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"Abeyance really means something gaped after (French, bayer, to gape). The allusion is to men standing with their mouths open, in expectation of some sight about to appear." From Dict.Phrase and Fable http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/115.html
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Acme The crisis of a disease. Old medical writers used to divide the progress of a disease into four periods: the ar-che, or beginning; the anabasis, or increase, the acme, or term of its utmost violence, and the pa-rac-me, or decline. Figuratively, the highest point of anything.
"anabasis" as a term for stage of an illness I never heard of before I remember it only from:
Xenophon: Anabasis, or March Up Country
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Acrobat means one who goes on his extremities , or uses only the tips of his fingers and toes in moving
about. (It is from the two Greek words, akros baino, to go on the extremities of one's limbs.)
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Yes, these are surprises, wwh. Acrobats have always seemed to go to extremeties in my way of thinking. Especially the ones who move upward to flying in the air. It makes me nuts thinking about the things they do, especially the ones who have done so without nets. Nuts without nets. Deaths without nets. Come to think of it, would you still call the person who is a highwire artist an acrobat? And is there any connection between "baino" and the bat itself that truly does go flying through the air with the greatest of ease?
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I have never before seen translation of "auto da fé"
Act of Faith (auto da fé) in Spain, is a day set apart by the Inquisition for the punishment of heretics, and
the absolution of those who renounce their heretical doctrines. The sentence of the Inquisition is also so
called; and so is the ceremony of burning, or otherwise torturing the condemned.
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Where in the "a's" are you reading, wwh?
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Dear WW: I'm at "adore" . It surprised me:
Adore (2 syl.) means to "carry to one's mouth" "to kiss" (ad-os, ad-orare). The Romans performed
adoration by placing their right hand on their mouth and bowing. The Greeks paid adoration to kings by
putting the royal robe to their lips. The Jews kissed in homage: thus God said to Elijah he had 7,000 in
Israel who had not bowed unto Baal, "every mouth which hath not kissed him" (1 Kings xix. 18; see also
Hos. xiii. 2). "Kiss the Son lest He be angry" (Psalm ii. 12), means worship, reverence the Son. Even in
England we do homage by kissing the hand of the sovereign.
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I never thought of this before:
Adroit properly means "to the right" (French, à droite). The French call a person who is not adroit
gauche (left-handed), meaning awkward, boorish.
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Æolic Digamma An ancient Greek letter (F), sounded like our w. Thus oinos with the digamma was
sounded woinos; whence the Latin vinum, our wine. Gamma, or g, hence digamma = double g.
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Affront properly means to stand front to front. In savage nations opposing armies draw up front to front
before they begin hostilities, and by grimaces, sounds, words, and all conceivable means, try to provoke
and terrify their vis-à-vis. When this "affronting" is over, the adversaries rush against each other, and the
fight begins in earnest.
Affront. A salute; a coming in front of another to salute.
"Only, sir, this I must caution you of, in your affront, or salute, never to move your hat." -
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I never thought of this before
This is a great thread, Bill! - I had thought of this before - well, had it thought of for me and pointed out to me. Guess perhaps it's a Canajun/French thing. Apparently left-handed people dislike these terms and their definitions....!
Related: the term "sinister," from heraldry, also has to do with the left - and also has bad connotations in modern language. Another term lefties get tweaked about, or so I understand.
Which reminds me of one more thing, non-word related, to do with lefties: I heard once that if a pregnant woman gets an ultrasound to check on the baby's progress, it is more likely the baby will grow up left-handed, because something in the ultra-sound waves affects that portion of the development of the fetus. Anyone know anything more about this?
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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...something in the ultra-sound waves affects that portion of the development of the fetus.
I doubt it.
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Dear MG: one of the biggest fallacies in medical research is the old post hoc, propter hoc. I read that about ultrasound affecting handedness in New Scientist. I think it is baloney. If it could change handedness, it could cause other fetal defects, which have not been a problem so far.
