#76367
07/18/2002 6:24 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
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.
|
|
|
#76368
07/18/2002 6:34 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Thank you bill! i couldn't remember that.. i was sure it was mauve, that was a made up name, for a new shade the became available with coal tar dyes, and when i checked, i found out wrong! and then for the life of me i couldn't remember what color it was..
Magenta.. a beautiful color!
|
|
|
#76369
07/18/2002 7:15 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
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.
|
|
|
#76370
07/18/2002 7:20 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Magnolia A flower so called from Pierre Magnol, professor of medicine at Montpelier. (1638-1715.)
|
|
|
#76371
07/18/2002 7:41 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
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?
|
|
|
#76372
07/18/2002 7:57 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
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).
|
|
|
#76373
07/18/2002 8:08 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Manure (2 syl.) means hand-work (French, main-oeuvre), tillage by manual labour. It now means the
dressing applied to lands.
|
|
|
#76374
07/18/2002 9:55 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Martyr (Greek) simply means a witness, but is applied to one who witnesses a good confession with his
blood.
|
|
|
#76375
07/18/2002 10:04 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mascotte One who brings good luck, and possesses a “good eye.”
|
|
|
#76376
07/18/2002 10:06 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
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
|
|
|
#76377
07/18/2002 10:26 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
May (the month) is not derived from Maia, the mother of Mercury, as the word existed long before either
Mercury or Maia had been introduced. It is the Latin Maius- i.e. Magius, from the root mag, same as the
Sanscrit mah, to grow; and means the growing or shooting month.
|
|
|
#76378
07/19/2002 5:24 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> “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.”
I only read about this a few days ago - I hear it's of Scottish tradition. Anyone ever seen it played? Sounds a little like hurling, not that I know the game well. Re. the pronunciation: I've only ever heard it pronounced one of two ways; either 'paul-maul', or 'pal-mal' (with pal said pretty much like the dog food).
|
|
|
#76379
07/19/2002 8:11 AM
|
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
I remember being told when i was in highschool, it was always pronounced "pell mell" Is this still true?
Bill, I have never heard it pronounced anyway but 'Paul Maul' or 'Pal Mal' or simply 'The Mall'.
The Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser is a very good source for Victorian history and even the pronunciation of words at the time. Mr. Fraser is meticulous with his reseach.
|
|
|
#76380
07/19/2002 9:28 AM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
either 'paul-maul', or 'pal-mal' (with pal said pretty much like the dog food)Just realised I didn't clarify - the English (as far as I'm aware) never use any pronunciation other than Pal Mal (with the "a" as in apple). It's yet another of those odd English (English) pronunciations that helps us tell locals from invaders  within the time it takes to say a sentence. Sussex (where I live) is absolutely full of place names like that. I'd therefore recommend that none of you say Paul Maul when you're in England or playing English (English) Monopoly - unless you're doing an intentional wind-up. Weren't there "Pall Mall" cigarettes once upon a time?
|
|
|
#76381
07/19/2002 12:54 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Pall Mall cigarettes had a significant market share in WWII. They were longer than regulars by almost an inch, and the ads showed a fighter pilot holding up a Pall Mall beside a brand X one. New Yorker magazine carried a cartoon showing Hermann Goering holding a long and a short cigarette side by side, and saying to Hitler:"This means something to US Air Force, but we can't figure out what." My dictionary gives "pell-mell" = in wild, disorderly haste . You may rely on it, no American lexicographer invented that pronunciation. Here's a URL about it. Says it originated in France. So Paille Maille" got pronounced "pell-mell". http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Croquet.htm
|
|
|
#76382
07/19/2002 2:41 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Pall Mall cigarettes
So how was that Pall Mall pronounced, Bill?
Pal-Mal, Pel-Mel or Paul-Maul ?
Paille Maille
I'd imagine this would be pronounced Pie Mie(roughly) if it follows modern French pronunciation. Interesting point: quite often when French words have been anglicized they have ended up being pronounced as they are spelt rather than how they used to be said by the French. There's a very common phrase that (errm) fails to spring to mind (will try to recall), but Cinque Ports became "sink ports", for instance. Pall Mall may have done something similar.
|
|
|
#76383
07/19/2002 3:03 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Paul Maul is pretty close to was cigarette name was pronounced. I'm still a bit
puzzled why it took so long to learn "Cigarettes are hazardous to your health".
I got the word from a classmate who was chest surgeon seeing many patients
with lung carcinoma. I quit in early fifties, thank goodness.My brother who smoked
about ten years longer than I did is now having moderately severe chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease.
|
|
|
#76384
07/19/2002 3:41 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mercia The eighth and last kingdom of the Heptarchy, between the Thames and the Humber. It was the
mere or boundary of the Anglo-Saxons and free Britons of Wales.
|
|
|
#76385
07/19/2002 3:45 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Meredith (Owen). The pseudonym of Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton, author of Chronicles and
Characters, in verse (1834). He became Lord Lytton (1873-1891).
It was a dark and stormy night........
|
|
|
#76386
07/19/2002 3:52 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Merry The original meaning is not mirthful, but active, famous; hence gallant soldiers were called “merry
men;” favourable weather, “merry weather;” brisk wind, “a merry gale;” London was “merry London;”
England, “merry England;” Chaucer speaks of the “merry organ at the mass;” Jane Shore is called by
Pennant the “merry concubine of Edward IV.” (Anglo-Saxon, mara, illustrious, great, mighty, etc.). (See
Merry-Men .)
