Donna Summer, Your Music Was "Hot Stuff"
Note, July 30, 2017: Can't believe she has been gone for five years.
Donna Summer* gave the world some music to move to. If you like to "boogie," Donna, the "Queen of Disco," had the tunes for you! She made the lives of many people better, and that was just for the exercise. Her death is a blow to the world of music, but she left us with such memorable songs as: "MacArthur Park," "She Works Hard For The Money," "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff," "On the Radio," and "Bad Girls." Farewell Donna, this is our "last dance." R.I.P.
* Maiden name "Gaines," married name "Sommer" (German), used English form "Summer" in her career.
WORD HISTORY:
Dance-The "possible" ancient ancestor of "dance" was the Indo European root "tenwe/tenweh," which had the notion of "pull." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "t(h)insanan," which kept the notion of "pull," but also in the sense "stretch." This gave Frankish, a Germanic dialect,^ "danson," which also meant "pull, drag, move back and forth."^^ Old French, a Latin-based language (see note below), took the word from Frankish as "dancier," by which time the meaning of "dance" had developed, which gave the Norman dialect of French "dauncer." This was borrowed into English in the 1200s, initially as "daunsen." The noun was derived from the verb. The word is widespread in other Indo European languages owing to French influence in government and high society. French was long used as THE diplomatic language among European nobility. Other Germanic languages borrowed the word, too, and for instance, German has "tanzen."
^ The Franks were a Germanic tribe that conquered large parts of western Europe from about the 3rd Century A.D. (or C.E., if you prefer). Some Franks participated in the Germanic invasion of Briton in the mid 400s, along with their more numerous invading relatives, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. A large segment of the Franks occupied what is now France (named after the Franks), where much of the population remained Latin speaking (the area had been part of the Roman Empire). Ever so gradually the Latin dialect(s) of the area absorbed the Germanic Frankish dialect, becoming "French" (simply a variation of "Frankish"), although a number of Germanic words remained in the Latin-based "French."
^^ Some related Germanic words meant "tremble" (thus the idea of "moving back and forth, pulling and dragging"), as well as "pull, drag."
Donna Summer* gave the world some music to move to. If you like to "boogie," Donna, the "Queen of Disco," had the tunes for you! She made the lives of many people better, and that was just for the exercise. Her death is a blow to the world of music, but she left us with such memorable songs as: "MacArthur Park," "She Works Hard For The Money," "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff," "On the Radio," and "Bad Girls." Farewell Donna, this is our "last dance." R.I.P.
* Maiden name "Gaines," married name "Sommer" (German), used English form "Summer" in her career.
WORD HISTORY:
Dance-The "possible" ancient ancestor of "dance" was the Indo European root "tenwe/tenweh," which had the notion of "pull." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "t(h)insanan," which kept the notion of "pull," but also in the sense "stretch." This gave Frankish, a Germanic dialect,^ "danson," which also meant "pull, drag, move back and forth."^^ Old French, a Latin-based language (see note below), took the word from Frankish as "dancier," by which time the meaning of "dance" had developed, which gave the Norman dialect of French "dauncer." This was borrowed into English in the 1200s, initially as "daunsen." The noun was derived from the verb. The word is widespread in other Indo European languages owing to French influence in government and high society. French was long used as THE diplomatic language among European nobility. Other Germanic languages borrowed the word, too, and for instance, German has "tanzen."
^ The Franks were a Germanic tribe that conquered large parts of western Europe from about the 3rd Century A.D. (or C.E., if you prefer). Some Franks participated in the Germanic invasion of Briton in the mid 400s, along with their more numerous invading relatives, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. A large segment of the Franks occupied what is now France (named after the Franks), where much of the population remained Latin speaking (the area had been part of the Roman Empire). Ever so gradually the Latin dialect(s) of the area absorbed the Germanic Frankish dialect, becoming "French" (simply a variation of "Frankish"), although a number of Germanic words remained in the Latin-based "French."
^^ Some related Germanic words meant "tremble" (thus the idea of "moving back and forth, pulling and dragging"), as well as "pull, drag."
Labels: dance music, disco, Donna Summer, English, etymology, Frankish, French, Germanic languages, pop music
posted by Randy at 12:46 PM
2 Comments:
Im not much of a dancer, but her songs could keep you tapping your feet.
She was a great one.
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