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Ah, Bill, not everyone would agree with you that a change of handedness was a "fetal defect"! Hell, it makes sense to me. The brain runs brain waves, yes? An ultrasound uses waves also, yes? Doesn't seem implausible to me that the latter might interfere with the former. Maybe it does interfere in more ways than we are yet cognizant of - but obviously not deleterious ways (just as the hand thing is not deleterious - just not desirable, to my way of thinking, because unfortunately this is a right-handed world and lefties are at a bit of a disadvantage because of it). The brain is a mysterious and wonderful thing. Perhaps the most curious thing about it, is that we use it, to study it.  Will we ever plumb its depths? I'm guessing no. Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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Dear MG: I think that ;if the ultrasound could change one thing it could change more than one. When you speak of waves, remember apples and oranges.
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We raised both beef and dairy cows, but never heard this word:
Agist To take the cattle of another to graze at a certain sum. The feeding of these beasts is called agistment. The words are from the Norman agiser (to be levant and couchant, rise up and lie down), because, says Coke, beasts are levant and couchant whilst they are on the land.
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Agnus-castus A shrub of the Vitex tribe, called agnos (chaste) by the Greeks, because the Athenian ladies, at the feast of
Ceres, used to strew their couches with vitex leaves, as a palladium of chastity. The monks, mistaking agnos (chaste) for agnus (a lamb), but knowing the use made of the plant, added castus to explain its character, making it chaste-lamb. (For another similar blunder, see I.H.S.)
I have heard of the element "palladium" but what does it mean in the quotation?
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An etymology new to me:
Agog He is all agog, in nervous anxiety; on the qui vive, like a horse in clover. (French, à gogo, or vivre à gogo, to live in clover.)
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Ague - a fever,usually malariall, marked by regularly occurring chills
Homer a Cure for the Ague It was an old superstition that if the fourth book of the Iliad was laid under the head of a patient suffering from quartan ague it would cure him at once. Serenus Sammonicus, preceptor of Gordian and a noted physician, vouched for this remedy.
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Well, as far as a pregnant woman having ultrasound and that making her babies left handed....I had many sonograms while pregnant with my two right handed children. With my son, I had sonograms every other week for 6 months. I had been in a car accident and broken my back. The repeated tests showed where he was in relation to the break that could not be treated without aborting him. With the aid of a chiropractor and physically manipulating the position of my womb to move him off the tender area, I was able to carry him to full term and deliver by c-section. He and I were definitely both subjected to alot of waves!
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We raised both beef and dairy cows, but never heard this word
I suspect that you always had enough grain/food/grass for your cattle then. I've heard this term used a fair bit - particularly when I was growing up in the country. People who lived in town on small blocks of land would often have the horses that their kids had as pets agisted on properties outside of town. My uncle who has a farm in one of the more arid regions of NSW occasionally agists his animals onto the property of a neighbour, who doesn't have animals, and pays a fee to do this (often in kind, rather than specific monetary amount - the barter system still operates in the country to a degree).
In Oz, the term 'agistment' implies more than just feeding, it includes the pasturing as well. On checking my facts, I find that the Macquarie Australian Dictionary says:
agist
// verb (t) 1. to take in and feed or pasture (livestock) for payment. 2. to lay a public burden, as a tax, on (land or its owner). [Middle English, from Old French à to + giste resting-place]
--agistment, noun
--agistor, noun
Hmmm... interesting!
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...the term "sinister," from heraldry, also has to do with the left - and also has bad connotations in modern language
I seem to recall that way back when, as the Spanish language was evolving from Latin and "dexter" (L. right) became Spanish "derecho," there was sufficient unhappiness with the evil connotations of "sinister" that it was rejected entirely. In seeking a more neutral word for "left" they borrowed from the Basque language up in the Pyrenees mountains, whence the present "izquierda."
Any linguists still participating who can refine my recollection?
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Sinister got its bad reputation from necessity of using left hand to perform task now performed by toilet paper. Remember the story about the Roman captured by Etruscans, who demonstrated his courage by
holding his right hand in a flame until it was destroyed. He acquired nickname that became added to family
name: "Scaevola" which literally means "shitwing". In those days the left hand had a bad reputation.