'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all (2 Henry IV., act v. 3). It is a sure sign of mirth when the
beards of the guests shake with laughter.
|
|
|
#76387
07/19/2002 4:04 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
mes Gothic = dish, whence Benjamin's mess, a mess of pottage, etc.
Mess, meaning confusion or litter, is the German mischen, to mix; our word mash.
|
|
|
#76388
07/19/2002 4:11 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mews Stables, but properly a place for hawks on the moult. The muette was an edifice in a park where
the officers of venery lodged, and which was fitted up with dog-kennels, stables, and hawkeries. They
were called muettes from mue, the slough of anything; the antlers shed by stags were collected and kept in
these enclosures. (Lacombe: Dictionnaire Portatif des Beaux-Arts.)
|
|
|
#76389
07/19/2002 4:14 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mexitli Tutelary god of the Aztecs, in honour of whom they named their empire Mexico. (Southey.)
Tutelary = guardian
|
|
|
#76390
07/19/2002 4:21 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Midden The kitchen midden. The dust-bin. The farmer's midden is the dunghill. The word is Scotch.
(Danish, mödding; Norwegian, mudder; Welsh, mwydo (to wet), our mud and mire.)
|
|
|
#76391
07/19/2002 4:24 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Middlesex The Middle Saxons- that is, between Essex, Sussex, and Wessex.
Nothing to do with sex.
|
|
|
#76392
07/19/2002 4:31 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mikado (Japan, mi, exalted; kado, gate), is not a title of the emperor of Japan, but simply means the
person who lives in the imperial palace.
|
|
|
#76393
07/19/2002 10:25 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
The Middle Saxons- that is, between Essex, Sussex, and Wessex- and now all part of London (though you still specify the county as Middx in your address). Wembley (football) and Harrow (posh school) in NW London, aren't really far out at all, but they are Middlesex rather than London addresses. And here's a link to previous Sussex & Essex stuff (courtesy of Bill again): http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=76205
|
|
|
#76394
07/20/2002 3:25 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Milesians (The). The ancient Irish. The legend is that Ireland was once peopled by the Firbolgs, who
were subdued by the Milesians, called the “Gaels of Ireland.”
|
|
|
#76395
07/20/2002 3:30 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Milliner A corruption of Milaner; so called from Milan, in Italy, which at one time gave the law to
Europe in all matters of taste, dress, and elegance.
Milliner was originally applied to the male sex; hence Ben Jonson, in Every Man in his Humour, i. 3,
speaks of a “milliner's wife.” The French have still une modiste and un modiste.
|
|
|
#76396
07/20/2002 3:33 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Milo An athlete of Crotona. It is said that he carried through the stadium at Olympia a heifer four years
old, and ate the whole of it afterwards. When old he attempted to tear in two an oak-tree, but the parts
closed upon his hands, and while held fast he was devoured by wolves.
But his last name was not Washington.
|
|
|
#76397
07/20/2002 3:42 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Minstrel simply means a servant or minister. Minstrels were kept in the service of kings and princes for
the entertainment of guests
|
|
|
#76398
07/20/2002 3:44 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Mint So called from the nymph Minthe, daughter of Cocytus, and a favourite of Pluto. This nymph was
metamorphosed by Pluto's wife (Proserpine) out of jealousy, into the herb called after her name. The
fable is quite obvious, and simply means that mint is a capital medicine. Minthe was a favourite of Pluto,
or death, that is, was sick and on the point of death; but was changed into the herb mint, or was cured
thereby.
|
|
|
#76399
07/20/2002 3:47 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Miolnier (3 syl.) [the crusher]. The magic hammer of Thor. It would never fail to hit a Troll; would
never miss to hit whatever it was thrown at; would always return to the owner of its own accord; and
became so small when not in use that it could be put into Thor's pocket. (Scandinavian mythology.)
There are other spellings of this name.
|
|
|
#76400
07/20/2002 3:50 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Miscreant (3 syl.) means a false believer. (French, mis-créance.) A term first applied to the
Mahometans. The Mahometans, in return, call Christians infidels, and associate with the word all that we
mean by “miscreants.”
|
|
|
#76401
07/20/2002 3:54 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Canopy, as if from Canopus (the star in the southern hemisphere), is the Greek konopeion (from
konops, a gnat), and means a cloth to keep off gnats.
|
|
|
#76402
07/20/2002 3:59 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Custard, the food, is from the Welsh for curded milk
|
|
|
#76403
07/20/2002 4:02 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Foxglove is not the glove of the fox, but of the fays, called folk - the little folk's glove
|
|
|
#76404
07/20/2002 4:06 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Greyhound has no connection with the colour grey. It is the grayhound, or hound which hunts the gray
or badger
|
|
|
#76405
07/20/2002 4:08 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Humble pie, for umbil pie. The umbils of venison were served to inferior retainers and servants.
|
|
|
#76406
07/20/2002 4:11 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Pen means a feather. (Latin, penna, a wing.
|
|
|
|
|
