Its name was coined by translating the French phrase
coup de soleil. What condition is it?
Etymology, Etymology, and more Etymology
as well as grammar, usage, euphemism, slang, jargon, semantics (meaning), linguistics, neologism, idiom, word origin, syntax, dialect, lexicon (vocabulary), diction, pidgin, synonym, antonym, homonym, cant, argot, lingo, and redundancy.
The critically-acclaimed board game
MooT
consists of tough questions about the nuances of the English language.
Answer:
sunstroke
The first OED citation for the word is
from 1851. Similarly: a coup d'état is a stroke of the state
(an attempt to topple the government); a coup de grâce is
stroke of grace (a blow that kills a wounded creature); a coup de
main is a stroke of hand (a sudden attack); a coup
d'oeil is a stroke of the eye (a comprehensive glance); and a
coup de foudre is a stroke of lightning (a sudden unforeseen
event, such as love at first sight).
Please note that these are draft questions for the board game MooT.
If you spot an error or disagree with anything I've said here,
please let me know and I'll fix it.
(the Mootguy)
Feedback
Hey Mootguy, all the places I checked listed coup
de soleil as sunburn not
sunstroke.
Here's the OED's entry for sunstroke: "For the
earlier 'stroke of the sun', transl. F. coup de soleil. Cf. G. sonnenstich.]
Collapse or prostration, with or without fever, caused by exposure to
excessive heat of the sun. Also loosely extended to similar effects of heat
from other sources, as electric sunstroke 1807 J. Johnson Oriental
Voy. 14 --- Several of the people got sick, with ... what are called 'Coups de
Soleil', or strokes of the Sun. 1823 Gentl. Mag. XCIII. ii. 647/2
---- He instantly expressed a feeling of having received what is called 'a
stroke of the sun'. 1851 G. W. Curtis Nile Notes xxxvii. 188 -----
Warding off sun-strokes with huge heavy umbrellas of two thicknesses of blue
cotton. 1865 Dickens Let. to E. Yates 30 Sept. ----- I got a slight
sunstroke last Thursday.
x-danimalev-@-hotmail.com
______________________________________________________________
Hello, I'm French. Coup de main may be a sudden
attack in 16th-century French, but nowadays when you give a coup de
main to someone you lend him a hand, you help him out. "J'ai
donné un coup de main pour décharger la bois du voisin" (I helped the
neighbour unload the wood)
x-sebtrois-@-hotmail.com
______________________________________________________________
Copyright 1998-2008 Blair Arts Ltd. All rights reserved.