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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?"White_arms"_as_a_collective_for_swords,_d?=
Just reading David Landes' ?The Wealth and Poverty of Nations' (1998) and come across (p284 of my edition) the following:
?Steel, we have seen, was always the metal of choice in the making of "white arms" (swords and daggers)?.'
Now, the French undoubtedly have the very useful expression ?armes blanches' to cover precisely this category of weapon. The fact that Landes puts ?white arms' in quotes rather implies he knows he's making a calque on this usage, and, perhaps, that he's offering the expression for adoption to fill what I think is a lacuna in the lexis of English.
Perfunctory googling suggests that the expression has yet to catch on, though.
?Steel, we have seen, was always the metal of choice in the making of "white arms" (swords and daggers)?.'
Now, the French undoubtedly have the very useful expression ?armes blanches' to cover precisely this category of weapon. The fact that Landes puts ?white arms' in quotes rather implies he knows he's making a calque on this usage, and, perhaps, that he's offering the expression for adoption to fill what I think is a lacuna in the lexis of English.
Perfunctory googling suggests that the expression has yet to catch on, though.
Top answer
The Wealth and Poverty of Nations' (1998) and come across (p284 of my edition) the following: ... is a lacuna in the lexis of English. [/nq] No, it's standard, if uncommon.
- The Wealth and Poverty of Nations' (1998) and come across (p284 of my edition) the following: ...
- is a lacuna in the lexis of English.
- [/nq] No, it's standard, if uncommon.
- I'd expect to find it in OED1; and he didn't need the inverted commas.
- Rather less repellent than "cold steel": I suppose that makes it a euphemism.
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4 Answers
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[nq:1]Just reading David Landes' ?The Wealth and Poverty of Nations' (1998) and come across (p284 of my edition) the following: ... is a lacuna in the lexis of English. Perfunctory googling suggests that the expression has yet to catch on, though.[/nq]
No, it's standard, if uncommon. I'd expect to find it in OED1; and he didn't need the inverted commas. Rather less repellent than "cold steel":
No, it's standard, if uncommon. I'd expect to find it in OED1; and he didn't need the inverted commas. Rather less repellent than "cold steel":
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[nq:1]Just reading David Landes' 'The Wealth and Poverty of Nations' (1998) and come across (p284 of my edition) the following: ... is a lacuna in the lexis of English. Perfunctory googling suggests that the expression has yet to catch on, though.[/nq]
I can't see anything wrong with sticking to 'armes blanches'. But there exist English terms to cover this ground - 'edged weapons' and 'bladed
I can't see anything wrong with sticking to 'armes blanches'. But there exist English terms to cover this ground - 'edged weapons' and 'bladed
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[nq:1]Perhaps an interesting mix-up here? French use 'nuit blanche' for a sleepless night. 'blanc' means 'blank' as well as white. So maybe the 'arme blanche' should be the blank weapon, in the sense of plain, undecorated?[/nq]
More likely in the sense of "white lies" (Harmless, or less harmful).
More likely in the sense of "white lies" (Harmless, or less harmful).
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[nq:1]I can't find it under white* in OED1, and don't want to look under *arm just now; but the expression ... in a Kipling story ISTR some fool comment about some races "flinching from the white arm". Shakespeare, too, maybe?[/nq]
A google for "White arm" turns up this interesting titbit in "The Journal of Non-Lethal Combatives":
"Teaching Alliesâ?? Man-Power How to Use "the White
A google for "White arm" turns up this interesting titbit in "The Journal of Non-Lethal Combatives":
"Teaching Alliesâ?? Man-Power How to Use "the White
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