Daughter

Daughter (pronounced daw-ter)

(1) A female child or person in relation to her parents.

(2) Any female descendant (now rare).

(3) A person said to be related to an institution as if by the ties binding daughter to parent (daughter of the church; Daughters of the American Revolution etc).

(4) Any female (archaic in the English-speaking world but used sometimes by some cultures to indicate some closeness of family relationship, rather as aunt & uncle are sometimes used in the West).

(5) Any institution or other thing personified as female and considered with respect to its origin (eg Australia is the daughter of the six colonies).

(6) In chemistry & physics (of a nuclide), an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

(7) In biology, pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication (eg the daughter cell; daughter DNA).

(8) As daughterboard, IBM’s original descriptor for boards (now called piggyback boards, riser cards or mezzanine boards) which directly (usually by soldering) connect to motherboards (now called main or system-boards).

(9) In historical linguistics, as daughter language (known also as a descendant language), a language descended from another (its mother language) through genetic descent as opposed to a "sister language" which is one which also evolved from the proto- mother language but formed a separate branch.  The model is that of a tree where the mother language is the trunk and the branches the daughters and sisters (each of which can have their own daughters and sisters).  The image of the tree represents the diversification of languages from a root source.

(10) In fantasy writing, as merdaughter, a mermaid daughter.

(11) In slang, as “daughter of Sappho”, a lesbian.

Pre 950: From the Middle English goghter & doughter, from the Old English dohtor (female child considered with reference to her parents; daughter) from the Proto-West Germanic dohter, from the Proto-Germanic dokhter and the earlier dhutēr, from the primitive Indo-European dughtḗr, source also of the Sanskrit duhitā & duhitar-, the Avestan dugeda-, the Armenian dustr, the Old Church Slavonic dušti, the Lithuanian duktė and the Ancient Greek thygátēr & thugatēr).  The Proto-Germanic forms were the source also of the Old Saxon dohtar, the Old Norse dóttir, the Old Frisian and Dutch dochter, the Old High German tohter, the German Tochter and the Gothic dauhtar.  Daughter, daughterhood, daughtership & daughterling are nouns and daughterless, daughtered, daughterly & daughterlike are adjectives; the noun plural is daughters or daughtren (archaic).

Dutiful daughter: Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025) with daughter Ivanka Trump (b 1981;  senior advisor in the first Trump administration 2017-2021) in an extended (stretch) Lincoln Continental limousine, New York City, circa 1992.

The common Indo-European word was lost in Celtic and Latin; the Latin filia (daughter) is the feminine form of filius (son), the most obvious connection in Modern English being young female horses: a filly is a beast under four and thus too young to be a mare and filly is still used as humorous and affectionate slang to refer to a lively girl or young woman.  The modern spelling evolved in the sixteenth century in southern England.  In late Old English, the form also emerged of a "woman viewed in some analogous relationship" (to her native country, church, culture etc and that use persists to this day) and from circa 1200 could be used to describe anything regarded as feminine.  Daughter-in-law is attested from the late fourteenth century.  The noun plural is daughters, the long archaic form being daughtren and the last surviving obsolete spelling was dafter.  The adjective daughterly (relating to or characteristic of a daughter) is technically neutral but has long denoted “dutiful (towards parents)”, the “dutiful daughter” a frequent reference in English literature, often to damn those judged insufficiently dutiful although in the English-speaking world there was never much of a tradition of "honor killing" as still practiced east of Suez; daughters who disappointed the family might variously be disinherited or ostracized but they were allowed to live.  As well as dutiful, daughters can be difficult and Theodore Roosevelt (TR, 1858–1919; POTUS 1901-1909) was once asked by some Republican Party apparatchiks to "control his daughter" (Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (1884–1980) who had a mind of her own).  He replied he "could be president of the United States or he could control Alice but he could not do both."  

The noun step-daughter was from the Old English stepdohtor, the formation aligned with the German Stieftochter.  Grand-daughter, like the related forms to describe recent ancestors and relations dates from 1610.  The noun god-daughter (female godchild, girl one sponsors at her baptism) was adopted in the mid-thirteenth century as a modification of the Old English goddohtor.  The noun filicide (action of killing a son or daughter) dates from the 1660s, the construct being the Latin filius/filia (son/daughter) + -cide (a killing), the meaning extended after 1823 to "one who kills a son or daughter", filicidal appearing shortly after.  Bathsheba was the Biblical wife of King David, mother of Solomon, from the Hebrew Bathshebha (literally "daughter of the oath" from bath (daughter)).

