|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
In an article on anthropology, I ran into a word appropriate for upcoming holiday. not in dictionaries I have access to, but easy to guess: "guising" Let's have some others.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Nope, it's a slightly technical word for "masquerading" for ritual purposes. But when I looked, I found it in a timely advertisement. (Halloween masks)
That one was fairly easy. Here's a tougher one: Who was Grimr?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"Grimr" was said to be one of Odin or Wotan's other names, meaning "Masked Man".
Here's a real toughie: What does "excamation" mean? Probably pretty much a technical term.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The origin of "Trick or Treat"
The secular tradition of trick-or-treating has its roots in both the pagan and Christian holidays. The practice can be traced to the original Halloween, known as Samhain, an ancient Celtic New Year's festival during which human and animal sacrifices were made to the Lord of the Dead and the sun. During Samhain, after offering a feast to the dead, masked and costumed villagers representing the souls of the dead paraded to the outskirts of town leading the ghosts away. In medieval times, Christians dressed as their favorite saints for the All Hallows procession.
There is also a possible connection with Guy Fawkes celebrations of post-Renaissance England. In these, children dressed up as the executed conspirator to beg "a penny for the Guy" from passing strangers. A traditional Irish custom on Samhain eve was the soliciting of contributions in the name of Muck Olla, a shadowy Druidic figure who would be sure to wreak vengeance on the ungenerous. Muck Olla's vengeance gradually became transformed into the tricks of disappointed human revelers.
Now a word question: How in Sam Hill is "Samhain" pronounced?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
|
enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
Pronunciation of Samhain is dead tricky. It's one of those that I read in my book on Irish and practise a few times, never sure that I've got it right.
I think it's "sow in", as in the pig family are knocking at the door so let the sow in, but with a nasalized w. Yup, a nasalized w. That's modern Irish. The mutated m was earlier a nasalized v.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Hey, if you can umlaut it you can nasalize it. I always thought of it as a voiced bilabial fricative but then I was just guessing.
Guy Fawkes Day - Nov 5. Interesting that it is closer to the real* cross quarter day than our modern dating of Halloween/All Saints' Eve-Day.
*Real as in strict count from solstice to equinox (Nov 5/6 this year).
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,587
Members9,187
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
1 members (wofahulicodoc),
213
guests, and
2
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|