AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I have an interest in the meanings of words and phrases, as well as how and when they became part of the English language. I enjoy
researching idioms, colloquialisms, dialects, and obscurities of
all kinds. I prefer short questions on a particular subject, and
I will not accept lengthy research projects or term papers. NOTE: ALLEXPERTS CLAIMS THAT I TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN AND FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH. I DO NOT. ALLEXPERTS REFUSES TO DELETE THE LATIN-TO-ENGLISH SERVICE -- ONE THAT I DO NOT PROVIDE.
TRUST ME ON THIS: ALLEXPERTS IS WRONG. I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LANGUAGE. LOOK FOR A LANGUAGE EXPERT INSTEAD. ETYMOLOGY AND TRANSLATING SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. ALLEXPERTS SHOULD KNOW THAT. ALLEXPERTS DOES NOT KNOW THAT. I HAVE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS TO GET THEM TO CHANGE. THEY WILL NOT. SORRY, BUT I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN.
Experience I am the bibliographic instruction and reference librarian at a public
college. My master's thesis concerns William Faulkner's tragic novels. I formerly taught advanced placement English at two schools in the Philadelphia area.
I have been a member of the grammar and writing section of Allexperts
for more than a year.
Education/Credentials Masters degrees in English, philosophy, and library science.
Question Mr Nesbitt,
Thank you so much for your exellent response about pirates yesterday. I have another one for you now. I can't figure out if the expression is supposed to be "get the gyst of it" or "get the jist of it." Either way, where does the word in question come from? Is it short for something?
Thanks again!
Answer Jon:
First, thank you for the kind words in your evaluation of me. I enjoyed exploring the "pirate world."
The word is spelled "gist." It comes from the French word "gesir," a verb meaning "to lie." In 1688, the word entered the English language as a legal term, in the sense that something "lies in the center" or is the heart of the matter or case. It remained a legal term only for a number of years before it was adopted into general usage.
In 1823, Corbett used the word for the first time in a non-legal sense. [I'm referring to PRINTED usage, of course. Long before a word generally ends up in print, people have been using it "orally."] When he wrote, "This is the gist," he meant "This is the heart of the matter, or this is the central focus."
So, the word has come to mean the very heart of something, particularly if that "something" is very complicated. Let's suppose that a committee has been discussing a problem for many hours and still has not clearly identified the problem. Then, some brilliant person -- probably not the committee's chair person -- says quite succinctly, "Here is the gist of the problem," and then summarizes exactly what the problem is. THAT is what is meant by "gist."
I am attaching the record from "The Oxford English Dictionary" -- the Bible of the etymological field -- so you can see how the word entered the language.
Ted Nesbitt
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[a. OF. gist (F. gît), 3 sing. pres. ind. of gésir to lie, gésir en to consist in, depend on, used in the AF. law phrase (cest) action gist, ‘(this) action lies', which occurs 1502-3 in Kelvey's Rep. (1688) lf. 50a, and is common in law-books.]
1. Law. The real ground or point (of an action, indictment, etc.).
1711 5 Modern Reports (1794) 305 (Gatehouse v. Row) Because it is the very gist of the action. 1769 BLACKSTONE Comm. IV. 333 These charges..are the points and very gist of the indictment. 1791 BURKE App. Whigs Wks. 1842 I. 501 This is the great gist of the charge against him. 1834 P. BINGHAM New Cases I. 72 The gist of the action being the assault and battery. 1875 POSTE Gaius IV. (ed. 2) 502 The gist (gîte) of the civil action of Condictio..was the increase of the defendant's fortune or patrimony by the reduction of the plaintiff's patrimony without any consideration or equivalent gain to the plaintiff.
1726 SIR J. STRANGE Rep. Cases I. 666 Where the special damage is the git of the action, this sort of evidence is allowed. 1795 CHRISTIAN in Blackstone's Comm. (1809) III. 140 The gît or foundation of the action is held to consist in the husband's loss of the comfort and society of his wife. 1823 DE QUINCEY King of Hayti Wks. 1862 XI. 41 The gite of the lawyer's reasoning.
2. The substance or pith of a matter, the essence or main part.
1823 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 339 This is the gist. Here lies the whole of it. 1861 T. A. TROLLOPE La Beata II. xii. 52 The gist of the fun is to demand the production of the green sprig..at the most..unexpected times. 1864 BOWEN Logic xi. 363 The gist of the reasoning does not depend upon any Maxim or First Principle.
