|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
I have to admit I was skunked until I looked this one up (came across it in the new Smithsonian).
The word is not listed in Cambridge or Merriam-Webster, and there's only 4 hits on OneLook, all pretty generic with no etymolgies. This is the best I could find, from YourDictionary.com:
mustelid n : fissiped fur-bearing carnivorous mammals [syn: musteline mammal, musteline]
Any OED'ers, or anyone, whom I could badger for more background on this word? I'm assuming Latin. But since I left most of my Latin back in 9th grade with a one-year course, "Salve magistra!," I'll have to toss this one over to Faldage.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Aw, W'ON, this would have been a perfect Hogwash word. Drat!  
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
I'll see what I can ferret out on this one. Should be able to weasel something out of my Chambers.....
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
From Jackie's post about poisonous PMs we know we have a black and white striped mustelid member on the board, a cowardly character assassin, capable of discharging a vile odor caused by a sulfur containing secretion, a horrible mercaptan mephitis. As usual, a URL http://members.aol.com/ctraisi/fundpage/skunk2.htm
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
fissiped
adj., having the toes separated from Lat. fissus p.ppl of findere, to split + ped(em), pes, foot.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
So, when someone says "He smells so musty", they are refering to a musteline, not a basement, smell. Now I get it. D'oh!  Not musky though. No, no, not musky. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
fissiped Vertebrate Zoology. 1. having the toes separated to the base,
as in cloven-hooved animals.having the toes separated to the base, as in
cloven-hooved animals. 2. of or relating to the carnivorous suborder
Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.of or relating to the
carnivorous suborder Fissipeda, which includes cats, dogs, and bears.
Dear Faldage: does this conflict with definition you have?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Dr. Bill
I see, rereading my defintion, that the toes are separated from Latin. Perhaps, rather, they should have been separated from a comma.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
mustelid comes from the Latin name for weasel (mustela) and was adopted as a genus name (Mustelidę) ca. 1758.
-joe wednesday
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Thanks joe! I knew we could weasel sumptin' out of ya!  taking the hint from stales A weasely pack of weasels, ain't we?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I would have liked to add to this thread whilst it was hot - maybe Ishould wait until it's 'otter?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
weasels, badgers, otters tayras, martens, wolverines, and other lithe carnivorous creatures
I once saw a wonderful Nature program about wolverines. Prodigiously powerful, crafty, ferocious, and fearless. And provided with a musk so potent that no other animal will steal from their food caches.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
And that old saw - how do you tell the difference between a weasel and a stoat? Well, one's weasily distinguished and the other stoatally different ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I didn't know what a "tayra" was I looked it up. Here's a URL about it. http://www.scz.org/animals/t/tayra.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Michigan is supposed to be the wolverine state, yet I have never seen one, not even during my wood nymph wanderings in search of mushrooms. I've never even smelled one, which, I gather, is lucky on my part. I'm talking about the real animals, Sparteye, not the fake ones from Ann Arbor
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
Well, one's weasily distinguished and the other stoatally different ...
Erminy times have we heard that before?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Red Fox and Dan Marino said it several times, but they may have been talking about marten sheen. I also heard it once at coney island, but now my Fox channel has been dis-sabled and I won't hear it there because I'm too chinchilla to get it fixed.
Since you all know I'm a raccoonteur I'm sure you're lapin this up.
TEd -- seal crazy after all these years
Will nothing dissuede me???
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
I've never even smelled one, which, I gather, is lucky on my part. I'm talking about the real animals, Sparteye, not the fake ones from Ann Arbor
It's especially lucky if you're talking about the fake ones.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
TEd, you are testing our fur-bearing natures.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7
stranger
|
|
stranger
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 7 |
>>our fur-bearing natures
Who are you speaking for?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Who[m] are you speaking for? [sic] Note the above, dear SBD. Time to put mustalid on it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 279
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 279 |
Howye
I checked the above word in me tedasaurus and it said that a mustelid is a brain washen device used ta get sneaky messages ta the sub-conscious.
GT
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
We should have had AnnaStrophic answer this one..
then Time to put mustalid on it. coulda have been posted it as We mus(t)alid on it put, at this time!-
only, she weaselly wooda dun it better than me!
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,423
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
424
guests, and
3
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
