#74150
06/26/2002 8:50 PM
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Cathay' China, or rather Tartary, the capital of which was Albracca, according to Orlando Furioso. It was called Khita'i by
the Tartars, and China was first entered by Europeans in the Middle Ages from the side of Tartary.
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#74151
06/26/2002 8:59 PM
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Now Bill, I know this may have nothing to do with the subject at hand but...did the Tartars have anything to do with the raw meat meal being call Tartar?
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#74152
06/26/2002 9:05 PM
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Dear belMarduk: I honestly don't know about use of tartar in cream of tartar, or sauces.
I'll look that up separately. Thanks for the suggestion.
Caucus A meeting of citizens in America to agree upon what members they intend to support, and to
concert measures for carrying out their political wishes. The word arose from the caulkers of Boston, who
had a dispute with the British soldiers a little before the Revolution. Several citizens were killed, and
meetings were held at the caulkers' house or calk-house, to concert measures for redress of grievances.
Every year, fairly early in the fall, crows congregate in very large numbers, and make a hell of a racket,
just before the go south. My father used to call that "crow caucus".
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#74153
06/26/2002 9:25 PM
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Ceremony When the Romans fled before Brennus, one Albinus, who was carrying his wife and children
in a cart to a place of safety, overtook at Janiculum the Vestal virgins bending under their load, took them
up and conveyed them to Cærë, in Etruria. Here they remained, and continued to perform their sacred
rites, which were consequently called “Cære-monia.” (Livy, v.)
Scaliger says the word comes from cerus=sanctus. Cerus manus= Creator; and Cerco (according to
Varro) is by metathesis for creo. Ceres, according to Scaliger, is also from creo. By this etymology,
“Ceremony” means sacred rites, or solemn acts in honour of the Creator. The great objection to this
etymology is that Cicero, Tacitus, and other classic authors spell the word Cære-monia and not
Cere-monia.
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#74154
06/26/2002 10:07 PM
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Champerty (Latin, campi partitio, division of the land) is a bargain with some person who undertakes
at his own cost to recover property on condition of receiving a share thereof if he succeeds.
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#74155
06/26/2002 10:12 PM
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Chancery The part of the Court occupied by the lawyers.
To get a man's head into chancery is to get it under your arm, where you can pummel it as long as you
like, and he cannot get it free without great difficulty. The allusion is to the long and exhausting nature of
a Chancery suit. If a man once gets his head there, the lawyers punish him to their heart's content
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#74156
06/26/2002 10:19 PM
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Chapel is the chest containing relics, or the shrine thereof (Latin, capella; French, chape, a cope). The
kings of France in war carried St. Martin's cope into the field, and kept it in a tent as a talisman. The
place in which the cope was kept was called the chapelle, and the keeper thereof the chapelain.
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#74157
06/26/2002 11:00 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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Steak Tartar was the invention of a restaurantuer, in some big city, could have been NY or chicago, or even Kansas city. (YCLIU)
correctly done, the meat is scraped and you end up with fine red flesh, and left behind, all the connective tissue of the muscle.
Not many places serve it nowdays, and when they do, it is often finely chopped meat. (using the same kind of chopper as ground meat.. that is a very different texture). chopping the meat in a food processor gives it better texture.
Like Pasta Alfredo, and many other dishes, it is a purely modern food item.
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#74158
06/26/2002 11:12 PM
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Posts: 2,605
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Steak Tartar was the invention of a restaurantuer, in some big city, could have been NY or chicago, or even Kansas city. (YCLIU)
I got something different upon Look It Up -- but nonetheless would not bet against the story cited above:
The earliest ancestor of the burger can be found in, of all places, medieval Russia. In the 13th century, when nomadic Tartars conquered much of Russia and Eastern Europe, they introduced the region to one of the fastest of foods — chopped raw beef. Inhabitants of the Baltic region developed a taste for the raw meat and began to season it with salt, pepper and onion juice. Thus was born steak tartare. (emphasis added)
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#74159
06/27/2002 12:02 AM
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Posts: 13,858
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Keiva: you are not welcome to post in AWADtalk.
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#74160
06/27/2002 12:20 AM
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Posts: 13,858
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Charing Cross Not from chère reine, in honour of Eleanor, the dear wife of Edward I., but la chère
reine (the Blessed Virgin). Hence, in the Close Roll, Richard II, part I (1382), we read that the custody of
the falcons at Charryng, near Westminster, was granted to Simon Burley, who was to receive 12d. a day
from the Wardrobe.
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#74161
06/27/2002 12:43 AM
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Cheese Something choice (Anglo-Saxon, ceos-an, to choose; German, kiesen; French, choisir). Chaucer
says, “To cheese whether she wold him marry or no.”