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"dexter" (L. right)
and to be "dexterous" is seen as a good thing....good for the Spaniards for trying to be fair.
Unca Bill, I did NOT KNOW that disgusting detail! but now it makes me wonder when toilet paper came along? o, and bidets....I know people used to use pages from the Sears catalogue in the dunny/outhouse - when did rolls of toilet paper come to be? and does the bidet predate the roll of loo paper?
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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One for Wordwind, the hippopotamiphile:
Behemoth (Hebrew). The hippopotamus; once thought to be the rhinoceros. (See Job xl. 15.)
“Behold! in plaited mail,
Behemoth rears his head.”
Thomson: Summer, 709, 710.
The word is generally, but incorrectly, pronounced Behemoth; but Milton, like Thomson, places the
accent on the second syllable.
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Belfry A military tower, pushed by besiegers against the wall of a besieged city, that missiles may be
thrown more easily against the defenders. Probably a church steeple is called a belfry from its
resemblance to these towers, and not because bells are hung in it. (French, beffroi, a watch-tower, Old
French, berfreit, belefreit, from German, berg-frit, bergen, to protect, frit [vride], a place fenced in for
security.)
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“Beacons were lighted upon crags and eminences; the bells were rung backwards in the
churches; and the general summons to arm announced an extremity of danger.”- Sir W. Scott.
The Betrothed. chap. iii.
How in hell can you ring a bell backwards?
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Bevy A bevy of ladies. A throng or company; properly applied to roebucks, quails, and pheasants. Timid
gregarious animals, in self-defence, go down to a river to drink in bevies or small companies. Ladies, from
their timidity, are placed in the same category (Italian, bevere, to drink)
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Biæum in rhetoric, means converting the proof into a disproof. As thus: That you were the murderer is
proved by your being on the spot at the time. Reply: Just the contrary, if I had been the guilty person
most certainly I should have run away. (Greek, biaion.)
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Bias The weight in bowls (bowling balls) which makes them deviate from the straight line; hence any favourite idea or
pursuit, or whatever predisposes the mind in a particular direction.
Bowls are not now loaded, but the bias depends on the shape of the bowls. They are flattened on one
side, and therefore roll obliquely.
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Bird of Este The white eagle, thecognisance of the house.
A word not in my dictionary, but quite possibly a useful addition to logo,icon, symbol and emblem
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Bitter End (The ). A outrance; with relentless hostility; also applied to affliction, as, “she bore it to the
bitter end,” meaning to the last stroke of adverse fortune. “All Thy waves have gone over me, but I have
borne up under them to the bitter end.” Here “bitter end” means the end of the rope. The “bitter-end” is a
sea term meaning “that part of the cable which is “abaft the bitts.” When there is no windlass the cables
are fastened to bitts, that is, pieces of timber so called; and when a rope is payed out to the bitter-end, or
to these pieces of timber, all of it is let out, and no more remains. However, we read in Prov. v. 4, “Her
end is bitter as wormwood,” which, after all, may be the origin of the phrase.
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Black Maria The black van which conveys prisoners from the police courts to jail. The French call a
mud-barge a “Marie-salope.” The tradition is that the van referred to was so called from Maria Lee, a
negress, who kept a sailors' boarding house in Boston. She was a woman of such great size and strength
that the unruly stood in dread of her, and when constables required help, it was a common thing to send
for Black Maria, who soon collared the refractory and led them to the lock-up. So a prison-van was called
a “Black Maria.”
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Black Sea So called from the abounding black rock in the extensive coal-fields between the Bosphorus
and Heracle'a.
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Boa Pliny says the word is from bos (a cow), and arose from the supposition that the boa sucked the milk of cows.
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Lorena did it
Bobbit If it isn't weel bobbit we'll bob it again. If it is not done well enough, we will try again. To bob is to dance, and
literally the proverb means, “If it is not well danced, we will dance over again.”
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Bolero A Spanish dance; so called from the name of the inventor.