Lindsay Lohan: Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father).

I wait for the postman to bring me a letter

I wait for the good Lord to make me feel better

And I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders

A family in crisis that only grows older

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I am broken but I am hoping

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I am crying, a part of me is dying and

These are, these are

The confessions of a broken heart

And I wear all your old clothes; your polo sweater

I dream of another you the one who would never, never

Leave me alone to pick up the pieces

A daddy to hold me, that's what I needed

So why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I don't know you, but I still want to

Daughter to father, daughter to father

Tell me the truth, did you ever love me'

Cause these are, these are

The confessions of a broken heart, of a broken heart

I love you

I love you

I love you

I, I love you

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I don't know you, but I still want to

Daughter to father, daughter to father

Tell me the truth, did you ever love me'

Did you ever love me?

These are

The confessions of a broken heart, oh yeah

And I wait for the postman to bring me a letter

Songwriters: Kara Dioguardi (b 1970), Lindsay Lohan (b 1986) & William Wells (b 1973).  Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music.  From the album A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005).

Kim Ju Ae, First Daughter of the DPRK

Donald Trump is by all accounts a good father and no doubt gave his daughters the odd tour of the hotels and real-estate developments which are the core of the family business but as daddy-daughter days go, they probably weren’t as much fun as those arranged for Kim Ju Ae (b circa 2013) by Kim Jong Un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011).  Like just about everything else done by the Supreme Leader, his daddy-daughter days are well-publicized by the KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) and Kim Ju Ae had been seen accompanying her father while inspecting nuclear warheads, watching ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) launches and reviewing military parades although the most recent highlight was of her driving a battle-tank on manoeuvres over a plain (she seemed to be having fun).  With an elaborate headquarters located at 1 Potonggang-dong in Pyongyang's Potonggang District) the KCNA may be the world's most productive state news agency and is the best source for new Kim Jong Un content.  Of course, Mr Trump is commander-in-chief of the world’s best-equipped military and, if so minded, could on next daddy-daughter day take his daughters tank-driving although their enthusiasm for such things may be restrained.

Daddy-daughter day.  DPRK postage stamp issued in 2018 to mark Kim Ju Ae’s presence at a military base where ICBMs were being displayed.  Like many young girls, Kim Ju Ae is much taken by the beauty of nuclear weapons.

Although not discussed by the KCNA, there has in the West been speculation Kim Ju Ae is being groomed to succeed Kim Jong Un as leader of the DPRK (and thus become Kim IV) should (God forbid) the Supreme Leader drop dead.  One important aspect of the succession would be the choice of title to be granted to Kim IV, not a minor matter in the DPRK where the personality cult of the leaders has so assiduously been cultivated.  The DPRK’s leadership titles are not arbitrary honorifics; they are components of the Suryŏng system, a carefully managed political theology blending Confucian familial hierarchy, Marxist terminology and quasi-religious veneration. Structurally, the key functional term is 령도자 / 지도자 (leader), the adjectives chosen to mark legitimacy, continuity, and distinction and thus far the nomenclature has included:

Kim Il Sung (Kim I): 위대한 수령 (Widaehan Suryŏng); “Great Leader, 1948-1994”.

Kim Jong Il (Kim II): 친애하는 지도자 (Chin’aehan Jidoja); “Dear Leader, 1994-2011”.

Kim Jong Un (Kim III):  최고령도자 (Ch’oe-go Ryŏngdoja); “Supreme Leader since 2011”.

Were Kim Ju Ae to be elevated as successor, it would be the first time since the formation of the DPRK in 1948 that the leadership would be held by a woman but on forums in the RoK (Republic of Korea (the "puppet state" of South Korea)), users seems to think this not significant and that it was at least possible the “Supreme Leader” epithet might be re-used, the argument being (1) “Supreme Leader” has become accepted as the apex designation, (2) institutional continuity would be maintained and (3) it would conform with the dynamics of 삼대세습 (三代世襲, samdae sesŭp), the construct being 삼대 (三代) (three generations) +세습 (世襲) (hereditary succession).  In Korea, the “three-generation hereditary succession” of the Kim dynasty is the Great Leader / Dear Leader / Supreme Leader sequence and for various reasons it’s unthinkable that the “Great Leader” title could be re-used because part of Kim gamily mystique (of which much has been manufactured) is that as the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung is and must remain unique.