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#74162
06/27/2002 2:03 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
A man may be an ass in whole
by nought but term of art
But be he but a fraction ass
whole, it's his most prominent part
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#74163
06/27/2002 3:34 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Chic Fashionable; comme il faut; the mode. This is an archaic French word in vogue in the seventeenth
century. It really is the Spanish chico, little, also a little boy, and chica, a little girl or darling. Similarly,
wee in Scotch is a loving term of admiration and pride. (Chic is an abbreviation of the German geschickt,
apt, clever.)
I haven't heard the word "chic" lately. It used to irritate me to hear it pronounced "chick".
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#74164
06/27/2002 3:43 PM
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Child at one time, meant a female infant, and was the correlative of boy.
“Mercy on `s! A barne, a very pretty barne. A boy or a child, I wonder?”- Shakespeare:
Winter's Tale, iii. 3.
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#74165
06/27/2002 3:50 PM
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Chiliasts [kiliasts]. Another word for Millenarians; those who believe that Christ will return to this earth
and reign a thousand years in the midst of His saints. (Greek, chilias, a thousand.)
Where have all the silly-assed chiliasts gone?
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#74166
06/27/2002 4:06 PM
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Chios (Kios). The man of Chios. Homer, who lived at Chios, near the Ægean Sea. Seven cities claim to
be his place of birth-
“Smyrna, Rhodos, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athe'næ.”- Varro.
I know the word "colophon" meaning the publishers identifying emblem on title page of boods, I
did not know it was name of an island. I wonder how the emblem meaning arose.
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#74167
06/28/2002 4:44 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Cue (1 syl.). The tail of a sentence (French, queue), the catch-word which indicates when another actor
is to speak; a hint; the state of a person's temper, as “So-and-so is in a good cue (or) bad cue.”
I think this etymology makes more sense than the one given in my dictionary.
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#74168
06/28/2002 4:53 PM
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Culverin properly means a serpent (Latin, colubrinus, the coluber), but is applied to a long, slender piece
of artillery employed in the sixteenth century to carry balls to a great distance. Queen Elizabeth's “Pocket
Pistol” in Dover Castle is a culverin.
I had a Tory ancestor who made them, but sold them to the British, and had to flee to Halifax and thence to England. When I was a boy, "Go to Halifax!" was a permissible euphemism for "go to Hell".
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#74169
06/28/2002 5:03 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Cur A fawning, mean-spirited fellow, a crop-tailed dog (Latin, curtus, crop-tailed. French, court; our
curt). According to forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase was obliged to cut
off the tail of his dog. Hence, a degenerate dog or man is called a cur.
I have also read that nobles had peasants' dogs' toenails cut off so that they could not chase deer.
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#74170
06/28/2002 5:08 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Cur A fawning, mean-spirited fellow, a crop-tailed dog (Latin, curtus, crop-tailed. French, court; our
curt). According to forest laws, a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase was obliged to cut
off the tail of his dog. Hence, a degenerate dog or man is called a cur.
My dictionary gives no etymology for "curmudgeon" . The one above makes sense to me.
I have seen the word "curtal" applied to peasants' dogs that had been mutilated.
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#74171
06/28/2002 5:35 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Cynosure (3 syl.). The polar star; the observed of all observers. Greek for dog's tail, and applied to the
constellation called Ursa Minor. As seamen guide their ships by the north star, and observe it well, the
word "cynosure" is used for whatever attracts attention, as "The cynosure of neighbouring eyes" (Milton)
I learned "cynosure" in highschool, but never saw the etymology before.
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#74172
06/28/2002 7:15 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Dagger or Long Cross (†), used for reference to a note after the asterisk (*), is a Roman Catholic
character, originally employed in church books, prayers of exorcism, at benedictions, and so on, to remind
the priest where to make the sign of the cross.
An early example of "markup language".
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#74173
06/28/2002 7:20 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Dairy A corrupt form of "dey-ery," Middle English deierie and deyyerye, from deye, a dairymaid.
"The dey or farm-woman entered with her pitchers, to deliver the milk for the family." - Scott:
Fair Maid of Perth, chap. xxxii.
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#74174
06/28/2002 7:24 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Daisy Ophelia gives the queen a daisy to signify "that her light and fickle love ought not to expect
constancy in her husband." So the daisy is explained by Greene to mean a Quip for an upstart courtier.
(Anglo-Saxon dages eage, day's eye.)
The word is Day's eye, and the flower is so called because it closes its pinky lashes and goes to sleep
when the sun sets, but in the morning it expands its petals to the light. (See Violet.)
"That well by reason men calle it maie.
The daisie, or else the eie of the daie."
Chaucer
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#74175
06/28/2002 8:32 PM
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Daughter Greek, thugater, contracted into thugter; Dutch, dogter; German, tochter; Persian, dochtar;
Sanskrit, duhiter; Saxon, dohter; etc.
