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Origin of word carol?

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In old French a 'carole' was circle dance accompanied by singing. Carols written and sung for all four  seasons. They were linked to the agricultural calendar, with harvest carols for example.  Though predating Christianity, carols were adapted by the church.  Christmas carols originated from pagan mid-winter festivals but developed into the modern tradition 19th Century.  When Dickens called his story A Christmas Carol he was referring to the tradition of story telling through song - with the five staves mimicking verses. Though there is a recognizably Christian theme of redemption, there are no specifically Biblical references. The ghosts, for example, are clearly secular. Carol services  Popular carols come from very disparate sources. The Coventry Carol, one of the oldest and darkest, is a 16th Century commemoration of the Slaughter of the Innocents. While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks from the same period is more suitable for the Nativity play market, but protestants cheerf

Female gigolo?

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  gigolo   / ˈʒɪɡəˌləʊ / n  (   pl   -los ) a man who is kept by a woman, esp an older woman a man who is paid to dance with or escort women By RKO Radio Pictures -  Fair use,  Etymology: 20 th  Century: from French, back formation from  gigolette  girl for hire as a dancing partner, prostitute, from  giguer  to dance, from  gigue  a fiddle; compare  gigot ,  gigue ,  jig In the 1920s the word gigolo came into a vogue to describe a paid (male) escort. The gig (!) did not necessarily imply sexual services though there was a raffish undertone (see Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the most famous song associated with the occupation, Just a Gigolo .  At that point the term was cheerfully sexist - gigolettes need not apply. But in fact the etymology tracks back to  gigolette  - a French slang term coined in the mid Nineteenth Century. A gigolette  was a small boned cut of meat - the unflattering association was with the feminine form. The word also displayed reverse discrimination, only appl

How many French words are there in English?

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Use coupon code CQDWKF0 to download English FAQ Teaching Pack  for only £1.99 Crossword of French words in English Merriam-Webster's French-English Translation Dictionary, Kindle Edition Larousse Student Dictionary French-English/English-French