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Bosh A Persian word meaning nonsense. It was popularised in 1824 by James Morier in his Adventures of Hajji Baba of
Ispahan, a Persian romance. (Turkish, bosh lakerdi, silly talk.)
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Botch A patch. Botch and patch are the same word; the older form was bodge, whence boggle. (Italian pezzo, pronounced patzo.) (this shows how old the text is. To me "botch" means to spoil or do badly.)
Bother i.e. pother (Hibernian). Halliwell gives us blother, which he says means to chatter idly.
“ `Sir,' cries the umpire, `cease your pother,
The creature's neither one nor t'other.' ”
The Irish bódhar (buaidhirt, trouble), or its cognate verb, to deafen, seems to be the original word.
(again, to me bother means to disturb, annoy.)
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Boudoir properly speaking, is the room to which a lady retires when she is in the sulks. (French, bouder,
to pout or sulk.)
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Boustrophedon A method of writing or printing, alternately from right to left and left to right, like the
path of oxen in ploughing. (Greek, bous-strepho, ox-turning.)
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Brewer The Brewer of Ghent. James van Artevelde. (Fourteenth century.)
It may here be remarked that it is a great error to derive proper names of any antiquity from modern
words of a similar sound or spelling. As a rule, very few ancient names are the names of trades; and to
suppose that such words as Bacon, Hogg, and Pigg refer to swineherds, or Gaiter, Miller, Tanner, Ringer,
and Bottles to handicrafts, is a great mistake. A few examples of a more scientific derivation will suffice
for a hint:-
BREWER. This name, which exists in France as Bruhière and Brugière, is not derived from the Saxon
briwan (to brew), but the French bruyère (heath), and is about tantamount to the German “Plantagenet”
(broom-plant). (See Rymer's Fædera, William I.)
BACON is from the High German verb began (to fight), and means “the fighter.”
PIGG and BIGG are from the old High German pichan (to slash).
HOGG is the Anglo-Saxon hyge (scholar), from the verb hogan (to study). In some cases it may be from
the German hoch (high).
BOTTLE is the Anglo-Saxon Bod'-el (little envoy). Norse, bodi; Danish, bud.
GAITER is the Saxon Gaid-er (the darter). Celtic, gais, our goad.
MILLER is the old Norse, melia, our mill and maul, and means a “mauler” or “fighter.”
RINGER is the Anglo-Saxon hring gar (the mailed warrior)
SMITH is the man who smites.
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Britain By far the most probable derivation of this word is that given by Bochart, from the Phoenician
Baratanic (country of tin), contracted into B'ratan'. The Greek Cassiterides (tin islands) is a
translation of Baratanic, once applied to the whole known group, but now restricted to the Scilly Isles.
Aristotle, who lived some 350 years before the Christian era, calls the island Britannic, which is so
close to B'ratanic that the suggestion of Bochart can scarcely admit of a doubt. (De Mundo, sec. 3.)
Pliny says, “Opposite to Celtiberia are a number of islands which the Greeks called `Cassiterides' ”
(evidently he means the British group). Strabo says the Cassiterides are situated about the same
latitude as Britain.
Great Britain consists of “Britannia prima” (England), “Britannia secunda” (Wales), and “North
Britain” (Scotland), united under one sway.
Greater Britain. The whole British empire.
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Brother German A real brother. (Latin, germanus, of the same stock; germen, a bud or sprout.)
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Brunt To bear the brunt. To bear the stress, the heat, and collision. The same word as “burn.”
(Icelandic, bruni, burning heat, bren; Anglo-Saxon, brenning, burning.) The “brunt of a battle” is the
hottest part of the fight. (Compare “fire-brand.”)
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Budget The statement which the Chancellor of the Exchequer lays before the House of Commons every
session, respecting the national income and expenditure, taxes and salaries. The word is the old French
bougette, a bag, and the present use arose from the custom of bringing to the House the papers
pertaining to these matters in a leather bag, and laying them on the table. Hence, to open the budget or
bag, i.e. to take the papers from the bag and submit them to the Hou
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Buffoon means one who puffs out his cheeks, and makes a ridiculous explosion by causing them
suddenly to collapse. This being a standing trick with clowns, caused the name to be applied to low
jesters. The Italian baffare is “to puff out the cheeks for the purpose of making an explosion;” our puff.
