Chrysti The Wordsmith: Bumper Crop

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. A farm community that gathers a bumper crop considers itself fortunate indeed because such crops yield higher than average harvests. Why do we use this expression to refer to an abundance of produce. Well in the 18th and 19th centuries the word bumper was a commonly used superlative meaning abundant or impressively large. For example a bumper glass or bumper toast was a cup of beer or wine filled to the brim with liquid a standing room only theater audience was a bumper crowd and a busy city street was said to be filled with bumper traffic. An unusually large piece of fruit was a bumper Apple or bumper pear. It's not clear where the superlative a role is but the etymologist John Doe in his dictionary of word origins suggests that the word bump meaning a swelling or a lump may be the source of bumper. Inspiring the notion of something growing too abnormal or impressive size. But today the word has disappeared from the theater. The street and the glass of

wine it survives only in the agricultural sense. A bumper crop. If you're curious about the origins of words and expressions come to the bibliography page of my website for a bumper crop of dictionary titles that will surely whet your appetite. Wordsmith radio dot org. Brody Cates is studio engineer for this series and Phil Gaines is consulting editor. Dave herbivores Christie the wordsmith a sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry sued web dot com.