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#76367 07/18/02 06:24 PM
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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 07/18/02 06:34 PM
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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 07/18/02 07:15 PM
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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 07/18/02 07:20 PM
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Magnolia A flower so called from Pierre Magnol, professor of medicine at Montpelier. (1638-1715.)



#76371 07/18/02 07:41 PM
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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 07/18/02 07:57 PM
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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 07/18/02 08:08 PM
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Manure (2 syl.) means hand-work (French, main-oeuvre), tillage by manual labour. It now means the
dressing applied to lands.


#76374 07/18/02 09:55 PM
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Martyr (Greek) simply means a witness, but is applied to one who witnesses a good confession with his
blood.


#76375 07/18/02 10:04 PM
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Mascotte One who brings good luck, and possesses a “good eye.”


#76376 07/18/02 10:06 PM
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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


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