#80587
09/18/2002 6:17 PM
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A name often seen in paleology. From Brewer:
Silurian Rocks A name given by Sir R. Murchison to what miners call gray-wacke, and Werner termed
transition rocks. Sir Roderick called them Silurian because it was in the region of the ancient Silures that
he investigated them.
Silures, people of ancient Britain inhabiting what today is southeastern Wales. A powerful and warlike tribe, they offered fierce resistance to the Roman force that invaded their territory in AD 48 but were finally conquered in 78, after the Romans established a legionary fortress at Isca, modern Caerleon. The chief town of the Silures was Romanized as Venta Silurum, the modern Caerwent, near the Severn estuary east of Newport.
"Silures," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Now I've got to find out who in hell the "Silures" were and from where.Back in a flash.
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#80588
09/18/2002 8:23 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From Brewer:
Simplicity is sine plica, without a fold; as duplicity is duplex plica, a double fold. Conduct “without a
fold” is straightforward, but thought without a fold is mere childishness. It is “tortuity of thought” that
constitutes philosophic wisdom, and “simplicity of thought” that prepares the mind for faith.
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#80589
09/18/2002 8:28 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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From Brewer: We had some posts challenging this derivation, but I am feeling lazy about citing them.
Sincere (2 syl.) properly means without wax (sine cera). The allusion is to the Roman practice of
concealing flaws in pottery with wax, or to honey from which all the wax has been extracted. (See
Trench: On the Study of Words, lect. vii. p. 322.)
This derivation was in my first year Latin book.
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#80590
09/18/2002 8:31 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Sindhu' The ancient name of the river Indus. (Sanskrit, syand, to flow.)
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#80591
09/18/2002 8:46 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Sizar A poor scholar whose assize of food is given him. Sizars used to have what was left at the fellows'
table, because it was their duty at one time to wait on the fellows at dinner. Each fellow had his sizar.
(Cambridge University.)
I used to know a family by this name. They were all very bright.
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#80592
09/18/2002 8:51 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Skedaddle To run away, to be scattered in rout. The Scotch apply the word to the milk spilt over the pail
in carrying it. During the late American war, the New York papers said the Southern forces were
“skedaddled” by the Federals. (Saxon, scedan, to pour out; Chaldee, scheda; Greek, skeda'o, to seatter.)
No longer heard very often. Only in sense of running away to escape possible punishment.
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#80593
09/18/2002 9:06 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Slang Slangs are the greaves with which the legs of convicts are fettered; hence convicts themselves; and
slang is the language of convicts.
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#80594
09/18/2002 9:14 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Sleep (Anglo-Saxon slaepen). Crabbe's etymology of doze under this word is exquisite:-
“Doze, a variation from the French dors and the Latin dormio (to sleep), which was anciently
dermio and comes from the Greek derma (a skin), because people lay on skins when they
slept ”!- Synonyms.
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#80595
09/19/2002 12:59 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#80596
09/19/2002 2:36 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear /Faldage: It's time for Roth to wax you for a change. I am not sine cerumen in my ears.
but O try to be sincere. That MW site is ridiculous, feeling learned to drag in Spanish sin. I think
the oldtimers were correct.
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#80597
09/19/2002 4:07 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#80598
09/19/2002 5:24 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Faldage: TOWFI also nixes without wax. But the 'sinceros" or something like that they
postulate, surely was "sine" combined very early with a root that might have meant "crap"
or something, not necessarily wax. I just don't think it is possible to trace the etymology
back far enough. And the idea of concealing defects in a piece of marble makes a lot of
sense, even though it may not have been origin. Folk etymology seldom makes that much sense.
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#80599
09/19/2002 5:32 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Certainly the etymology of sincere doesn't rank with the correct pronunciation of nucular as a subject worthy of the concern of millions of conscientious word lovers.
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#80600
09/19/2002 6:41 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Certainly the etymology of sincere doesn't rank with the correct pronunciation of nucular as a subject worthy of the concern of millions of conscientious word lovers.
Are you being sincere about this, Faldie? If so, what, then, is the nuculous of your argument?
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#80601
09/19/2002 6:52 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Dubya said "nucular" what, six, eight times? He din't never said "I mean no wax when I say the we gone bomb the bahoovies outta Eye Rack."
