky" which is evidently not deep blue. Not to mention, the few times I've seen the words, I'm sure it was meant to indicate a clear blue. And now I'm wondering if the definition of "cerulean" has shifted from its original meaning due to usage.

I've considered using glasz before, but couldn't find a proper definition. And now, I've just Google imaged the term; guess who appeared in the first two pictures and many more?

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Yes, Chris Colfer is really the main thing that shows up when I Google glasz, which made me think it was a word created by a Chris Colfer fan. Or borrowed from Welsh by a Chris Colfer fan.

I'm going to pull out more of my linguistic research guns on this word, but it may be a while until we get to the bottom of it.

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

I've just found something which may be interesting. Apparently, searching "cerulean blue" instead of "cerulean" alone provides different results.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cerulean%20blue
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cerulean+blue

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

This is craziness! Cerulean blue is greener than cerulean!

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

Pffft, the irony.

Oh dear, does this mean one has to write "cerulean blue" specifically to keep the green component? For some reason, incuding the term "blue" irks me; it's like an unwanted emphasis... on the wrong color.

Watch as the freedictionary (not that it is entirely reliable) contradicts itself: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cerulean

And well, there's at least this: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cerulean+blue

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Screw "cerulean blue." That is just silly. Instead, we should call the greenish form "warbler cerulean," after the bird ;)

Nah. Let's just plaster the internet with references to cerulean, accompanied by images of Chris Colfer's eyes. If we do it for enough years and it goes viral, the OED will just have to update its definition.

Because dictionaries should describe language, not prescribe it.

[verdandil.livejournal.com]

I shall make it my lifelong mission!

[likeasouffle.livejournal.com]

Nah. Let's just plaster the internet with references to cerulean, accompanied by images of Chris Colfer's eyes.

LOL!

[stacey-in-ma.livejournal.com]

Late to posting (just found you and your LJ) but this is I believe where the Kurtsies found the term "glasz". :) I remember it was from a blog post. I'm not positive this was the actual one but this is the one that comes up in my Google search so this is probably it.

http://steakandpotatoes.blogspot.com/2010/01/glasz.html

[wowbright.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thank you! I will look more into it. I remember vaguely playing a little with the Breton dialect in college (I majored in linguistics), so it will be fun to try to brush up!

And nice meeting you!