flotsam & jetsam

Okay, so The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney film as a kid. On my fourth birthday, I was found donning a red wig and sparkling green fins. That said, I was excited when, years later, I gained insight into the names of the characters in the animated film. Two of those characters to which I refer are Ursula's eels, who aid her in her evil scheme, Flotsam and Jetsam.

The technical definitions of flotsam and jetsam vary only slightly. "Flotsam" refers to "wreckage or cargo afloat after a shipwreck," while "jetsam" refers to "cargo or equipment thrown overboard to lighten a ship in distress" (AHD). Interestingly, "flotsam" is further defined as "vagrant, usually destitute people," while the most broadened definition of "jetsam" that our dictionary offers is simply "discarded odds and ends" (AHD). It makes sense that flotsam would have the more negative connotation, since it is the result of actual disaster, rather than the result of action taken to prevent a disaster. The AHD further explains that "in maritime law, flotsam applies to wreckage or cargo left floating on teh sea after a shipwreck. Jetsam applies to cargo or equipment thrown overboard [...] and either sunk or washed ashore." This further explains why "flotsam" developed the negative social connotation; perhaps to be a vagrant is to float aimlessly in a sea of society, with no final destination at hand.

"Flotsam" comes from the Anglo-Norman term "floteson," which was derived from the Old French "floter," or "to float," which is linked back to Germanic origins (AHD). "Jetsam," previously "jetson," was an alteration of the Middle English "jetteson," meaning "a throwing overboard" (AHD). This unexpectedly leads me back to an etymological path that I've already explained on this blog but will gladly do again; "jetteson" comes from the Anglo-Norman "getteson," which comes from the Vulgar Latin term "iectare," or "to throw" (AHD).

According to the OED, the first known usage of flotsam can be traced back to 1607, while jetsam seems to appear in 1570. I can't fathom why jetsam would have been used first, except for the speculation that as colonial ships confiscated more and more material goods over the years, there was too much cargo to jettison from the ship in time to prevent a wreck, and thus "flotsam" was born out of necessity. (Hey, we've heard crazier etymological stories, right?)

Photo courtesy of Disney, via http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lair2000.net/Mermaid_Lyrics/instrumentals/flotsam_and_jetsam2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lair2000.net/Mermaid_Lyrics/instrumentals/Flotsam_And_Jetsam.html&usg=__4FoTGfrB2dfy3pvcwOR2rWgizQ4=&h=400&w=600&sz=95&hl=en&start=2&sig2=xfvq5f-78oxSVdZu5HBhFA&um=1&tbnid=LdguaD_C5vbbhM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlittle%2Bmermaid%2Bflotsam%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1&ei=oQnISYuzIo34MaW9jZcJ