Original Meaning of a Familiar Term

Arafin © 2008

We all know how language evolves as words change
both spelling and meaning through the centuries as
society changes. I would like to tell you a story about
how two words in particular came to mean something
today that is very, very different from what they
originally meant.

Go back now to the dark ages in northern Europe and
Great Britain. It was a time of feudal lords acting as
the ultimate authority over their kingdoms. Some
neighboring kingdoms were on good terms with each
other yet others fought endlessly. Castles evolved a great
deal during this time and began to incorporate various
new elements into their design such as the drawbridge,
the portcullis, and circular ramparts. There was one
design element which, although very ancient, survived
into this time and was much improved upon. I am
speaking of the moat.

A moat was a very effective barrier against invading
forces, usually having steep sides which were nearly
impossible to scale down on the outer side or up
again on the castle side. Attacking soldiers were usually
far too heavily laden with armor and weaponry to even
think of swimming and boats were an easy target for
rocks thrown from the walls above. The only way across
was via the drawbridge, which when pulled up, left the
castle in an almost impregnable state. It was not until
several centuries later that truly effective catapults
became a legitimate threat.

Lords and kings quickly learned that one could not simply
dig a circular trench around the castle and expect it to
function as intended. A lot of careful planning and
engineering were necessary to create an efficient moat.
Eventually it came to pass that certain creatures became
far more adept at building good moats than others, and
although these creatures were otherwise looked down
upon by society, their skill at moat building earned them
a respect they would have otherwise have never dreamt of.
Distantly related to ogres, these moat building creatures
were a particular sub-species of troll. Their talent for
constructing the very best moats made them much
sought-after by the unfortunate and cherished by the
lucky.

If a lord or a king was able to procure the services of a
moat building troll his castle was practically guaranteed
invincibility. As the reputation of these trolls spread,
they realized they could charge more and more and get
away with it. Others sub-species of trolls who were not
skilled at moat building wanted to get in on the act and
began trying to pass themselves off as true moat builders.
Their method was to trick castle owners into thinking
they were legitimate moat building trolls, get a large down
payment, build a very substandard moat, and then leave
town before anyone was the wiser. Many was the castle
which fell to an invading army because of these tricky
and conniving pretenders.

Of course the real moat building trolls were very angry
about this trend and did their best to run the scam artist
trolls out of the area. Unfortunately, there were far more
of the scam artist trolls than the genuine article. If the
owner of a castle was hoodwinked into paying for a
substandard moat and still had the financial ability to do
so, he would hire a real moat building troll to renovate
the substandard moat. Eventually the scam artist trolls
took advantage of the situation, too, and began renovating
substandard moats with the result being that they became
even more substandard. This practice became more and
more common as more and more substandard moats were
constructed by the scam artist trolls. Having a castle’s
moat renovated became known as “re-moating”. The scam
artist trolls became known first as “con artist trolls” and
then that term was shortened to simply “con trolls”.

So despite what the meaning of those two words is today,
you now know the true story behind the meaning of the
term “remote control”.