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#74176
06/28/2002 8:35 PM
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Dauphin The heir of the French crown under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. Guy VIII., Count of
Vienne, was the first so styled, because he wore a dolphin as his cognisance. The title descended in the
family till 1349, when Humbert II., de la tour de Pisa, sold his seigneurie, called the Dauphiné, to King
Philippe VI. (de Valois), on condition that the heir of France assumed the title of le dauphin.
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#74177
06/28/2002 9:46 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Delaware U.S. America, was granted by charter in 1701 to Lord De la Ware, who first explored the bay
into which the river empties itself.
I didn't know that.
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#74178
06/28/2002 9:51 PM
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Delirium From the Latin lira (the ridge left by the plough), hence the verb de-lirare, to make an irregular
ridge or balk in ploughing. Delirus is one whose mind is not properly tilled or cultivated, a person of
irregular intellect; and delirium is the state of a person whose mental faculties are like a field full of balks
or irregularities. (
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#74179
06/28/2002 9:53 PM
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Delphi or Delphos. A town of Phocis, famous for a temple of Apollo and for an oracle celebrated in
every age and country. So called from its twin peaks, which the Greeks called brothers (adelphoi).
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#74180
06/28/2002 9:56 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Demerit has reversed its original meaning (Latin, demereo, to merit, to deserve). Hence Plautus,
Demertas dare laudas (to accord due praise); Ovid, Numina culta demeruisse; Livy, dernerèri beneficio
civitatem. The de - is intensive, as in "de-mand," "de-scribe," "de-claim," etc.; not the privative deorsum,
as in the word "de-fame."
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#74181
06/28/2002 9:58 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Demijohn (A). A glass vessel with a large body and small neck, enclosed in wickerwork like a Florence
flask, and containing more than a bottle. (French, dame-jeanne, "Madam Jane," a corruption of
Damaghan, a town in Persia famous for its glass works.)
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#74182
06/28/2002 10:03 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Demurrage An allowance made to the master or owners of a ship by the freighters for detaining her in
port longer than the time agreed upon. (Latin, demorari, to delay.)
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#74183
06/28/2002 11:17 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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now days, demijohn is commonly used to describe the 5 gallon water jugs commonly used by office water coolers. the new one are plastic, but home vinters used to steal the glass ones on a regular basis, for fermenting wine...
the plasic ones are great for making bottle rockets.. the large interior volume can hold alot of fuel in the form of evaported alcohol, and the narrow neck hold a wick..
done right, they will shoot across the floor a rather high speed, with long blue flames trailing.. they make a most satisfactory whosh! as they take off.. now just how is it that i know this... i can't imagine.. i must have had a first hand encounter sometime..
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#74184
06/28/2002 11:21 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
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Posts: 1,156 |
DemijohnIn Italian, the same is called a damigiana (dah-mee-jahn-ah). Cool, hey? I never knew the English word until today. Thanks! 
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#74185
06/29/2002 3:15 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Devonshire according to English mythology, is a corruption of Debon's-share. This Debon was one of the heroes who came with
Brute from Troy. One of the giants that he slew in the south coasts of England was Coulin, whom he chased to a vast pit eight
leagues across. The monster trying to leap this pit, fell backwards, and lost his life in the chasm. When Brutus allotted out the
island, this portion became Debon's-share.
"And eke that ample pit, yet far renowned
For the large leap which Debon did compell
Coulin to make, being eight lugs of grownd,
Into the which retourning back he fell ...
In mede of these great conquests by them got
Corineus had that province utmost west ...
And Debon's share was that is Devonshire
Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii. canto x. 11, 12.
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#74186
06/29/2002 3:20 PM
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Diadem meant, originally, a fillet wound round the head. The diadem of Bacchus was a broad band, which might be unfolded so as to make a veil. Hieronymus, king of Syracuse (B.C. 216-215), wore a diadem. Constantine the Great (306-337) was the first of the Roman emperors who wore a diadem. After his time it was set with rows of pearls and precious stones. (Greek dia-deo, to bind entirely.)
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#74187
06/29/2002 4:10 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Diploma literally means something folded (Greek). Diplomas used to be written on parchment, folded,
and sealed. The word is applied to licences given to graduates to assume a degree, to clergymen, to
physicians, agents, and so on.
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#74188
06/29/2002 4:11 PM
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Posts: 13,858
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Diplomacy The tact, negotiations, privileges, etc. of a diplomatist, or one who carries a diploma to a
foreign court to authorise him to represent the Government which sends him out.
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#74189
06/29/2002 4:15 PM
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Disaster is being under an evil star (Greek, dus-aster, evil star). An astrological word.
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