Fox/etymology

Famous quotes containing the words fox and/or etymology:

    “His berd as any sowe or fox was reed,
    And therto brood, as though it were a spade.
    Upon the cop right of his nose he hade
    A werte, and theron stood a toft of herys
    Reed as the brustles of a sowes erys.
    His nosethirles blake were and wyde.”
    —Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)

    “Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
    —Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)