#76367 - 07/18/02 02:24 PM
Magenta
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Magenta A brilliant red colour derived from coal-tar, named in commemoration of the battle of Magenta, which was fought in 1859.
The battle was crucial to the Italian Risorgimento, the unification of Italy.
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#76369 - 07/18/02 03:15 PM
Re: Magi
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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I am taking these from the Brewer Dictionary of Phase and Fable.
Magi (The), according to one tradition, were Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, three kings of the East.
The first offered gold, the emblem of royalty, to the infant Jesus; the second, frankincense, in token of
divinity; and the third, myrrh, in prophetic allusion to the persecution unto death which awaited the “Man
of Sorrows.”
MELCHIOR means “king of light.” GASPAR, or CASPAR, means “the white one.”
BALTHAZAR means “the lord of treasures.”
Now I know what "Caspar" was appropriate name for ghost in cartoon series by that name.
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#76370 - 07/18/02 03:20 PM
Re: Magnoliai
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Magnolia A flower so called from Pierre Magnol, professor of medicine at Montpelier. (1638-1715.)
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#76371 - 07/18/02 03:41 PM
Re: Pall Mall
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Mall or Pall Mall (London). From the Latin pellere mallco (to strike with a mallet or bat; so called
because it was where the ancient game of pell-mall used to be played. Cotgrave says:-
“Pale malle is a game wherein a round boxball is struck with a mallet through a high arch of
iron. He that can do this most frequently wins.”
It was a fashionable game in the reign of Charles II., and the walk called the Mall was appropriated to it
for the king and his court.
I remember being told when i was in highschool, it was always pronounced "pell mell" Is this still true?
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#76372 - 07/18/02 03:57 PM
Re: Mandarin
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Mandarin' is not a Chinese word, but one given by the Portuguese colonists at Maca'o to the officials
called by the natives Khiouping (3 syl.) It is from the verb mandar (to command).
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#76373 - 07/18/02 04:08 PM
Re:Manure
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Manure (2 syl.) means hand-work (French, main-oeuvre), tillage by manual labour. It now means the
dressing applied to lands.
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#76374 - 07/18/02 05:55 PM
Re: martyr
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Martyr (Greek) simply means a witness, but is applied to one who witnesses a good confession with his
blood.
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#76375 - 07/18/02 06:04 PM
Re: mascot
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
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Mascotte One who brings good luck, and possesses a “good eye.”
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#76376 - 07/18/02 06:06 PM
Re: Pall Mall
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veteran
Registered: 10/11/00
Posts: 1346
Loc: Sussex, England
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I remember being told when i was in highschool, it was always pronounced "pell mell" Is this still true?
Never been true in my lifetime, Bill - unless you wanted to say it like a real (and probably pretentious) toff.
"pell mell" [sic] is used, though, meaning running around like crazy. Ah, here it is in M-W:
Main Entry: pell-mell
Pronunciation: "pel-'mel
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle French pelemele
Date: 1596
1 : in mingled confusion or disorder
2 : in confused haste
- pell-mell adjective or noun
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