Daddy-daughter day.  KCNA official image of Kim Ju Ae’s driving a Cheonma-2 (M2024) third generation main battle tank, March, 2026.

Indeed, despite being three decades dead, Kim Il Sung remains president.  Kim Il-sung held an array of titles during his decades as the DPRK’s dictator, the proliferation not unusual in communist nations where the ruling party’s structures are maintained alongside the formal titles of state with which a nation maintains relations with the rest of the world.  In office for a remarkable 45 years, he was designated premier (head of government) between 1948-1972 and president 1972-1994.  Additionally, he was between 1949-1994 head of the WPK (Workers' Party of Korea) and in that role was styled successively as chairman (1949-1966) and general secretary (after 1966).  During his 45-year rule, there were ten POTUSs, six RoK presidents, nine British prime ministers and ten Australian prime ministers and his tenure in office spanned the era of the Soviet Union from its apotheosis under comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) to its collapse in 1991.

Daddy-daughter day. DPRK postage stamp issued in 2018 to mark Kim Ju Ae’s presence at a military base where ICBMs were being displayed.

Being dead however proved no obstacle to The Great Leader extending his presidency, the collective office Chuch'ejosŏnŭi yŏngwŏnhan suryŏng (Eternal leaders of Juche Korea) created in 2016 by the insertion of an enabling line in the preamble to the constitution.  What this amendment did was formalise the position of The Great Leader and his late son (The Dear Leader) as the “eternal leaders” of the DPRK and was said to be part of juche, the term used to describe the DPRK’s national philosophy, a synthesis of The Great Leader’s interpretation of (1) Korean tradition and (2) Marxist-Leninist theory.  It was an interesting legal move.  Constitutionally, the office of president was established only in 1972; prior to that the role of head of state had been purely ceremonial and held by respected party functionaries, all power exercised by The Great Leader in his capacity as premier and general secretary of the WPK.  However, merely by being president, The Great Leader vested the office with such prestige that upon his death in 1994, the position was left vacant, The Dear Leader not granted the title.  That nuance of succession for a while absorbed the interest of the DPRK watchers but attempts to invest the move with any significance abated as DPRK business, though in the more straitened circumstances of the post Soviet world, continued as usual.

The constitution was again revised in 1998.  Being a godless communist state, no fine theological points stood in the way of declaring The Great Leader the DPRK’s “Eternal President”, the latest addition to the preamble declaring: “Under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Korean people will hold the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung in high esteem as the eternal President of the Republic.”  The constitution, as revised and promulgated after the death of The Dear Leader, again referred to The Great Leader as “Eternal President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea” but in 2016 (The Dear Leader having been dead for an apparently decent duration), another amendment to the preamble changed the administrative nomenclature of executive eternity to “Eternal leaders of Juche Korea”, the honor now jointly held by the leaders great & dear.  It was another first for the Kims and the legal mechanism is expected to be replicated after the death of the Supreme Leader.

KCNA official photograph: Ri Sol-ju (b circa 1987; wife of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un) (left), Kim Ju-ae (centre) and Kim Jong-un (right), undisclosed location, February 2023.

Although the dynastic model (Kim I, Kim II, Kim II) may appear to be that of a hereditary monarchy, the regime makes an ideological distinction between the DPRK and decadent practices elsewhere, the succession based on 백두혈통 (Paektu hyŏlt’ong) (Mount Paektu bloodline) with the legitimacy conferred not by “inheritance” but rather “revolutionary lineage”.  Sitting on the Chinese border, Mount Paektu is an active volcano and the highest peak on the Korean peninsula; as well as being important in ancient Korean mythology, it figures also in the legends of the Kims, Kim Il-sung said to have led a resistance against Japan's occupation of the peninsula from bases on Mount Paektu and it was there Kim Jong-il was born.  Now, with “three-generation hereditary succession” accomplished, in a sense, samdae sesŭp has been perfected and in South Korea (or “the puppet state to the south” as the KCNA puts it), the feeling the internal logic of henceforth maintaining a “Supreme Leader” would be compelling although that won’t stop some in the puppet state dubbing her “Supreme Leaderette”.

IBM: Mothers and daughters but not sisters

IBM PC-1 (1981).

