GALL (a word

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• COMMON

common to many

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• TEUTONIC
• TEUTONIC (GERMANIC) LANGUAGES

Teutonic

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• LANGUAGES

languages, cf. Dutch gal, and Ger.

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• GALLE, or POINT DE GALLE

Galle; the Indo-

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• EUROPEAN

European

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• ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
• ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )

root appears in Gr. xoXi,, and

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• LAT

Lat. fel; possibly connected with " yellow," with reference to the

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• COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour of bile)  , the secretion of the liver known as " bile," the term being also used of the pear-shaped diverticulum of the bile-duct, which forms a reservoir for the bile, more generally known as the " gall-bladder " (see LIVER) . From the extreme bitterness of the secretion, " gall," like the Lat. fel, is used for anything extremely bitter, whether actually or metaphorically . From the idea that the gall-bladder was the dominating organ of a bitter, sharp temperament, " gall " was formerly used in English for such a spirit, and also for one very ready to resent injuries . It thus survives in American slang, with the meaning " impudence " or " assurance." " Gall," meaning a sore or painful swelling, especially on a horse, may be the same word, derived from an early use of the word as meaning " poison." On the other hand, in Romanic languages, the Fr. galle, Sp. agalla, a wind-gall or puffy distension of the synovial bursa on the fetlock joint of a horse, is derived from the Lat. galla, oak-apple, from which comes the English " gall," meaning an excrescence on trees caused by certain insects .