Toast toppers: Jelly, jam and preserves

July 31st, 2008 at 07:00am Barry Wood

That goo that some people put on their hair is called “gel.” The homonym “jell” is the one used informally as a verb to mean “to take or cause to take definite form; crystallize,” as in “The team hasn’t jelled yet.”

Those two, as well as “jelly” and “gelatin” and related words, come from the Latin verb “gelare,” which means “to freeze.” The only two somewhat common words that retain the freezing connection are “gelato,” a type of Italian sherbet, and “gelid,” an adjective meaning “extremely cold; frozen.”

“Jam,” another bread spread made by boiling fruit mixed with sugar, is a word of unknown origin. The homonym “jamb,” which is “a sidepost or piece of a framed opening,” as for a door or window, has the same origin as “gamb.”

That one is “an animal’s leg or shank, especially on a coat of arms.” We don’t encounter that much these days, although you may have heard “gam” in reference to “a woman’s shapely leg.” That’s where it comes from.

Our other toast treat is “preserves.” It occurred to me that if you use a hyphen, it becomes “pre-serves,” which could be another word for “leftovers,” but it certainly wouldn’t make them more appealing.

Entry Filed under: homonyms, word origins