More fibs

I was recently presented with a lovely gift from a friend in Algeria. It is a plate. When I asked what the design represented, I was told in French it is a “fibule”, a brooch for holding Algerian women’s robes in place. What a delightful word! It has some luscious connotations, connected to making up stories, like a teensy weensy little mini white lie, the way a nodule must be a tiny nod, and a stream is a tribula of a river - “Look at all my trials and tribule-ations” – (jc superstar). The first wrinkle on a French woman’s face, which must, at all costs, be hidden/filled in (whereas on a man's face it either doesn't make any difference or au contraire adds character) – is called a ridule, and I am not going to give you the satisfaction of adding the IC.

In my mind, the word is a hybrid composed of the English root “fib” (from fibble-fable), a teensy untruth that has no bad consequences, and the French diminutive suffix –ule. Not all French words ending in ule are diminutives – there’s crédule, (although maybe that means a little bit créd?) opercule, libellule – this is one of my all-time favourites. I can actually see phosphorescent blue and diaphanous, iridescent wings when I speak or read it. When I was an infant my parents called me looby-lou – I never understood why, but when I heard the French word for dragonfly for the first time I was hooked, I thought I had found my original family. Let’s face it; we are all descended from swamp dwellers.

Please take a moment to enjoy all the pleasant associations that come to mind in relation to fibule and its English sister, fibula, which also has fabulously free phonetic foibles.

Nebula, nibble, scribble, dabble, fabulate, febrile, etc.

Because the associations don’t stay fun and frivolous for very long. Feeble. Fistule…

The Encyclopaedia Britannica

Fibula: outer of two bones of the lower leg or hind limb, probably so named because the inner bone, the tibia, and the fibula together resemble an ancient brooch, or pin.

[Latin īnfībulāre, īnfībulāt-, to clasp with a brooch, see fibula.]

infibulate:

To close off or obstruct the genitals of, especially by sewing together the labia majora in females or fastening the prepuce in males, so as to prevent sexual intercourse.

The design on my gift is yet another reminder of the influence of the Roman Empire.