IBM didn’t invent the motherboard.  It evolved into the form in which it became well-known in the early 1980s because advances in technology had reduced the size of certain components (CPU, memory etc) which used to be separate devices which were wired together to run as a unit.  When IBM released the original PC-1 in 1981, it was built around a motherboard which contained slots into which expansion boards could be plugged and various connectors with which compatible devices could be connected.  Given there were motherboards, IBM, in the innocent age of the 1980s, decided other peripheral components, those usually directly embedded through soldering to the motherboard, should be called daughterboards.  Quite how the nomenclature was chosen is either not known or IBM has suppressed the records and the fanciful notion that it’s because the early motherboards contained more female than male connections is just an industry myth.  In the literature, there’s also the odd reference to sisterboards though the name never caught on and "daughter-board" was sometime used to describe cards which plugged-into expansion cards but such devices were rare.  Obviously, if a server has two daughter-boards installed, there's no reason why they couldn't, in that configuration, be called “sister-boards” but that convention never evolved.

IBM PC-1 motherboard (1981), expansion slots at the top right; it seemed small at the time.

A daughterboard was a circuit board which extended the circuitry of the motherboard and, being soldered, was connected directly, unlike the inherently swappable expansion cards which plugged-in using the bus or other (most often serial, parallel or SCSI (small computer system interface)) interfaces.  Like a motherboard, daughterboards had sockets, pins, plugs and connectors to permit connection to other boards or other devices and have been both part of initial product releases and post-launch updates, the best known example of which were the MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) daughterboards used to add functionality to a sound card.  Except for the odd special build for someone really nerdy, modern PCs (personal computer) now rarely have daughterboards although they’re still seen on servers.

Daughterboard (left) and bored daughter (right):  1984 Apple Macintosh 128 KB motherboard with SCSI daughterboard (right) and additional RAM daughterboard (left).  In 1984, having a machine with 1 MB RAM was a way to impress people.  An obviously bored Chelsea Clinton (b 1980; FDOTUS 1993-2001) is pictured listening to crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) again explain why her never becoming POTUS was the fault of others, Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, Hilton Hotel, Manhattan, New York City, 18 September, 2023.  Like us all, Chelsea had heard it many times before.

Even before the twenty-first century interest in gender and gendered pronouns, IBM had renamed everything in the corporation which could in anyway be thought sexist, racist etc.  By the late 1990s, although the term motherboard continued widely to be used, IBM had started calling them them variously main-boards or system-boards; daughterboards became piggyback or mezzanine boards.  Interestingly, as part of the linguistic sanitation, IBM started calling hard disk drives "hard files" which was either looking forward to solid-state storage or just one of those inexplicable things which happens when projects assume their own inertia; whatever the reason, "hard file" never caught on.  The terms male and female for connections (modeled on human anatomy and used in everything from plumbing to the space programme) were retained because their use was universal and convenient or mnemonic gender-neutral substitutes eluded even IBM's language police.  Male and female connectors may be about the only gender-loaded terms which will escape being labelled "micro-aggressions".

Naiad

Naiad (pronounced ney-ad, ney-uhd or nahy-ad)

(1) In Classical Mythology, a nymph (a female deity) dwelling in (in some stories “presiding over”) a lake, river, spring or fountain.

(2) In entomology, aquatic larva or juvenile form of the dragonfly, damselfly, mayfly and related insects.

(3) In botany, any monocotyledonous submerged aquatic plant of the genus Naias (or Najas), having narrow leaves and small flowers (of the family Naiadaceae (or Najadaceae) and also called the water nymph.

(4) In malacology, any of certain freshwater mussels of the genus Unio.

(5) In informal use, a female swimmer, especially a young, expert one.

Circa 1600: From the Latin Nais, Naias & Nāïad- (stem of Nāïas, genitive naiadis), from the Ancient Greek Nāïás (plural Naiades) (a water nymph) and related to νάω (náō or náein) (to flow), from the primitive Indo-European naw-yo-, a suffixed form of snau & nau- (to swim, flow, let flow (from the primitive Indo-European root sna- (to swim).  The English poet, literary critic, translator and playwright John Dryden (1631–1700) used the Latin singular form Nais; In English, the plural form Naiades was in use as early as the late fourteenth century and the use of the initial capital was inconsistent, something not unusual in Middle and early Modern English .  Naiad is a noun; the noun plural is naiads or naiades.

