Gamboling

I find it whimsical that words on occasion sound like their meaning.  Plod for instance.  A slow, tedious word.  Perhaps that one is cheating because it is thought to be an "imitative" word, one inspired by the sound of slow, tired, heavy footsteps.

And then there is gambol.  It sounds peppier even if - and this is too common in the young of this age - it is not a word you use or even know.

I was thinking of it recently when watching deer leap about happily as the deep drifts melted up north.  

Gambol connects to two other words...gammon and the rather gangster talk sounding "gams".

Gammon is the oldest of these words.  It is French, known to be in use in the 13th century.  It means ham, or the haunch of a swine.  As these things do it wanders in from Late Latin when everyone got sloppy with words including gamba meaning leg.  The word has kept its original sense, at least in northern England, where "gammon steak" is a common menu item and gets you a nice slab of ham.

Once you establish that all this originates as a word for leg it makes sense.

Gambol, from the 1590's, means to leap about on your legs.  And "Gams" while sounding like a modern invention dates back to the late 1700's.  It was low slang even then, so its more specific meaning as the shapely legs of a dame while modern is certainly in character.

Alas, I was not able to link gambol with either Sam Gamgee or Gamera.  You can't win 'em all.