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Here we go again. ota or Jot: A very little, the least quantity possible. The iöta is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, called the Lacedemonian letter. (Hebrew, Yod [`], the smallest Hebrew letter.)
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Ireland or Erin is Celtic; from Eri or Iar (western). Lloyd (State Worthies, article "Grandison"), with a gravity which cannot but excite laughter, says the island is called the land of Ire because of the broils there, which have extended over four hundred years. Wormius derives the word from the Runic Yr, a bow. (See below.) Ireland. Called by the natives "Erin," i.e. Eri-innis, or Iar-innis (west island). By the Welsh "Yver-den" (west valley). By Apuleius, "Hibernia," which is Iernia, a corruption of Iar-inni-a. By Juvenal (ii. 260) "Juverna" or "Juberna," the same as Ierna or Iernia. By Claudian "Ouernia," the same. By moderns "Ireland," which is Iar-en-land (land of the west). The three great saints of Ireland are St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bridget. The fair maid of Ireland. Ignis fatuus (q.v.).
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I'ris Goddess of the rainbow, or the rainbow itself. In classic mythology she is called the messenger of the gods when they intended discord, and the rainbow is the bridge or road let down from heaven for her accommodation. When the gods meant peace they sent Mercury. (Greek and Latin, iris.)
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Irony A dissembling. (Greek, eiron, a dissembler, cironeia.)
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Iroquois (An). Anyone of the five (now six) confederate tribes, viz, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and sixth the Tuscaroras, added in 1712, now forming "The Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy."
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Isabel called She-wolf of France. The adulterous queen of Edward II., daughter of Philippe IV. (le Bel) of France. According to tradition, she murdered her royal husband by thrusting a hot iron into his bowels.
Hey, CK: is this the one you told us about? I thought in your story it was done by rebellious nobles.
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Back in the twenties, a "touring car" had a canvas roof that could be folded down, and canvas panels could be attached to keep rain out. These panels had a flexible transparent plastic called "isinglass"
Isinglass A corruption of the Dutch huyzenblas (an air-bladder), being prepared from the bladders and sounds of sturgeon. (German, huyen, a sturgeon.)
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Its did not come into use till the seventeenth century. Dean Trench points out that Chatterton betrayed his forgeries by the line "Life and its goods I scorn," but the word its was not in use till several centuries after the death of the monk to whom the words are ascribed. In 1548 it was used for its.
"The loue and deuotion towardes God also hath it infancie, and hath it commyng forward in growth of age." (1548.)
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Jagger A gentleman; a sportsman. (German, jager, a sportsman.)
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Jerked [beef], a corruption of the Peruvian word charqui, meat cut into strips and dried in the sun to preserve it.
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