The companion term (in the sense they were often riparian (growing on the bank of a river or stream)) was dryad (a female tree spirit), from the Old French driade (wood nymph), from the Latin Dryas & Dryadis, from the Ancient Greek Δρυάς (Druás) (dryad), from δρῦς (drûs) (oak), from the primitive Indo-European derew & derewo- (tree, wood) and related to the primitive Indo-European dóru (tree).  The niads should not be confused with the Nereids (plural Nereids or Nereides).  In Greek Mythology, Nerids were one of 50 sea nymphs who were attendants upon Poseidon (Neptune); they were represented riding on sea horses, sometimes in human form and sometimes with the tail of a fish.  In zoology, nerid is an alternative form of nereidid (any polychaete worm of the Nereididae).  Nereid was from the stem of the Latin Nērēis (sea-nymph), from the Ancient Greek Νηρηΐς (Nērēḯs), from Νηρεύς (Nēreús) (the sea-god Nereus).

Fuchsia Water Nymph.

The Naiads were water nymphs who, although very long-lived, were mortal, a physiology not unique among the deities of Classical Mythology and although the Naiads incarnate the divinity of the spring or stream which they inhabited, a waterway could be the home to more than one of the nymphs; presence did not confer an exclusivity of dominion.  As is typical of the myths, the stories often are inconsistent for although Homer said the Naiads were the daughters of Zeus, elsewhere they’re described as daughters of the waters in which they dwell.  The daughters of Ασωπός (Asopus) were Naiads.  Asopus (Ασωπός) was the god of the river Asopus and (the family tree is typically murky and varies with the source) was either son of Poseidon & Pero, of Zeus & Eurynome or of Oceanus & Tethys.  He married Metope, the daughter of Ladon, fathered two sons (Ismenus and Pelagon) and an impressive 20 daughters although The Greek historian of the first century BC, Διόδωρος (Diodorus of Sicily) listed the names only of a dozen (Corcyra, Salamis, Aegina, Pirene, Cleone, Thebe, Tanagra, Thespia, Asopis, Sinope, Oenia (or Ornia) and Chalcis.  Confusingly Asopus is in other places mentioned as the said to be the father of Antiope and Plataea (that genealogy contested by other authors), after whom the city Plataea is named.  Plataea was a city-state in Boeotia at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, between the mountain and the river Asopus (which divided its territory from that of Thebes).  The modern Greek town of Plataies is adjacent to its ruins.

Led astray by freshwater sirens: Hylas and the Nymphs (1896), oil on canvas by the aptly named John William Waterhouse (1849–1917), Manchester Art Gallery, England.  Ύλας (Hylas) would not long live to enjoy his flirtation with a pack of Naiads.  Much taken by his beauty, the naiads lured the youth to the water for their pleasure, after which, according to the Roman Poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BC–17 AD), they drowned him; at the least, that suggests ingratitude.  Hylas may have died content but that's not something on which Ovid dwelt.

In theory, there shouldn't be a river or spring without at least one naiad but the storied ones were those associated with famous waterways and many of the nymphs had adventures (not always welcome) with the good, great and ghastly.  At Syracuse dwelt the beautiful Αρέθουσα (Arethusa; all nymphs were beauties but Arethusa was a supermodel among the breed), a companion of Αρτεμις (Artemis) who was identified by the Romans with Diana.  Some said she was the daughter of Demeter, but in most stories she was the twin sister of Apollo, their parents being Zeus and Leto.  One day, while swimming in the river (something which, unsurprisingly, the Naiads often did), Arethusa realized she wasn’t alone when she heard the voice of Alpheus, the god of the river, whose crush on her had developed into a passion which included stalking her.  Pursued by the lustful god, the nymph fled, crying out for Artemis to save her from what she knew would be an awful fate.  Artemis surrounded her in a concealing fog but Alpheus refused to leave the place where the mist swirled and in fright, Arethusa turned into a fountain.  In the way the myths handle the physics of such circumstances, the earth opened up to prevent Alpheus mingling his own waters with those of the spring which Arethusa had become, and, guided by Artemis, Arethusa went through underground channels to Syracuse, on the Island of Ortygia (which is dedicated to Artemis).  This Hellenistic myth is preferred by most but another version of the attempted sexual assault involves Αλφειός (Alpheus, (another river god)) which differs only in detail.

Lindsay Lohan, as a Naiad, surfacing from her spring.

