Not Joking About Jocularity

We begin today’s follow up to last week’s post with the oldest English word formed from the Latin root word iocularis. The word arrived in the 1620s, and was instantly greeted with mirth, but no gold or frankincense (for those not knowing the mis-reference, see Matthew 2:11). Iocularis, of course, became our English word jocular, an adjective meaning funny or comic. According to etymonline.com it “implies evasion of an issue by a joke.” But my dictionary gives no such shade of meaning, nor have I heard it used in such a manner. Dictionary.com defines it as “given to, characterized by, intended for, or suited to joking or jesting.” 

Is it simply the adjective form of “joke”? I suggest it has a shade of meaning slightly less serious than joking, which is the doing or saying of something intended to produce laughter.

Joke also came from the same Latin word, and is both a verb and a noun. The verb arrived at the same time as the noun, in the 1660s, but the noun was originally spelled joque. It was originally a slang word, and its use to describe something not worthy of being taken seriously only appeared in 1791, a mere 13 years before the phrase “practical joke”. Practical joke, which so characterizes activities on April Fools’ Day, is something intended to provoke laughter at someone else’s expense.

Jocose came to English a decade after joke (or joque) and is the closer adjective to joke. Where jocose is an adjective that describes the act of joking, jocularity refers to a general characteristic of fun and joking or jesting.

Which begs the question: what’s the difference between joke and jest? While a jest can be a witty remark or a joke, it is more often used as an interactive word to describe the kind of joking that takes place during conversation with someone, or in relation to someone. Joke is not always directed at someone in particular. Jest is. It may have some serious intent, or it may be simply playful taunting, but it is directed at another person.

Jest is an older word than joke, and was initially used in English in the early 1200s. It came from the Old French word geste, their word for action or exploit, and was originally spelled geste. The Latin word from which the Old French got geste was gesta, which means deeds or exploits. By the mid-1300s it developed a noun to describe the teller of these exploits, jestour. The original function of a jester was to recite a tale, since in the 1300s most people could not read. It was the equivalent in the middle ages of today’s television, movies, or internet. (The use to describe a “buffoon in a prince’s court” is from about 1500.)

By 1520 jest also developed into a verb that described a less-than-serious manner of speaking. It didn’t have a sense of joking until the 1550s.

So at one time you may have gested and joqued, but now you jest and joke. Since the initial sound is the same, it only makes sense to use the same initial consonant; and k sounds the same as q but saves a letter. I’m not joking, even though I may be jocular.