Rood

I know this is a four letter word, but it's not a rude one!

A rood is the name given to the cross on which Christ died.  It is also used for any images of this (painting, sculpture, etc.) found in churches.  The word was used from before 1121, but spelt rode, which later became rood by the end of the fouteenth century.  It comes from the Old English rod, used before 830, which meant a cross, a pole, or a measure of land.

The rood is now used to mean a depiction of Christ on the cross, attended by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Apostle, and it usually carved from wood.  Sometimes this was suspended from the ceiling, but most surviving examples are placed above a rood screen, which divided the Medieval Catholic church into two - one area for the congregation, and the other, behind the screen, was where the altar was placed, where only the priests were allowed.  One splendidly and intricately carved rood screen survives in the eleventh century church of Partrishow (aka Patrishow or Patricio) near Abergavenny in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales (see left).

Another more accessible example, is found in St. Teilo's Church in St. Fagan's National History Museum, near Cardiff (depicted right).  Dating from the twelfth century, this church (originally from Pontarddulais, near Swansea) has been recreated in the time of 1520, with marcellously bright murals and carvings.  This church, with its wonderful rood screen, gives you a chance to experience a Medieval church in all its glory.  I recommend a visit.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.
Curl, James Stevens (1999) A Dictionary of Architecture, Oxford University Press.
Images:
Decoration - The Rood Screen (2009?) [online], http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/1207/ (Accessed 17 February 2011).
The Rood Screen at Partrishow/Patricio (2000) [online], http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1212550 (Accessed 17 February 2011).





Juliana

Neck

This word has Anglo-Saxon origins.  It is found in Alfred's translation of St. Gregory's Pastoral Care from about 899, where it is spelt hnecca.  So the word is even older than the 9th century.  In 1225 it became nekke and, in a document of about 1250, it appears as necke, from whence it evolved to the spelling we know today.

It has also become a slang word.  To neck means to engage in sexual foreplay, but it has very different meanings on each side of the Atlantic.  From the dialect of North England c.1825 it means to court, ie. put one's arm around someone's neck.  But from the 1920s in America, to neck means to pursue sexual pleasure that stops short of intercourse.  This word is usually used by teenagers, with the milder British meaning having been superseded by the American one.

As you know (if you read my earlier blogs), I like to discover unusual names, and one of my work colleagues has the wonderful surname of Neck.  This has an obvious origin.  It is a purely descriptive surname that highlights an unusual physical feature.  In 1275 in Norfolk, there was a Symon Chortneke (aka short neck), and in Cambridgeshire, there were a Henry Nekke in 1279 and a Richard Necke in 1327.  Needless to say, my colleague's neck is quite pleasant and normal...

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988) Chambers, Edinburgh.
Green, Jonathan (2000) Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, Cassell & Co., London.
Reaney, P.H. (1997)  A Dictionary of English Surnames, rev. 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford.


Juliana

Spat (Word of the week)

A short word this week and one you probably have come across before, but I bet you don't know quite how many different meanings this one little word has picked up over the years.

The earliest use of the word spat seems to originate from anglo-norman and means the spawn of an oyster or other shellfish and in the mid 17th century it was occassionally used to mean the eggs of bees!

At the same time it was also beginning to be used to mean a spatula for spreading on medical ointments or creams.

It also used to be used to mean clap or applause.

Spat turns up in the US in the early 19th Century to mean a brief arguement or quarrel.

It has also come to mean a sharp blow or slap or the sound of a blow or slap.

There's more....

Used in the plural spats - it is an abbreviation of spatterdash a early 19th century gaiter, which is worn over the top of a shoe and reaches slightly above the ankle, protecting the wearer from muddy splashes when walking on a wet day.

And finally, in aeronautics it has come to mean a covering that goes above the wheel of an aircraft - a 'spatterdash' for a plane - a bit like a mudguard in a car.

So there you go, one short four letter word, with many many different meanings!

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=spat
http://www.wordswarm.net/dictionary/spat.html


Von

Quiz (Word of the Week)

So this week’s word is a fairly common word, one that you already know the meaning of and that’s only four letters long, so, scrabble score aside, what’s so interesting about the word quiz?

Well first of all, it started life meaning something somewhat different than it means now.

Now quiz is a noun or verb that means:-

• The act of questioning
• A set of questions to be answered, specifically a questionnaire, examination or a test of knowledge for entertainment between individuals or teams.

As a verb it means to question or interrogate. In North America it is used in relation to testing a class of students by asking questions needing short factual answers.

These meaning all started to appear round about the mid 19^th century, but the word quiz has been around since the late 18^th century when the meaning was slightly different. Back then quiz could mean the following:-

• an odd or eccentric person or a person of ridiculous appearance
• a person who makes practical jokes, a prankster.
• A practical joke or hoax. A piece of witticism or banter.

So the word has evolved over time. But there’s something else interesting about the word quiz. Way back when, I was reading a graphic novel called Preacher in which one of the characters relates the story about how the word quiz originated. The story went along these lines:

In 1791 a man called John Daly, who owned a theatre in Dublin made a bet that he could create a nonsense-word that people would start to use all over the city within 2 days. In order to win the bet he got theatre staff to go around Dublin that evening and write the word quiz on all the walls they could find. Of course the next day the word was on everyone’s lips as they all tried to work our where this sudden rash of graffiti had come from and what it meant and within a short period of time it became part of the language.

I originally assumed that this was an invented story, written by Garth Ennis the author of Preacher, but when I looked into it further I found out that although, disappointingly the story has generally been decided to be made up, it first appeared in a book in 1875 in a book called “Gleanings and Reminiscences”. Unfortunately there is evidence that the word was already in use before 1971 meaning an eccentric person. But still I think its interesting all the same.

So, quiz may be a mere, 4 letter word that everyone knows the meaning of these days, but it has a fascinating history and has changed along the way.

Sources:

Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/196

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-qui1.htm

Further reading:

http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/PreacherEnnisDillon.html
this is an interesting article about Preacher for anyone who wants to do some background reading :)

Von