| Idioom : KROKODILTRANE [boodskap #8518] |
Wed, 12 February 1997 00:00 |
Izak Bouwer
Boodskappe: 463
Geregistreer: January 1996
Karma: 0
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Senior Lid |
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Idioom : Om krokodiltrane te huil.
Ek het krokodiltrane gehuil toe ek hoor P.W. Botha
is nie meer President van Suid-Afrika nie.
To shed crocodile tears. Pretended grief. From the
old legend that crocodiles make weeping sounds
to attract victims and then shed tears while eating
them.
I was quite surprised to find this expression in the
Dictionary of American Idioms. I thought that they
would not use the word "crocodile," since they call the
varieties here "alligators." I was even surprised that
such an expression existed in English, because the
crocodile was surely not something that figured large
in the consciousness of the people of Europe. But I
was wrong. It is from the Middle English cocodril,
from Medieval Latin cocodrillus, from Latin croco-
dilus, from Greek krokodilos : "worm of the pebbles"
(from its habit of basking in the sun; kroke (pebbles)
drilos (worm). I guess even in ancient times the people
especially of Southern Europe and Egypt were aware
of the geography and the flora and fauna of especially
the northeastern part of Africa above the equator.
Gloudina Bouwer (iz...@igs.net)
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