Very creative, but...

Posted by Word Camel on August 11, 2003

In Reply to: Pale skins posted by Lewis on August 11, 2003

: : : I have found references to "Pale" with a capital P referring to Ireland. But "..Russian Jews from the Pale.." struck me as being curious (Source was a book review in a magazine in a waiting room. Perhaps boredom had me seeing things.) Were/are there Russian Jews in Ireland.

: : I too thought that the "Pale" meant the area around Dublin under English control, but our forum friends have shown that it was used elesewhere. Search for 'Pale' in the archives for more.

: I think that "pale" is short for "pallisade" - the pale surrounding an encampment was a wooden fence of rough-hewn timber. I think it served two purposes - to keep livestock in and to keep predators out. "Beyond the pale" meaning outside society appears to have a particular historical meaning, but there is no reason why "the pale" should be limited to one particularly famous pale. I was recently informed that locally one could still see the pale of an ancient deer park (I think the enclosure was 500+ years ago).

: Anybody consider that the Pale in question might be the area of Palestine? Just a thought.

The original meaning of 'pale" is a long stake or stick... think Vlad the Impaler. It also came to mean a fence or fortification made up of stakes. 'Palisade' is not an abreviation of pale but a word that comes from the same root. It's an interesting question about whether the world 'palestine' has its root in the word 'pale'. For some reason I thought this expression did have a specific connection with Jewish history but I can't find any reference to it now.

• But what? Lewis 11/August/03
  • But why, Camel are you so incoherent? Word Camel 11/August/03
    • Palestine / Philistia; 'The Pale' GPP 12/August/03
      • Palestine / Philistia; 'The Pale'/ and M-W2 janes_kid 12/August/03
        • M-W2: also see GPP 13/August/03
          • M-W Collegiate GPP 26/August/03
        • Palestine / Philistia; 'The Pale'/ and M-W2 GPP 13/August/03
          • Impalement GPP 13/August/03
            • Impalement Vlad 14/August/03