I remember my parents talking about visiting San Miguel in the 1950s. I suspect I might yet find a souvenir or two as I trudge through sorting all the Stuph I inherited when Mother died.
I'm not completely sure I'm on board with that etymology, though. I always understood the word to come from Middle French "sou" (a low-value coin, sort of like a penny) and "venir", as you noted. Hence, some small token you could keep or show to your friends as an "I was there." I have a ton of them from my mother, who loved to collect lapel pins. Many of hers were repros of vintage postage stamps, and I stick them into my hats, 𝘢́ 𝘭𝘢 Piers Ploughman:
I remember my parents talking about visiting San Miguel in the 1950s. I suspect I might yet find a souvenir or two as I trudge through sorting all the Stuph I inherited when Mother died.
Reminds me of this post: https://www.thefeministkitchen.com/p/the-permanent-impermanence-of-a-broken?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fsouvenir&utm_medium=reader2
“Souvenir” = “to come” and “from below"
Thanks for sharing the story, Sam.
I'm not completely sure I'm on board with that etymology, though. I always understood the word to come from Middle French "sou" (a low-value coin, sort of like a penny) and "venir", as you noted. Hence, some small token you could keep or show to your friends as an "I was there." I have a ton of them from my mother, who loved to collect lapel pins. Many of hers were repros of vintage postage stamps, and I stick them into my hats, 𝘢́ 𝘭𝘢 Piers Ploughman:
"𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘺," 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘦, "𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮 [𝘵𝘩𝘦] 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘤𝘳𝘦.
𝘐𝘯 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘯𝘦, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦,
𝘐𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘺𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴.
𝘠𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘺𝘦
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘦s 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘦."
I appreciate this, Sam! What do you do with the lapel pins?
I stick them into my hats, of which I have a number. (I'm mostly bald, so covering my head is not only style but wisdom.)
I love having little reminders like that. We use the family spoons for coffee.