(Italian buffone, a buffoon; French bouffon.)
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Bobêche.
A clown in a small theatre in the Boulevart du Temple, Paris. (1815-1825.)
Galimafré.
A contemporary and rival of the former. (compare with "gallimaufy" below)
gallimaufry
n.,
pl. 3fries 5Fr galimafr=e, prob. < OFr galer (see GALLANT) + dial. (Picardy) mafrer, to eat much < MDu maffelen6
1 orig., a hash made of meat scraps
2 a hodgepodge; jumble
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Buggy A light vehicle without a hood, drawn by one horse. (Hindustani, baghi. )
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Here ya go, Bill.
It's still here.
It just moved off the screen is all.
k
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Thanks FF. But since I had posted to it last night, it did not seem possible
that it should have dropped to the bottom since there were so few posts
in that forum. I did not intend this to seem llike an ego trip, just hoping
to have something for newcomers to read, so they would not decide
the site was dead. Thanks again, Bill
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Just catching up a little here!
Abeyance really means something gaped after (French, bayer, to gape).
Interesting, wwh, that when a hound "bays" that is shown as originating with the French word "aboyer" - to bark at. I haven't followed the etymology further back, but I guess the two words are related.
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Caduceus (4 syl.). A white wand carried by Roman officers when they went to treat for peace. The
Egyptians adorned the rod with a male and female serpent twisted about it, and kissing each other. From
this use of the rod, it became the symbol of eloquence and also of office. In mythology, a caduceus with
wings is placed in the hands of Mercury, the herald of the gods; and the poets feign that he could
therewith give sleep to whomsoever he chose; wherefore Milton styles it “his opiate rod” in Paradise
Lost, xi. 133.
I have read that the US Army Medical Corps errs in using as its symbol a caduceus with two snakes.
The caduceus of Aesclapius the god of healing had only one snake, and is the symbol used by the
British military medical officers. I'm sure they prized the authenticity of their insignia, vs. poor
scholarship behind selection of the American one.
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"auto da fé"
Dear wwh,
Still catching up!
Like you I had not seen a definition before, although familiar with it as the act of punishment/burning/torture. As I recall it is from the Portuguese rather than Spanish and means "act of the faith". Wasn't aware of the special day set aside for the purpose - wonder what the "punishers"
were doing in their spare time.
dxb
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Calamity The beating down of standing corn by wind or storm. The word is derived from the Latin
calamus (a stalk of corn). Hence, Cicero calls a storm Calamitosa tempestas (a corn-levelling tempest).
“Another ill accident is drought, and the spoiling of the corn; inasmuch as the word `calamity'
was first derived from calamus (stalk), when the corn could not get out of the ear.”- Bacon.
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Adroit properly means "to the right" (French, à droite).
Dear wwh,
Thinking over what you've written it occurred to me that we also use "dextrous" in the sense of adroit, from the Latin "dexter" = right, but I can't think of a derivative of "sinister" = left being used in the same way as "gauche".
dxb
Ooops - reading on in my catching up, I see that MG more or less raised this point already - sorry MG.
dxb
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Calceos mutavit He has changed his shoes, that is, has become a senator. Roman senators were
distinguished by their shoes, which were sandalled across the instep and up the ankles.
I am surprised that I don't know of any English words derived from "calceos". And I get the impression
that "sandalled" as used here refers to the crossing straps that held the foootware in place. I have
never seen this verb before.
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Dear dxb: Thanks for posting. I feel like a lone puppy baying at the moon.
Caledonia Scotland. A corruption of Celyddon, a Celtic word meaning “a dweller in woods and
forests.” The word Celt is itself a contraction of the same word (Celyd), and means the same thing.
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“Onward Arthur paced, with hand
On Caliburn's resistless brand.”
Scott: Bridal of Triermain.
I remember reading that when Lancelot finally threw King Arthur's sword into
the lake, a hand rose out of the water, caught it, and "brandished" it,
then disappeard with it below the water.