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#80602
09/19/2002 7:42 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Faldage: your AHD citation had an interesting word that has been mentioned before
a couple times, but never defined: hypocorism, hypocoristic
ypocoristic
adj.
< Gr hypokoristikos < hypokorizesthai, to call by endearing names < hypo3 (see HYPO3) + korizesthai, to pet < korc, girl < IE base *aer3, to grow > CEREAL6 of or being a pet name or a diminutive or term of endearment
hypocorism
n.
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#80603
09/19/2002 8:30 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Specie, Species means simply what is visible. As things are distinguished by their visible forms, it has
come to mean kind or class. As drugs and condiments at one time formed the most important articles of
merchandise, they were called species - still retained in the French épices, and English spices. Again, as
bank-notes represent money, money itself is called specie, the thing represented.
A word whose meaning has changed:
specie
n.
abl. of L species: used in E from occurrence in the phrase (paid) in specie6 coin, as distinguished from paper money; also, coin made of precious, as distinguished from base, metal
in specie
1 in kind
2 in coin
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#80604
09/19/2002 8:50 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Sporran (Gaelic). The heavy pouch worn in front of the philibeg of a Highlander's kilt.
I could find "philibeg" in many sites, but no clear definition. Some used it to mean "short kilt."
jmh, where are you when we need you?
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#80605
09/19/2002 9:03 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Stain A contraction of distam. (Latin, dis-tingere, to discolour.)
This was news to me. My dictionary calls it an aphetic.
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#80606
09/19/2002 9:27 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Stirrup (A). A rope to climb by. (Anglo-Saxon,. sti'g-ra'p, a climbing rope. The verb sti'g-an is to climb,
to mount.)
From what I have read, the stirrup is a surprisingly recent invention, without which knights could
never have used lance. It made cavalry far more effective.
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#80607
09/19/2002 9:41 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Style (1 syl.) is from the Latin stylus (an iron pencil for writing on waxen tablets, etc.). The characteristic
of a person's writing is called his style. Metaphorically it is applied to composition and speech. Good
writing is stylish, and, metaphorically, smartness of dress and deportment is so called.
“Style is the dress of thought, and a well-dressed thought, like a well-dressed man, appears to
great advantage.”- Chesterfield: Letter ccxl. p. 361.
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#80608
09/19/2002 9:47 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Sumptuary Laws Laws to limit the expenses of food and dress, or any luxury. The Romans had their
sumptuary laws (leges sumptuarii). Such laws have been enacted in many states at various times. Those
of England were all repealed by 1 James I., c. 25.
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#80609
09/19/2002 9:53 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Surgeon is the Greek form of the Latin word manufacturer. The former is cheir-ergein (to work with
the hand), and the latter manu-facere (to do or make with the hand).
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#80610
09/20/2002 12:13 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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and the creation of sumptuary laws lead to a bonfire of vanities!
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#80611
09/20/2002 8:02 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Tally-ho! is the Norman hunting cry Taillis au! (To the coppice). The tally-ho was used when the stag
was viewed in full career making for the coppice. We now cry “Tally-ho!” when the fox breaks cover.
The French cry is “Taiaut!”
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#80612
09/20/2002 8:04 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Talpot or Talipot Tree. A gigantic palm. When the sheath of the flower bursts it makes a report like that
of a cannon.
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#80613
09/20/2002 8:20 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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talipot is another one of those words related to the IE pen(*) root... (you can reference Get a move on in Words section) here is a picture of a flower talipot palm.. the yellow top is the flower structure. http://www.chiangmainews.com/sight/talipot.phpIt is one of the largest cluster flowers in the world!
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#80614
09/20/2002 9:09 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Three Sheets in the Wind Unsteady from over-drinking, as a ship when its sheets are in the wind. The
sail of a ship is fastened at one of the bottom corners by a rope called a “tack;” the other corner is left
more or less free as the rope called a “sheet” is disposed; if quite free, the sheet is said to be “in the
wind,” and the sail flaps and flutters without restraint. If all the three sails were so loosened, the ship
would “reel and stagger like a drunken man.”
