847: nonchalant Apr 3, 2017

Among the synonyms for 'nonchalant', you would find, 'calm', 'composed' and 'blasé', as well as 'cool'. One cannot, at least not in any standard English way, be 'chalant' because the word was adopted from a French term meaning ‘not being concerned,’ with the 'non-' prefix already added. The stem of that verb is derived from the Latin 'calēre' meaning 'to be warm'. While it may not sound like it, 'lee-' as in 'leeward' meaning the side shielded from wind also is related to this, although that word originates from the Old English, 'hlēo'. Quite often, words for emotional distance or kindness are related to temperature, and even the terms, 'warm', 'cool', and 'cold' are used to describe people's attitudes. It should not be a surprise then that even words borrowed from other languages still follow this same pattern with 'nonchalant' meaning 'not warm' in a literal or historical sense.