I wonder if "brand" for sword is etymological source of "brandish".
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Bolero A Spanish dance
Also, if I remember my mother's wardrobe correctly, a ladies short jacket. But what the heck is the connection with the dance? Did the original inventor wear a bolero jacket? Or did they dance on the jacket, the way the Mexicans dance on their hats?
dxb
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the older form was bodge
Dear wwh,
I believe bodgers were originally itinerant country folk who made crude furniture from sticks and branches that they found in the woods. It did not last as the pieces were not robust. Certainly I have heard my father use the term in what seemed that sense. I shall inquire further.
dxb
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Dear dxb: A girl in my grammar school was named Bodge. I doubt very much
if the family had any idea of the origin of the name.
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Boustrophedon
Dear wwh,
As a matter of interest, I have a letter written by a Victorian lady in the nineteenth century where she has written normally and then overwritten at, I think (I haven't looked at it for some years), a 45 degree slope, and then overwritten again on the opposite 45 degree slope. The handwriting is beautiful and the whole letter can still be read, albeit with some difficulty. This may have been done to save weight in the package or to save paper or just to show how clever she was - we shall never know, because she doesn't refer to it in the letter!
dxb
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I feel like a lone puppy baying at the moon
Dear wwh,
Well, I find this thread fascinating. I came back from a business trip to Alexandria and Cairo at the end of last week and just got around to catching up. I must stop now and go home, I don't think I shall have time to log on there now! Do puppies bay?
dxb
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Cambrian Series (in geology). The earliest fossiliferous rocks in North Wales. So named by Professor
Sedgwick
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Canard A hoax. Cornelissen, to try the gullibility of the public, reported in the papers that he had twenty
ducks, one of which he cut up and threw to the nineteen, who devoured it greedily. He then cut up
another, then a third, and so on till nineteen were cut up; and as the nineteenth was gobbled up by the
surviving duck, it followed that this one duck actually ate nineteen ducks - a wonderful proof of duck
voracity. This tale had the run of all the papers, and gave a new word to the language. (French, cane, a
duck.) (Quetelet.)
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Canopy properly means a gnat curtain. Herodotus tells us (ii. 95) that the fishermen of the Nile used to
lift their nets on a pole, and form thereby a rude sort of tent under which they slept securely, as gnats will
not pass through the meshes of a net. Subsequently the tester of a bed was so called, and lastly the
canopy borne over kings. (Greek, kwuwy, a gnat; kwiwpeiou, a gnat-curtain; Latin, conopeum, a
gnatcurtain.)
The gnats and midges in New England can fly through quite fine mesh screening. In formation!
I hated the ones called "no-see-ums" that attacked me when I had my outboard motor in one
hand and my fishing gear in the other.
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Carat of Gold So called from the carat bean, or seed of the locust tree, formerly employed in weighing
gold and silver. Hence the expressions “22 carats fine,” “18 carats fine,” etc., meaning that out of 24
parts, 22 or 18 are gold, and the rest alloy.
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I'll never catch up. I'll spend the rest of the week trying to figure out how one rings a bell backwards.
Now, were your reference, wwh, to a bell ringer's bell, then I suppose ringing a bell backwards could be causing the clanger to hit against the bell as you pulled it in toward your chest. Perhaps this is a special effect sometimes used.
But a bell in a belltower? Oh, dear. This makes no sense at all--and even it the bell ringer could somehow pull that great bell in a different direction, how would the sound be altered?
I guess could go google campanology techniques...
...but then there are all these words ringing up there in your thread!
[You and I know what's coming:]
Bell regards and Behemoth Ones, too,
WordWinger
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Caraway Latin, carum, from Caria in Asia Minor, whence the seeds were imported.
My father would not have bread with caraway seed in it in the house. I never quite
dared ask him if he had once taken a bite of it, and discovered that what looked
like caraway seeds were actually mouse droppings.