The Naiads were often claimed to possess powers of healing and the notion of “curing waters” persists into the twenty-first century; although some of this is quackery there is a scientific basis in some cases and the origin of the use of lithium as an early anti-depressant was physicians in Ancient Greek noting the drinking of waters from a certain place “cured men of melancholy”.  Those waters turned out to have a pharmacologically significant lithium content.  However, not all naiads could be used so efficaciously because bathing in certain springs or rivers could be considered sacrilegious, even if it was someone exulted taking a dip.  Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (37-68; Roman emperor (and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty) 54-68)) was attacked by fever and some sort of partial paralysis and after bathing in the source of the Aqua Marcia and the Roman scuttlebutt was he’s incurred the displeasure of the Naiads, something which brought Nero’s subjects some delight.  Clearly, one upset a Naiad a one’s own risk because it was said also they could visit madness upon those who laid eyes on them, the nymphs possessing the mortal spirit of a transgressor and driving them to insanity.  For this reasons, travelers were warned (the Trip Advisor concept is not new) Naiads were particularly numerous in the Péloponnèse, a place of many waterways.

Sable

Sable (pronounced sey-buhl)

(1) An Old World, small, carnivorous, weasel-like mammal, Mustela zibellina, of cold regions in Eurasia and the North Pacific Islands, valued for its fur which exists in shades of brown.  They are solitary & arboreal, with a diet largely of eat small animals and eggs.

(2) A marten, especially the Mustela americana & Martes zibellina.

(3) The fur of the sable.

(4) A garment made from sable (as descriptor or modifier)

(5) An artist's brush made from the fur of the sable.

(6) A type of French biscuit of a sandy texture and made with butter, sugar, eggs & flour.

(7) The stage name of Rena Marlette-Lesnar (née Greek, formerly Mero; b 1968), a US model & actress, best known for her career (1996-1999 & 2003-2004) as a professional wrestler.

(8) The color black, especially when in heraldic use.

(9) The color of sable fur (a range from yellowish-brown to dark brown).

(10) A locality name in North America including (1) a cape at the southern Florida (the southern-most point of the continental US and (2) the southernmost point of Nova Scotia, Canada.

(11) In the plural (as sables), black garments worn in mourning.

(12) In literary use, dark-skinned; black (archaic when used of people but used still in other contexts).

(13) In figurative use, a “black” or “dark” mood; gloominess (now rare).

1275–1325: From the Middle English sable, saibel, sabil & sabille (a sable, pelt of a sable; (the color) black), from the Old French sable, martre sable & saibile (a sable, sable fur), from the Medieval Latin sabelum & sabellum (sable fur), from the Middle Low German sabel (the Middle Dutch was sabel and the late Old High German was zobel), from a Slavic or Baltic source and related to the Russian со́боль (sóbol), the Polish soból, the Czech sobol, the Lithuanian sàbalas and the Middle Persian smwl (samōr).  Sable is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is sables or sable.

The modern funeral: @edgylittlepieces take on the sable.  Their funeral dress included a mode in which it could be “tightened up to make it super modest for the funeral”, later to be “loosened back down for the after-party.”  The promotional clip attracted many comments, some of which indicated scepticism about whether funerals had “after-parties” but the wake is a long-established tradition.  Wake (in this context) was from the Middle English wake, from the Old English wacu (watch), from the Proto-Germanic wakō and wakes could be held before or after the funeral service, depending on local custom.  In James Joyce's (1882–1941) Finnegans Wake (1939), Tim Finnegan's wake occurs before the funeral service so the young lady would have “loosened” first before “tightening” into “super modest” mode for the ceremony.  “Modest” is of course a relative term and it's literature's loss Joyce never had the chance to write about this sable although how he'd have interpolated it into the narrative of Finnegans Wake is anyone's guess but fragments from the text such as “…woven of sighed sins and spun of the dulls of death…” and “…twisted and twined and turned among the crisscross, kisscross crooks and connivers, the curtaincloth of a crater let down, a sailor’s shroud of turfmantle round the pulpit...” lend a hint.

In Western culture black is of course the color of mourning so funeral garments came to be known as “sables” but the curious use of sable to mean “black” (in heraldry, for other purposes and in figurative use) when all known sables (as in the weasel-like mammal) have been shades of brown (albeit some a quite dark hue) attracted various theories including (1) the pelt of another animal with black fur might have been assumed to be a sable, (2) there may in some places at some time have been a practice of dying sable pelts black or (3) the origin of the word (as a color) may be from an unknown source.  It was used as an adjective from the late fourteenth century and in the same era came to be used as a term emblematic of mourning or grief, soon used collectively of black “mourning garments”.  In the late eighteenth century it was used of Africans and their descendants (ie “black”) although etymologists seem divided whether this was originally a “polite” form or one of “mock dignity”.

