Dear wwh (and anybody else, especially the Latinate Loop),

Here's another one of those botanical names, the first, Alectoria probably after the botanist in question, and the second, sarmentosa, that may be descriptive.

Question: Does sarmentosa mean anything in particular in Latin?

Another question: How 'bout tomentosa, as in the Pawlonia (sometimes Paulonia) tomentosa? Does the tomentosa have any meaning?

One more: Come to think of it, what does "tosa" mean in Latin or perhaps "osa"? For the record, Alectoria sarmentosa is commonly called "Witch's Hair" and sometimes "Old Man's Beard," a lichen deer eat in winter after it's blown down from the treetops.

Best regards,
WhentheWindblows

what does "tosa" mean in Latin or perhaps "osa"

Well, in Italian that ending means something like 'one who is'. For example, joy = gioia so joyous = gioioso. Or pride = orgoglio, proud = orgoglioso. And so on.

sarmentum -i n. [twigs , brushwood].


tomentum -i n. [the stuffing of a pillow , mattress, etc.].

Dear WW: I couldn't find out anything about "tomentosa" but here is a link about the tree. First off, the name is "Paulownia" because it was named after daughter of Russian Czar Paul I.

http://forestry.about.com/library/weekly/aa081797.htm?once=true&

Hey, WordWind! Have I got a site for you! A Dictionary of Botanical Epithets

http://www.winternet.com/~chuckg/dictionary/dictionary.188.html

TADA----tomentosus means hairy

WW:

In Latin adjectives most often follow the noun. -osa on the end is if i recall correctly equivalent to -ous.

TEd

Dear wwh:

Wow! Wow! Double Wow! That botanical dictionary is exactly what the doctor ordered, yourself included. Wow! The only thing it lacks is a pronunciation guide--then it would be nearly perfect. So the Alectoria sarmentosa is twiggy--as Faldage may have guessed--and it is. I'm just in word heaven here, Bill. Thanks so much for that great find, which I've bookmarked, of course. In case my computer crashes--as it seems to enjoy doing about every two months--I'm gonna try googling the dictionary under botanical dictionary and see whether the site comes up.

But wow! Now I get to brainstorm all my tree terms and find out what lots of 'em mean.

Best regards and a big twiggy hug,
WordWilderness

WW, you might be interested in this service, where you can save your list of bookmarks with them and then download them from wherever you happen to be. So if your computer crashes and you lose them, you can call them up.

http://www.mybookmarks.com/ (I think it was someone on the Board who first pointed me to them.)



Bingley

Thanks, Bingley, for the bookmark service. What'll they think of next? Wonder whether there's a service to hold the contents of our daily thoughts--a brain plug?

Brain regards,
WW

Bingley - wish I'd known about this before I lost the lot a month ago!

(Taureans don't do backups.) Well, they didn't use to anyway!

stales

Dear Stales,

The cool thing about Bingley's site is, when you register, the site machinery (!) will, if you ask it to, automatically copy all your bookmarks.

Technamazed,
WordWow!

Having had several hard disks go West, but despising Windows backup, I created a Word97 file stored in My Documents for URLs I wanted to revisit. I have four pages of URLs, now, and periodically copy them to a 3 1/2 floppy safe from hard disk disaster. From there I edit,copy, edit, paste them into Location box.

The first two times I clicked on your link, I got taken to my ISP's Home Page...very strange. Finally I copied your link and pasted it in the address box, and that worked. Now, my embarrassing question: um...ok...I got all my favorites over there (whew, just checked--they're still here--I was worried they might be transferred, not just copied!), but...now that I've closed that window, how do I get back to it? I mean, months from now, maybe I'll want them and I won't be at this computer. Am I just supposed to remember the address? (I know, I'm hopeless.)

Dear Jackie,

I wondered the same thing, but then returned to Bingley's post and thought, "Hmmmm, mybookmarks.com ... that's pretty easy to remember." So, say "mybookmarks.com" three times and click your mouse's highheels together three times--there's no place like homing in on your bookmarks!

Best regards,
DubDorothy

now that I've closed that window, how do I get back to it?

Easy-- just put it in your favorites list! [EG]

Rapunzel...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, thank you SO much, you sweet things...(y'all c'mere a minute, will ya?)

Dear Jackie,

I just noticed yesterday that the icon for mybookmarks.com is at the bottom of my screen along with the MSN butterfly, the AOL yellow running guy, and the Yahoo smiling face. Do you see the blue ribbon bookmark icon for mybookmarks.com there at the bottom of your screen?

Bookmark regards,
Wordwind

Do you see the blue ribbon bookmark icon for mybookmarks.com there at the bottom of your screen?
No. Sigh. I've also lost some of the icons that used to be there. The only one I can recall, because I miss it, is the Show Desktop one. For the life of me, I cannot get them back. I've gone to Help--no help. It looks as though all I need to do is move the cursor over the spot till it becomes a double arrow, then click and drag, but nothing happens! Argh! So if the blue ribbon is with these icons that used to be there, I don't know that I'll ever see it. Thanks, anyway.


Edit--Hey, I got 'em back! Right-clicked, then happened to finally find what I needed. Still no blue ribbon. And--
Welcome, semperon!

Where can I find a free "brain-plug"?
If you like MyBookmarks.com, Wordwind, you will LOVE www.AllDayPA.com. "PA" stands for "Personal Assistant". They give you a "Contact" directory, a "Briefcase" where you can store Word documents for downloading, limited Word processing capabilities, free email and other free services as well. This is the only free service of its kind that I know of. Some other similar services started out free but now they charge for the services. Enjoy.

Wow! I've always wanted a PA! (Hmmm, truth? Not really!)

Anyway, WELCOME semperon! Good to have you with us - and already providing valuable information!

Hev