In case emanuela doesn't see your post: from AHD:
terra cotta
SYLLABICATION:
ter·ra cot·ta
PRONUNCIATION:
tr-kt
VARIANT FORMS:
or ter·ra·cot·ta or ter·ra-cot·ta
NOUN:
1a. A hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building
construction. b. Ceramic wares made of this material. 2. A brownish orange.
ETYMOLOGY:
Italian : terra, earth (from Latin terra; see terrace) + cotta, baked, cooked
(from Latin cocta, feminine past participle of coquere, to cook; see pekw- in
Appendix I).
Read the end of the red line - from past participle
The harp that once through Tara's Hall
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's wall
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days
So glory's thrill is o'er
And hearts that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more.
2. No more to chiefs and ladies bright,
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives
Is when some heart indignant breaks,
To show that still she lives.
WW, if you read Bill's post carefully, you note that 'coquere' is Latin. The Italian verb is cuocere, which, as you might figure, is irregular. Cotto (masc. -- fem cotta) is the past participle. A similar verb is rompere - to break - p.p. rotto.
Add to your list, terra incognita.
cuocere is indeed very irregular
io cuocio = I cook
io cossi = I cooked
and, it is not exactly to bake = (I believe) to cook in the oven.
there is a relationship with biscotto = bis - cotto ( cookie) which literally means cooked twice.
Terra ferma = ground which doesn' move ( said from the sailor, in contraposition with the movement of the ship on the sea)
terra incognita = unknown land ( written, I suppose, in ancient maps)
(byb, ok about cotto and rotto, but notice that the first "o" is not pronounced in the same way in the two cases. One is open,an one is not)
Dear WW: Many good cooks cook up cuckcoo concoctions and decoctions
WW, I've seen terraform quite a bit, not only in SF, but also in serious discussions of interplanetary exploration.
Bingley
Some parts of the moon have a sex drive???
Dear TEd: just the Man in the Moon.
"1. A series of related rock formations. 2. An area having a preponderance of a particular rock or rock groups."
Neat word, WW--thanks. Now--how it is used? Would someone simply point and say, "Look at that terrane", or would they say, "Look at that limestone terrane"? That is, does it have to have another word to go with it?
Dear Jackie: One of the last books I was able to read was John McPhee's "Annals of the Former World".
It is truly a marvelously enjoyable as well as very informative book about geology. He tells for instance,
that there is a terrane in weatern US, I now forget exact location, that has all the characteristics to
that it once was part of Asia. There are many such known to geologists. Get that book and read it.
You'll be glad you did, I guarantee. Bill
[small squeal of delight e] I've read a couple of his, Dr. Bill! (And am grinning like a maniac at the association.) He is good!
There was an older computer game (whose name escapes me - could've been Populous) which had you building civilizations, and at the beginning of the game when the computer was generating the map for you to work on (which presumably was different every time) a little message popped up while you waited, saying "Terraforming..." (This could've also been the original Sim City; I forget, though I remember the word.)
And Newfoundland is sometimes referred to as Terra Nova. So we have a plethora of names based on that - a planned oil rig called Terra Nova, Terra Nova Motors (a car dealership), Terra Nova veterinary clinic...the list goes on.
Terraforming was invented by one of the major SF writers. Might have been James Blish. Then others picked it up and used it.
I wondered about terrapin, but turns out to be Algonquian origin, but terrarium - a vivarium for animals that live in/on the ground or a sealed environment for growing plants has the 'terra' root. Also terra alba: pipeclay.
>Terraforming was invented by one of the major SF writers.
If the colonization of other worlds is not to be restricted to those that prove almost-exact duplicates of the Earth, some form of adaptation will be necessary; the colonists might adapt themselves by GENETIC ENGINEERING, as in James Blish's Pantropy series, or cyborgization as in Frederik Pohl's Man Plus, but if they are bolder they might instead adapt the worlds, by terraforming them. The term was coined by Jack Williamson in the series of stories revised as Seetee Ship....