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Carminative A charm medicine. Magic and charms were at one time the chief “medicines,” and the fact
is perpetuated by the word carminative, among others. Carminatives are given to relieve flatulence. (Latin,
carmen, a charm.)
I was taught that carminatives were medicines that promoted belching, as the peppermint in
many antacids. My bottle of Tums doesn't have it listed, just says 'natural flavor'. I thought
that "carminative" meant they made you "sing". Joke on me.
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Cassiopeia [the lady in the chair ]. The chief stars of this constellation form the outline of a chair. The lady referred to is the
wife of Cepheus (2 syl.), King of Ethiopia. She boasted that the beauty of her daughter Andromeda surpassed that of the
sea-nymphs. The sea-nymphs complained to the sea god of this affront, and Andromeda, to appease their wrath, was chained
to a rock to be devoured by sea-monsters. Perseus (2 syl.) delivered her, and made her his wife. The vain mother was taken to
heaven out of the way, and placed among the stars.
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Cassiterides (5 syl.). The tin islands, generally supposed to be the Scilly Islands and Cornwall, but
probably the isles in Vigo Bay are meant. It is said that the Veneti procured tin from Cornwall, and carried
it to the Isles of Vigo Bay, but kept as a profound secret the place from which they obtained it. The
Phoenicians were the chief customers of the Veneti.
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the US Army Medical Corps errs in using as its symbol a caduceus with two snakes. The caduceus of Aesclapius the god of healing had only one snake
In ancient times [my parasitology professor informed the class lo these many years ago] removing a long parasitic roundworm from under the skin was not simple. If you gave it a yank it would snap and re-grow; the only way to get the whole thing out was to apply a steady gradual pull. (As with Silly Putty.) So the practitioner had to attach one end to a stick, apply gentle tension, and gradually wind the worm around the stick as it slowly emerged. When the last length came out, you had a stick with one coil wrapped around it. Voila! the Caduceus, symbol of the healer.
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re: The vain mother was taken to heaven out of the way, and placed among the stars.
and hangs upside down in the heavens.. chained to her chair.. as further punishment for her vanity!
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Kernel (Anglo-Saxon, cyrnel, a diminutive of corn; seed in general), whence acorn (the ác or oak corn).
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I feel like a lone puppy baying at the moon.
Don't worry, Unca Bill, you're not alone in here. It's just...the info is coming in so fast and furious, I for one am having trouble keeping up with it all, let alone commenting on it! - but I AM enjoying it.
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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Roman senators were distinguished by their shoes, which were sandalled across the instep and up the ankles.
The Emperor Caligula made his horse, Incitatus, a Roman Senator. I wonder what the horses shoes were like?
dxb
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The tin islands, generally supposed to be the Scilly Islands
"Scilly" used here means sacred. The word silly, generally taken as similar in meaning to foolish, also means happy or lucky and a "silly" person (what the country folk once called "simple") was thought to be protected and thus in a sense sacred. The English county that I live in used to be known as silly Sussex because of its numerous churches.
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So, silly Sussex would be sacred Sussex? Amazing. I would never have gathered that! Thanks for the information.
And I guess a silly Scicillian there would have been considered to be a sacred Scicillian, yes?
Puts a completely new turn on the phrase "silly goose." Don't suppose geese were considered to be sacred way back then, were they?
Beatific regards,
WW
Sorry I don't know how to spell (yet) Scicillian. Don't know whether it has one or two "l's."
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Cretin, too! Cretin is a corruption of Christian, (German? French? one of the languages spoken in switzerland) it was used for the children born to mother with thyroid problems, (goiters)-- infants born to a mother with a severe thryoid deficientcy could be brain damaged.. and the word was used to remind other that they were still christian souls, and should not be mistreated.
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http://www.dictionary.com also lists this definition of cretin, apparently from computer jargon: cretin n. Congenital loser; an obnoxious person; someone who can't do anything right. It has been observed that many American hackers tend to favor the British pronunciation /kret'in/ over standard American /kree'tn/; it is thought this may be due to the insidious phonetic influence of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
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Keiva: you are unwelcome in AWADtalk.
