#73533 - 06/25/02 03:59 PM
Re: surprise
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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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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#73534 - 06/25/02 04:06 PM
Re: surprise
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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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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#73535 - 06/25/02 04:16 PM
Re: surprise
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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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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#73536 - 06/25/02 05:24 PM
Caduceus the worm
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/06/01
Posts: 3784
Loc: Worcester, MA
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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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#73538 - 06/25/02 06:00 PM
Re: surprise
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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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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#73539 - 06/25/02 08:53 PM
Re: surprise
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old hand
Registered: 02/18/02
Posts: 833
Loc: Eastern Ontario, Canada
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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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#73540 - 06/26/02 11:58 AM
Re: surprise
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 1692
Loc: UK
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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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#73541 - 06/26/02 12:10 PM
Re: surprise
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 1692
Loc: UK
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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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#73542 - 06/26/02 12:25 PM
Re: surprise
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...
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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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