(I have to ask myself whether having such information to hand is worth the space that the humongous Encyclopedia of Science Fiction takes up on my reference shelf....)
terra felix
Er--? Sorry, I don't get that one.
it should be
happy land, I suppose
>it should be happy land
cannot disagree :)
it should be
happy land, I suppose
- or a land full of cats, perhaps {wink] - same thing, really.
How about terrapin? (or should that only have one "r"?)
A water animal with an earthy name???
and how it would be "promissed land"? terra promissa? :)
Thanks for calling my attention to "terrapin", RC. My dictionary says it is derived from
an Algonquian name.
Here is another one- terra sigillata. It is a slip (fine clay particles in suspension) used to decorate and seal ceramic ware. Probably one of the earliest glazes.
And then there's Terre Haute (close but no cigar)which I think is high ground and at a premium in central Indiana
"Here is another one- terra sigillata. It is a slip (fine clay particles in suspension) used to decorate and seal ceramic ware. Probably one of the earliest glazes. "
And what language is that, "terra sigillata"? I've spent a lot of time talking about terra cotta, and terra what ain't cotta yet, and picking terra out of my teeth, washing it out of my clothes, and brushing it out of my hair. I have a pottery studio, and have often wondered how to pronounce the g in "sigillata". Different potters follow different faiths on that one. I sidestep responsibility by never saying it in polite company. Which, that's easy, since I'm almost never in it.
It's also interesting to me that the term "terra cotta" has a connotation of being brown, or reddish brown. Obviously not all pottery uses brown clay, or there wouldn't be "terra alba" for pipe clay. I wonder what the white earth is they're using for pipe clay. Porcelain? Kaolin? Are pipes usually white?
"there is a relationship with biscotto = bis - cotto ( cookie) which literally means cooked twice."
Like "Zwieback", which means exactly the same in German. And biscuit. The interesting thing is, and here we are back at clay again, is that in Britain, pottery that has been through the first firing (necessary before the application of glaze) is called "biscuit ware" ("bisque" in North America), even though it's been baked only once. I assume they're using the word "biscuit" to refer to the hardness, rather than how many times it's been baked.
Well, a glance at my Italian dictionary assures me that "sigillato" = "sealed" (and because it's terra the adjective must agree in gender, so you have sigillata). In Italian a g followed by an i is pronounced like a j in English (as in jerk, juice, jealous). So if you want to remain true to its roots, use "see-jeel-LAH-tah". However, imported words often change pronunciation (much to the chagrin of those of us who know the original language) so it's also perfectly legitimate to adjust the pronunciation to whichever is easiest for an English-speaking tongue.
In summary, use whichever pronunciation you like. But if you were in Italy you'd have to say it as above in order to be understood.
It's also Latin. Probably wouldn't change the pronunciation* but the meaning might be a bit different. The on line Latin Dictionary and Grammar aid says that sigillatus, -a, -um means adorned with small figures.
*Unless you want to be classical.
At the pottery studio where I work it's just called 'terra sig'.
Reginald Bunthorne [coming briskly forward, L.C.]:
"Come, walk up, and purchase with avidity,
Overcome your diffidence and natural timidity,
Tickets for the raffle should be purchased with avidity,
Put in half a guinea and a husband you may gain--
Such a judge of blue-and-white and other kinds of pottery--
From early Oriental down to modern terra-cottary--
Put in half a guinea -- you may draw him in a lottery--
Such an opportunity may not occur again."
--W S Gilbert, in Patience, Finale, Act I
L.C. Left center?
You got it.
Patience was actually my first G&S. My parents has a record album of it, back in the 1940s: ten 78-rpm records, both sides, in a stack so that side 20 was on the back of Side 1, 19/2, 18/3, etc, and when all the first sides had been dropped to the turntable in order and played, you just flipped over the whole stack and played the other sides. I never had the opportunity to perform it, though.
Back when an album *was an album.