In 1990, theWorld Health Organization estimated that 20 million people in the world had varying degrees of preventable brain damage …
This is incomprehensible since iodized salt is so cheap I can see no excuse for WHO or the governments of the afflicted areas failing to provide it. It occurs only where constant leaching washes ioding compounds away. It never occurs within quite a few miles of seacoast, because salt spray carries enough iodide to prevent the disorder.
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The person known as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned for flaming. He forced his way back into this forum by implied threats of legal action against Anu Garg, the founder of AWAD. This same person has also been known to post under the names AphonicRants, KeivaCarpal.
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Bill do you mean that the salt can be absorbed through the skin?
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No, Belle Marduk: the salt spray has tiny traces of iodide in it, which replaces that washed away
by the rain. It is picked up in crops, the drinking water and possibly other places where it can be
taken in by people. It takes such tiny amounts, that my chem prof in med school could not do
research on iodine metabolism in a room about fifty years old, because someone had used iodine
in experients in his spaces over twenty five years previously, and it had penetrated into walls,
ceilings, and floor in a way it could not be removed, but still contaminated his experiments.
It is because iodized salt is so cheap that the idea of twenty million people being brain damaged
for lack of penny's worth of iodized salt is so totally unacceptable.
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In 1990, theWorld Health Organization estimated that 20 million people in the world had varying degrees of preventable brain damageThe 1999 WHO report indicates remarkable progess but nonetheless a large remaining problem: Iodine deficiency Disorder (IDD) ... While remarkable measurable progress is being made through universal salt iodization, there are nearly 50 million people who are estimated to still be affected by some degrees of IDD-related brain damage.http://www.who.int/inf-pr-1999/en/pr99-wha17.html (fifth paragraph) In March 2002 the WHO reported, "we are on the verge of eliminating it ... The global rates of goitre, mental retardation and cretinism are falling fast." -- but still reported the 50 million number. http://www.who.int/nut/idd.htm
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Kieva: you are unwelcome to post anythere in AWADtalk.
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Land locked places,(switzerland for example) and places naturally deficient in iodine, (and in the days before canned goods) and places where you could not get sea food, all suffered from problems associated with iodine deficiency.
The body's reaction to a iodine deficiency is to first increase the size of the thyroid (since the thyroid needs/uses/regulates iodine use) this is called a goiter.
if a woman has a iodine deficiency, (evidenced by a goiter) she has very large chance of not having enough iodine for her own bodies needs, and will have none to spare to a growing featus. Brain damage is one obvious result, but there is also skeletal damage, and other organ damage, as well.
iodized salt is the same price genearly as plain salt. sea salt, (which is 3 times more expensive!) also contains enough trace amounts of iodine so that nowdays, it is very rare to see a goiter.
there is one school that says there were no neanderthals.. the people we call neanderthals were just early settlers, who were left isolated, and had no trading partners with less land locked peoples. the chronic iodine deficiency, lead to stunted growth, heavy jaws, and slopped head.. an the neanderthals were not 'killed off' by newer peoples coming to europe, but became less neanderthal like, as new people brought codfish, sea weeds and other iodine rich foods in to the areas of central europe were they lived.
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Anyone interested in goitre is welcome to struggle through this URL. I'd be amazed if anyone finishes it. It is very long and quite complicated. http://www.thyroidmanager.org/Chapter20/20_cause.htm
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addict
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(Italian, bevere, to drink) or english colloq. bevvy, to drink
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Buffoon means one who puffs out his cheeks, and makes a ridiculous explosion by causing them
suddenly to collapse. This being a standing trick with clowns, caused the name to be applied to low
jesters. The Italian baffare is “to puff out the cheeks for the purpose of making an explosion;” our puff.
(Italian buffone, a buffoon; French bouffon.)
i spose bouffant is from the same source den?
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Buffoon means one who puffs out his cheeks, and makes a ridiculous explosion by causing them
suddenly to collapse...caused the name to be applied to low
jestersWorks for me, dody! Though these days I expect even my 5-year old son would expect a little more from the party entertainers. Fascinating stuff, mind. Ta.
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