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Connection

Wednesday Etymology Lesson: connection

Today’s word is one of the things that is most important to me in life.  From Latin, com- meaning “together” and nectere or necto/nexus meaning both, “I bind” and also, “that which binds or ties together.”

In a way, the word connection is a like a little magic spell, willing things together.  This word is very old and so is the force it represents.  The very atoms that make up our bodies are bound together by electromagnetism.  Everything is connected, and so are we.

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Bollicky

Tuesday Etymology Lesson: bollicky

Today’s word was suggested by my friend Meaghan, who is an awesome writer and photographer. 

I hope you’re ready for the naked truth [groan] behind the word bollicky!  Bollicky is a slang word, originating in pre-Shakespearean times from the word bollocks, which a slang term for testicles.  Bollocks, by the way, comes from the Proto-Indo-European base bhel-, which means “to inflate or swell.”  Oh grow up! 😉 

My favorite thing about the word bollicky is that it doesn’t just mean “naked,” it means as naked as one could possibly ever be.  The kind of naked you are in those dreams where you’re somehow caught without clothing in the middle of the hallway of your high school and the bell just rang. The kind of naked a person is when they are only wearing shoes and a knit cap.  More naked than just naked.

Stay warm out there, folks!

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Funicular

Monday Etymology Lesson: funicular 

One of my favorite words and modes of transportation!  Funicular comes from the Latin funis meaning “cord or rope.”  Funiculars are a type of cable car which go up inclines and use some of the weight of the descending car to hoist up the ascending car.

Pittsburgh has not one, but two funiculars, one of which was built in 1870, and is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the USA!  These funiculars are oriented in such a way that the car itself stays level even with the incline. Another reason why Pittsburgh is one of my favorite places.  Pittsburgh, hell of a town!

funicular 12:01:14

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Family

Wednesday Etymology Lesson: family

This one was suggested by my sister Abigail and is holiday appropriate. 

Family is our word today.  The word comes from the Latin famula, and is related to the word familiar.  It was originally used to describe all of the members of a household, and in particular, the servants in the household, and wasn’t used to describe actual blood relatives until the mid 1500s in England.  The Latin word for “family,” as we use it in English, was domus.  You’ll recognize the words domestic and domicile coming from domus.  Previous to using family, English-speaking people referred to their close blood relatives in Old English as hiwscipe, a word now forgotten.  I’m thankful that tomorrow I will get to see many of my hiwscipe and feast with them for American Thanksgiving.

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Justice

Tuesday Etymology Lesson: justice

Today’s word is brought to you by the tragic events in Ferguson.  Today’s word is justice. It comes from a very old Latin word ius which means “the law,” and informed many words like justice and righteousness. 

While researching this etymology I came upon this old Latin quote which seems appropriate for the day: Jus summum saepe summa est malitia, which translates as, “The highest law is often the greatest roguery.”

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Iridescence

Monday Morning Etymology Lesson: iridescence

Today’s word comes from my friend Noelle, and I chose it because the sun is trying to fight through the clouds, and that might mean we get to witness some iridescence.

Iridescence, first used around 1796, from the Greek: Iris, personification of the rainbow, messenger of the gods, wife to Zeyphrus the West Wind (though she’s known to have had an affair or two with Morpheus, see image), daughter of a sea god named, Thaumus and a cloud nymph named Electra. 

iridescence 11:24:14

In many cultures, rainbows have historically been thought of as signs, a path forward, or a revelation of truth.  To that end, Iris was often shown carrying a pitcher of water from the River Styx, which she used to put those to sleep who would make false oaths.  Added to iris, we have the latin suffix -escent meaning “having a tendency toward.”  Thus, iridescence equates to the quality of an object to have a tendency toward rainbows.

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Defenestrate

Friday Morning Etymology Lesson: defenestrate

Today’s word comes from my friend Nemo, who says this is his favorite word.  Defenestrate means “ejection from a window” and is our word for Friday because who among us hasn’t wished to throw a coworker or two out the window by the time Friday rolls around?  The word comes from the Latin word fenestra meaning “window.”  This is an exciting word, not just because its meaning brings to mind tossing unsavory objects out of windows, but because it is one of a few words that was created because of a real-life incident!  Two incidents, in fact.  Apparently back in the Middle Ages (and beyond), the people of Prague were quite fond of throwing their officials out of windows.  These two incidents came to be known as the Defenestrations of Prague (in 1419 and again in 1618) precipitating the Hussite War & Thirty Years War, respectively.  Of course the people of Prague weren’t the first, or unfortunately the last, to throw people out of windows, but the description of the events of 1618 mark the first time defenestration was used officially. 

Note: As I type this I am watching a man hanging off the side of a building cleaning its windows. Coincidence? I think not!

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Tutu

To make up for today’s earlier word, here is a less gross one, suggested by my friend Noelle Boc:  tutu

tutu

The etymology of tutu is a bit naughty to be honest.  Tutu actually comes to us from the latin culus meaning, [clears throat] “backside or undercarriage.”  It was shortened to cucu and then changed again to tutu by the flirty French.  How did this word come to mean a fluffy skirt that ballerinas wear?  Well, in the traditional theaters back in the 1700s & 1800s, ordinary citizens stood in an area called “the pit,” located below stage level.  The elite sat in the balconies gazing down on the action.  Dancers back then were really pushing the envelope on how much leg they could show.  Not with the intent to be naughty, but because they worked so hard on fancy leg and footwork and wanted to show it off.  Underwear, as we know it to be, wasn’t invented until the late 1800’s.  Everyone wore pantaloons and long knickers back then, which would disturb the line of the leg, so dancers didn’t bother with underwear.  Thus, the mob in the pit had quite the view of the undercarriage of the dancers, otherwise known as the tutu area, whilst the genteel folk upstairs did not.  I’m sure you can imagine the chaos this would create.

In order to disguise the tutu area, costume makers created a sort of multi-layered drooping dress with frills that were joined across the bottom and over time the special dress took on the commoners name for the area it was meant to cover.  Voilà: Tutu!  Très risqué! 

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Pus (eew)

Thursday Etymology Lesson: pus

Brought to you from the mind of my pal Joe Fallon, I had to choose this word today as I am at the hospital (nothing serious).  Today’s word is pus!  You know, that white stuff inside of zits.  This word comes to us from the late 14c., from Latin pus “matter from a sore.”  Pus is related to puter meaning, “rotten” which you may recognize from the word putrid.  Puter is an old word that comes from the Sanskrit words puyati meaning, “rots, stinks,” and putih meaning, “stinking, foul.”  Also from the Greek puon “discharge from a sore,” and pythein “to cause to rot.”  Eeeeeew.

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Maelstrom

Wednesday Etymology Lesson: maelstrom

maelstrom 11:19:14

From two Danish words (neither of which mean “bad” or “storm,” by the way, but I see why you might think that), maalen meaning “grind or whirl” and stroom meaning “stream or flow.”  Maelstrom was first used to describe a whirlpool, and not just any whirlpool but a mythical whirlpool that was supposed to exist in the Arctic Ocean, west of Norway called the Moskstraumen (see image).  It is described by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story A Descent into the Maelström.  The Mokstraumen does exist, but it is a series of currents, not a giant whirlpool in the middle of the sea.  Some other famous maelstroms include the Saltstraumen in Norway, the Corryvreckan off the coast of Scotland, and the Old Sow, located between Deer Island, New Brunswick and Moose Island, Maine.