AdVintage's color chart (left) and a Crusader Fedora hat in True-Sable with 38mm wide, black-brown grosgrain ribbon, handcrafted from Portuguese felt (right).

The phrase “every cloud has a silver lining” was in general use by the early nineteenth century and is used to mean even situations which seem bad will have some positive aspect and thus a potential to improve.  That’s obviously not true and many are probably more persuaded by the derivative companion phrase coined by some unknown realist: “Every silver lining has a cloud” (ie every good situation has the potential to turn bad and likely will).  “Every cloud has a silver lining” dates from the seventeenth century and it entered popular use after the publication of John Milton’s (1608–1674) masque Comus (1634) in which the poet summoned the imagery of a dark & threatening cloud flowing at the edges with the moon’s reflected light of the moon, symbolizing hope in adversity:

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honor unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

Who wore the sable-trimmed coat better?  The Luffwaffe's General Paul Conrath (1896–1979, left) with Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945, centre), Soviet Union, 1942 and Lindsay Lohan at New York Fashion Week, September 2024.  

Given modern sensibilities, Ms Lohan's “sable” presumably was faux fur and appeared to be the coat's collar rather than a stole but the ensemble was anyway much admired.  Count Galeazzo Ciano (1903–1944; Italian foreign minister 1936-1943) wasn’t an impartial observer of anything German but he had a diarist’s eye and left a vivid description of the impression the Reichsmarschall made during his visit to Rome in 1942: “At the station, he wore a great sable coat, something between what motorists wore in 1906 and what a high grade prostitute wears to the opera.”  Ciano was the son-in-law of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943) who later ordered his execution, a power doubtlessly envied by many fathers-in-law.

Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974), during his famous trip to China in 1972, visiting the tomb of the Wanli Emperor.  The Wanli Emperor (Zhu Yijun, 1653-1620; Emperor of China 1572-1620) was the 14^th of the Ming dynasty and his 48 years on the throne was the eighth longest in Chinese history and the most enduring of the Ming dynasty.

Nixon’s sable-collared coat was well cut but it can be guaranteed the cloth wasn’t vicuña because he’d have recalled the scandal in 1958 when Dwight Eisenhower’s (1890-1969; US president 1953-1961) chief of staff (Sherman Adams (1899-1986)) was revealed to have accepted as a gift an expensive vicuña coat.  Adams was as a consequence dismissed although in his memoirs Nixon observed while there was no doubt most Americans had no idea whether vicuña was animal, vegetable or mineral, just the perceived mystique of the word was enough to convince them it was something expensive and therefore corrupting.  There was a curious footnote to the affair in that Nixon claimed it was him to whom Eisenhower delegated the handing to Adams his pink slip while other sources maintain the hatchet man was lawyer Meade Alcorn (1907–1992), then serving as chairman of the RNC (Republican National Committee).  Nixon certainly didn’t forget the business and would later cite Eisenhower’s reluctance to do his own dirty work to explain why, as the Watergate scandal in 1973 closed in on the White House, rather than fire his own chief of staff (HR Haldeman (1926–1993; White House chief of staff 1969-1973)), he requested a letter of resignation although there were other dynamics also at play, Nixon relying on Halderman more than Eisenhower ever did on Adams.

The Ford Taurus & Mercury Sable

1996 Mercury Sable.  The styling of the third generation Sable (and the Ford Taurus) was upon its release controversial and, unlike some other designs thought “ahead of their time”, few have warmed to it.  To many, when new, it looked like something which had been in an accident and was waiting to be repaired.

Over five generations (1986–1991; 1992–1995; 1996–1999; 2000–2005 & 2008–2009), the Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) produced the Mercury Sable, a companion (and substantially “badge-engineered”) version of the Ford Taurus (discontinued in the US in 2016 but still available in certain overseas markets).  Dreary and boring the FWD (front wheel drive) Taurus & Sable may have been but they were well-developed and appropriate to the needs of the market so proved a great success.  The Mercury brand had been introduced in 1939 to enable the corporation better to service the “medium-priced” market, its approach until then constrained by the large gap (in pricing & perception) between Fords and Lincolns; at the time, General Motors’ (GM) “mid-range” offerings (ie LaSalle, Buick, Oldsmobile & Pontiac (which sat between Chevrolet & Cadillac)) collectively held almost a quarter of the US market.  Given the structure of the industry (limited product ranges per brand) at the time it was a logical approach and one which immediately was successful although almost simultaneously, Ford added the up-market “Ford De Luxe” while Lincoln introduced the “Lincoln Zephyr” at a price around a third what was charged for the traditional Lincoln range.  It was a harbinger of what was to come in later decades when product differentiation became difficult to maintain as Ford increasingly impinged on Mercury’s nominal territory.  After years of decline, Ford took the opportunity offered by the GFC (Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2011) and in 2010 closed-down the Mercury brand.

