In looking up "thimble" I found a word "cringle"
crin[gle 7kri%4g!l8
n.
5ME < ON kringla, circle, or MDu kringel, ring, both ult. < IE base *ger3: see CRADLE6 a small loop or ring of rope or metal on the edge of a sail, through which a line may be run for fastening the sail
This reminded me of Santa Claus, aka Kris Kringle. What does the "Kringle" mean?
I finally found a site that explains origin. Nothing to do with "cringle".
Krist-Kindl, or Christ-Child
The concept of the Christ-Child as a gift-giver evolved in Germany. The Krist- Kindl appeared as a substitute for St. Nicholas partially because, some historians argue, the old gent was too redolent of Rome for some Protestant reformers.35 At any rate, the Krist-Kindl was portrayed as a cherubic child (boy or girl) who travelled by mule carrying gifts. Children set out a basket, filled with hay for the mule, to receive their gifts. The Krist-kindl concept was adopted by some Pennsylvania Germans.36 By 1860, however, he/she was rarely a part of Christmas; the role having been overtaken by the jolly elf who had appropriated the name.
Wow, Dr. Bill--this thread made me realize that I look upon YOU as a kind of Kris Kringle for us: leaving unexpected little treasures of knowledge for us to find!
Dear Jackie: to steal a quip from GBS, too bad only you and I think so.
Mais non, Monsieur Guilliam! Moi aussi! Je pense que vous ętes comme Kris Kringle avec les bons mots!!
Au revoir pour maintenant,
DeDubutante
My French sucks, but I thought you'd enjoy my attempt, Bill!
I just edited one of the misspelled French words! Ha!! But I really wish I could remember how "Guilluam? Guilliam?" is spelled. It's pronounced Geeeee--YOMME
I believe there is a new improved meaning of "kringle" nowadays. This is also the name for a certain kind of "unused" nucleic acid sequence which occurs in large numbers on some chromosomes. They don't code for an identifiable trait or even an amino acid sequence. Only thing is, each time a cell divides a couple of them are lost, so that the progeny cells don't have quite as many...and when _they_ divide, there are fewer still...and when the last one is gone, the cell can't divide any more...
Leastwise that's what they were when I heard about them first, about seven years ago. Having just done a quick search I find that, Time Marching On as it generally does, there are now some much more specific functions assigned to them...but they still exist!
Dear wofahulicodoc: I saw an article about kringles in one of my magazines this afternoon, but have to admit I had trouble following the discussion. Here is something similar from Internet:
Abstract.. HGF/SF and HGFl/MSP define a novel growth factor family whose members share the domain structure and the proteolytic process of activation of the blood proteinase precursor plasminogen. The amino acid and RNA sequences of HGF/SF and HGFl/MSP, the intron-exon organization of their genes and the predicted 3D structure of individual domains indicate that HGF/SF and HGFl/MSP evolved along with plasminogen and other members of the kringle–serine proteinase (KSP) superfamily from an ancestral gene that contained a single copy of the kringle domain, a serine proteinase domain and anmactivation peptide connecting the two domains. A series of intragenic duplications of the kringle domain, gene duplications, exon shuffling and deletions is responsible for the genes currently present in mammals, avians and amphibians. Plasminogen, HGF/SF and HGFl/MSP represent paradigmatic examples of the modern, multi-domain proteins typically associated with vertebrate organisms and illustrate a novel evolutionary pathway that led to the emergence of molecules with growth regulatory activity from proteolytic enzymes.
There are also Danish pastries called "kringles". I would rather be involved with those than the stuff in the paragraph above, which I cheerfully admit is Greek to me.
I prefer Dr Bill's rather esoteric definition (and I use the term loosely). I think telomere is a more accurate term for what wofahulicodoc described, although from what I can glean, there are some interesting similarities between the two.
Guilliam
Or Guillaume (if memory serves).