Tne best explanation of the common phrase I have ever seen. Remember, the "sheet" is not a sail,
it is a rope (a line).
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#80615
09/20/2002 9:25 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Tigris [the Arrow]. So called from the rapidity of its current. Hiddekel is “The Dekel,” or Diglath, a
Semitic corruption of Tigra, Medo-Persic for arrow (Gen. ii. 14.)
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#80616
09/20/2002 10:25 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Tournament or Tournay. A tilt of knights; the chief art of the game being so to manoeuvre or turn your
horse as to avoid the adversary's blow. (French, tournoiement, verb, tournoyer.)
News to me.
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#80617
09/22/2002 3:42 PM
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Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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So there are three sails, right? And the sails aren't sheets, right? But there is a rope that's not called a rope, but a tack that secures the sail and there is another rope, not called a rope, but a sheet, that is adjusted. And if this adjusted sheet is maladjusted and the sail flaps about in the wind, the sheet is to the wind. Multiply that by three sheets (i.e., ropes) that are very loose, then you have three sheets to the wind and a drunk ship. Got it!  I always thought sheets were sails. Learn something every day.
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#80618
09/22/2002 3:53 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WW: I too always though "sheets" meant the sails. I wonder if this is a case
of the part being named for the whole. "sceat" is old Germanic word for piece of cloth.
Sails had to have corners where lines were attached re-inforced by a piece of strong
fabric before the "sceatline" could be attached.
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#80619
09/22/2002 5:18 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Usher means a porter. (Old French, muisher, a door; whence huissier, an usher; Latin, ostiarius.) One who
stands at the door to usher visitors into the presence. (Scotch, Wishart.)
And ostiarium is from ostium=door, from os, oris = mouth. Remember Ostium, port of Rome, was
at the mouth of the Tiber.
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#80620
09/22/2002 5:40 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
alkyriur or Valkyries. The twelve nymphs of Valhalla. They were mounted on swift horses, and held drawn
swords in their hands. In the mêléc of battle they selected those destined to death, and conducted them to
Valhalla, where they waited upon them, and served them with mead and ale in cups of horn called skulls. The
chief were Mista, Sangrida, and Hilda. Valkyriur means “chooser of the slain.”
I never knew this before. As mnemonic, "val = fall", "kyr"=kur=choose, select
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#80621
09/22/2002 5:49 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Venison Anything taken in hunting or by the chase. Hence Jacob bids Esau to go and get venison such as he
loved (Gen. xxvii. 3), meaning the wild kid. The word is simply the Latin venatio (hunting), but is now restricted to the flesh of deer.
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#80622
09/22/2002 7:15 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Walnut [foreign nut ]. It comes from Persia, and is so called to distinguish it from those native to Europe, as
hazel, filbert, chestnut. (Anglo-Saxon, walh, foreign; hnutu, nut.)
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#80623
09/22/2002 7:24 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Wan means thin. (Anglo-Saxon, wan, “deficient”; our wane, as the “waning moon.”) As wasting of the flesh is
generally accompanied with a grey pallor, the idea of leanness has yielded to that of the sickly hue which attends
it. (Verb wan-ian, to wane.)
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#80624
09/22/2002 7:40 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Warlock A wandering evil spirit; a wizard. (Anglo-Saxon, woer-loga, a deceiver, one who breaks his word. Satan
is called in Scripture “the father of lies,” the arch-warlock.)
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#80625
09/22/2002 7:48 PM
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Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Watling Street A road extending east and west across South Britain. Beginning at Dover, it ran through
Canterbury to London, and thence to Cardigan. The word is a corruption of Vitellina strata, the paved road of
Vitellius, called by the Britons Guetalin. Poetically the “Milky Way” has been called the Watling Street of the
sky.
“Secunda via principalis dicitur Wateling-streate, tendens ab euro-austro in zephyrum
septentrionalem. Incipit ... a Dovaria ... usque Cardigan.”- Leland.
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#80626
09/22/2002 7:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Brewer:
Welsh Rabbit Cheese melted and spread over buttered toast. The word rabbit is a corruption of rare-bit.
We had a lot of discussion of this, which concluded that above was a canard. Odd that Brewer
should have favored this definition.
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