Online Etylmology Dictionary says "Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts"* is first recorded 1935.
Dictionary.com lists 1965-1970 as the period in which "bananas" took on the meaning "crazy, deranged".
As I Lay Dying was published in 1930.
Seems Faulkner wasn't making a joke about Dewey Dell and Vardaman eating bananas instead of going bananas...or if he was his audience wouldn't have gotten the joke.
This is a clear illustration of the importance of knowing what a word meant at the time a work was written. This will be an important consideration when we read King Lear.
*(In case you are wondering, the first recorded use of the word "nuts" to mean "crazy" appears in 1846, which seems to have been derived from the phrase "be nutts upon" meaning "be very fond of" (1785), a use which seems to have been derived from "nuts" meaning "any source of pleasure" (1617).)
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1 comment:
this comment box looked lonely. <3 potassium.
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