Running the Gantlet

[jack]

Apparently, before the 1600s, there were two words with similar spellings. Roughly, "Gantlope" (or some variations) referred to two parallel rows of angry Swedish people who hit you with sticks, which you had to run between, and was used as a punishment in the navy.

And "gauntlet", a leather glove with metal plates nailed to it in an ongoing effort to make being hit by swords slightly less painful. From the French of the time "gantelet, a diminutive of "gant" (glove), which it's suggested may ultimately be related, a thousand years before most of the helpful English citations that make their way into the OED, to "wind", as in, winding cloth round your hand, which may also have originated with angry Scandanavians with primitive swords.

(I may have over-interpreted this history a little. Please check out the dictionary entries in OED, and etym online, and amplify the true facts a little in the comments. OED is available for free over the university network, or to any members of the Cambridge City Lirbary, here)

The point being, various variant spellings were used for both words, and still persist, but "running the gauntlet" probably came later, and presumably the spelling was influenced by the longer-established glove-gauntlet. Nowadays, some people prefer "running the gantlet" (and the same spelling for the related meaning of a part of a railway points system), since the spelling "gauntlet" arguably came from confusion with the other world. On the other hand, neither word seems to have more of a logical claim on either spelling, and both variants seem to have been used for both words for over three hundred and fifty years, so does "running the gauntlet" continue to be wrong?

I'd never heard of "gantlet", and more embarrassingly, never questioned what a metal glove had to do with running into a dangerous situation. (Obviously you could make up some meaning, like a dangerous situation being a metaphorical iron glove, but I don't think I ever did.) Did anyone else? Probably people who are more versed in etymologies?

Is there anything to be gained by insisting on separate spellings, in order to increase the amount of pedantry in the world? Or should we accept "gantlet" as an alternative, but accept that most people have always used "gauntlet" for both, and that that's been working perfectly well?

ETA: The comment that inspired me to look it up happened to be here: http://community.livejournal.com/cranky_editors/791368.html. Some people do seem to have learned that "gantlet" is a better spelling for the passageway, and I don't know if that's regional, or a personal preference, or if that's better supported by the original derivations.

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

There seems to be minimal cause for confusion with keeping things the way they are.

[pavanne.livejournal.com]

I always thought it must derive from being hit with gauntlets as you ran between two rows of angry men. Somehow this mental image entwined with the idea of being patted on the back by people who were pretending to be pleased for you but actually weren't - eg as you went up to receive honours, between rows of people who were jealous (and who therefore might also try to do worse things when everyone wasn't watching).

Thank you for the correction, though I think my imagination was better than the actual explanation!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I like that story :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I remember when I first heard the pun "I am what I am and am not what I follow, because if I am what I follow I am not what I am" (which may have made more sense than this transcription[1]), I assumed it referred to some great philosophic stance[1]

[1] Probably because it was in French.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

If the natural usage has collapsed the meanings, don't fight it, as no-one will understand you.

[megamole.livejournal.com]

I thought "gatlopp" was a Native American word but indeed, it turns out it was Sveedish.

[tienelle.livejournal.com]

I'd always assumed that, just as "cleave" can mean both "stick to" and "cut apart", "gauntlet" could mean "horribly unfair situation probably involving stick-wielding Swedes" and "hand armour".

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

*rofl* :D

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

:)

In fact, I think I actually find opposite meanings more natural because they seem to often be related and come from the same route, in some way that is quite natural when you know it, like "adumbrate" or "dust". I was surprised to see that "cleave" wasn't!

[naath.livejournal.com]

adumbrate?

And it isn't?

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

And it isn't?

Apparently. I assumed the sense had reversed at some point, the way it seems words often do, but etym (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=cleave&searchmode=none) says they come from different proto-indo-european words meaning approximately the same things as they do now. (Unless those words were more closely related than was obvious to me.)

adumbrate?

I picked a word at random from the top of wikipedia's "words that mean the opposite of themselves" page :) It's used metaphorically to mean "foreshadow" but also "overshadow", according to http://www.word-detective.com/2008/11/18/adumbrate/

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

I sort of like the fact that it's conflated as 'gauntlet', because it makes the task of piecing together the history of the phrase so much more pleasurable :)

And I'm increasingly thinking that it doesn't matter how much you wonder whether we *should* try to maintain things like the difference between the two spellings, because the world will do what it likes with it anyway. Goodness, I'm not sure this is me speaking! It's Cypro-Minoan, it's making me mellow :)