Midler v. Ford Motor Co., 849 F.2d 460 (Ninth Circuit Federal Courts of Appeal, 1988)

Apart from the odd highlight like the early Cougars (1967-1970), Mercury is now little remembered and the Sable definitely forgotten but it does live on as a footnote in legal history which, since the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence), has been revisited because of the advertising campaign which accompanied the Sable’s launch in 1996.  The case in which the Sable featured dates from 1988 and was about the protectability (at law) of the voice of a public figure (however defined) and the right of an individual to prevent commercial exploitation of their “unique and distinctive sound” without consent.  FoMoCo and its advertising agency (Young & Rubicam Inc (Y&R)) in 1985 aired a series of 30 & 60 second television commercials (in what the agency called “The Yuppie Campaign”, the rationale of which was to evoke in the minds of the target market (30 something urban professionals in a certain income bracket) memories of their hopefully happy (if often impoverished) days at university some fifteen years earlier.  To achieve the effect, a number of popular songs of the 1970s were used for the commercials and in some cases the original artists licenced the material but ten declined to be involved so Y&R hired “sound-alikes” who re-recorded the material.  One who rejected Y&R’s offer was the singer Bette Midler (b 1945).

Sable (the stage name of Rena Marlette-Lesnar (née Greek, formerly Mero; b 1968)); promotional photograph issued by WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) to which she was contracted.

Y&R had from the copyright holder secured a licence to use the song, Do You Want to Dance which Ms Midler had interpreted on her debut album The Divine Miss M (1972) and neither her name nor an image of her appeared in the commercial.  Y&R’s use of the song was under the terms of settled law; the case hung on whether Ms Midler had the right to protect her voice from commercial exploitation by means of imitation.  At trial, the district court described the defendants' conduct as that “...of the average thief...” (“If we can't buy it, we'll take it”) but held there was no precedent establishing a legal principle preventing imitation of Midler's voice and thus gave summary judgment for the defendants.  Ms Midler appealed.

Years before, a federal court had held the First Amendment (free speech) to the US constitution operated with a wide latitude in protecting reproduction of likenesses or sounds, finding the “use of a person's identity” was central; if the purpose was found to be “informative or cultural”, then the use was immune from challenge but if it “serves no such function but merely exploits the individual portrayed, immunity will not be granted.”  Moreover, federal copyright law overlays such matters and the “...mere imitation of a recorded performance would not constitute a copyright infringement even where one performer deliberately sets out to simulate another's performance as exactly as possible.”  So Ms Midler’s claim was novel in that it was unrelated to the copyrighted material (the song), thus excluding consideration of federal copyright law.   At the time, it was understood a “voice is not copyrightable” and what she was seeking to protect was something more inherently personal than any work of authorship.  There had been vaguely similar cases but they had been about “unfair competition” in which people like voice-over artists were able to gain protection from others emulating in this commercial area a voice, the characteristics of which the plaintiffs claimed to have “invented” or “defined” (the courts never differentiated).

On appeal, the court reversed the original judgment, holding it was not necessary to “…go so far as to hold that every imitation of a voice to advertise merchandise is actionable.  We hold only that when a distinctive voice of a professional singer is widely known and is deliberately imitated in order to sell a product, the sellers have appropriated what is not theirs and have committed a tort in California.  Midler has made a showing, sufficient to defeat summary judgment, that the defendants here for their own profit in selling their product did appropriate part of her identity.”  What this established was an individual's voice can be as integral to their identity as their image or name and that is reflected in recent findings about AI-generated voices that mimic specific individuals; they too can infringe on similar rights if used without consent, particularly for commercial or deceptive purposes.  The “AI generated voice” cases will for some time continue to appear in many jurisdictions and it’s not impossible some existing (and long-standing) contracts might be declared void for unconscionability on the grounds terms which once “signed away in perpetuity” rights to use a voice will no longer enforced because the technological possibilities now available could not have been envisaged.