cockle (2009-10-21)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: [kahk-êl]

Definition: (1) A ribbed bivalve of the genus Cardium with traits of the clam and the scallop. (2) A wild plant (Lychnis Githago) with a reddish or purplish flower common in cornfields. (3) A pucker or imperfection in material (used as a verb, today's word means "to wrinkle or pucker," as a solution that cockles a piece of cloth).

Usage: Charles Darwin wrote in a letter in 1858, "I have just had the innermost cockles of my heart rejoiced by a letter from Lyell." But don't let this unusual turn of phrase divert your attention away from the unusual third meaning of today's word, "The lovely Bea Heine cockled the brows of many at the reception with her cockled silk sheath cut low in the back."

Suggested Usage: The most unusual usage of today's word by far, however, is in the phrase," to warm the cockles of someone's heart." The cockles of the heart? In fact, however, it makes sense in the context of the expression "to clam up." We have a perception, a metaphoric tradition, that bivalves close themselves extremely tightly, so the most difficult part of a person to prise open, and hence the deepest and most personal part, would be like a cockle. That a relation exists between this usage and the genus of cockles (Latin Cardium "heart") is highly unlikely.

Etymology: This word comes from from Old French coquille "scallop, shell" from Latin conchylium "shellfish," itself borrowed from Greek "konkhylion," the diminutive of konkhe "cockle, mussel." The Latin equivalent of "konkhe" was concha "mussel, shellfish."