Leprechaun (word of the week)

So, we're back :) And can you guess where we went on holiday?

This week's word is leprechaun, an Irish word deriving from lupracan or luchorpan. Lu meaning little or small and corpan meaning body or person (from the Latin corpus).

In Irish folklore a leprechaun is indeed a small person, being a sprite or a goblin with the appearance of a tiny old man wearing a large red hat. The first mention of a Leprechaun in Irish literature dates back to an 8th century book and since then the Leprechaun has never looked back, appearing in books, advertising and even a film starring Sean Connery! (Darby O'Gill and the Little People)

The main myth attached to the Leprechaun is that he is the shoe-maker for the tuatha de danaan and keeps the gold they pay him for repairing their shoes in a crock or pot that he hides at the end of a rainbow. Most stories involving Leprechauns revolve around someone catching a Leprechaun and trying to force him to tell where the crock of gold is hidden. But Leprechauns are sneaky and clever and the stories generally end up with an escaped Leprechaun and an empty-handed captor.

And to finish off I'd like to give a quick plug to a fascinating museum that I'd recommend to anyone insterested in folklore and who happens to be passing through Dublin. The new National Leprechaun Museum is indeed about Leprechauns but it is more than that, it is about irish folklore and the art of storytelling and well worth a visit. The link for the museum can be found in the sources listed below and even if you're not lucky enough to visit Ireland, the website is well worth a visit as it has some really interesting pages on Leprechauns as well as other Irish myths and stories.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 2010
 Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989
The Dictionary of Mythology by J.A. Coleman, 2008 (ISBN: 9781841934242)
National Leprechaun Museum  [Accessed 30.03.2011]

Von

Pusillanimous (Word of the week)

 This week we have a short entry for a long word.

Pusillanimous first appeared in its current spelling in 1586, but can be traced back in the English language to the noun pusillamite which appeared in 1393.

It originates from the Latin pusillus meaning small or little and animus, meaning spirit or courage. So literally pusillanimous means little courage.

The dictionary defination is that it is an adjective meaning cowardly or mean.

And to see pusillanimous in action, here it is, guest starring in an Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poem:

Cheerfulness taught by reason
I think we are too ready with complaint
In this fair world of God's. Had we no hope
Indeed beyond the zenith and the slope
Of yon gray blank of sky, we might grow faint
To muse upon eternity's constraint
Round our aspirant souls; but since the scope
Must widen early, is it well to droop,
For a few days consumed in loss and taint ?
O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted
And, like a cheerful traveller, take the road
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod
To meet the flints ? At least it may be said
' Because the way is short, I thank thee, God. '

Sources: 
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 2010
Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cheerfulness-taught-by-reason/ 
[accessed 16.03.2011]


Von

Widdershins (Word of the week)

Widdershins
First recorded in the early 16th Century, Widdershins is a Scottish word originating from the German widersinnes, with wide meaning counter and sins meaning direction or way.

Widdershins means to move in a direction that is opposite to the usual direction - to go the wrong way round, to go in an anti-clockwise direction. It also means to move in the direction opposite to the sun.

It is often used in relation to the occult and folklore, for example, dancing widdershins around a ring of toadstools will put you under the power of fairies (something that rarely seems to end well ...)

In Dorothy L. Sayers' novel The Nine Tailors one of the characters avoids walking around the church anti-clockwise as it is bad luck to walk round a church anti-clockwise or widdershins.

"He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins..."

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widdershins [accessed 09.03.11]

Von

Flibbertigibbet (Word of the week)

This week's word has a literary history and can be traced back to Shakespeare's King Lear when it first appeared with its current spelling - flibbertigibbet. (In King Lear Flibbertigibbet is the name of the five fiends that the character Edgar claimed were possessing him). A character named Flibbertigibbet can also be found in Sir Walter Scott's novel, Kenilworth (written in 1821)

The word has been around longer than that however, with flepergebet and flypyrgebet dating back before 1450.

So what does it mean? Originally it meant a person who was a gossip or a chatterer, the word possibly imitating the sound of meaningless chatter. In the early 17th Century a flibbertigibbet was a type of fiend or devil (as in - or possibly because of Shakespeare) and after Kenilworth it came to mean a impish or mischevious child. Now flibbertygibbet is generally taken to mean a person who is irresponsible or flighty.


King Lear (Act IV, Scene 1)
Edgar
"Both stile and gate, horse-way and footpath. Poor Tom hath been scared out of his good wits. Bless thee, good man's son, from the foul fiend! Five fiends have been in poor Tom at once; of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididence, prince of dumbness; Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder; Flibbertigibbet, of mopping and mowing; who since possesses chambermaids and waiting women. So, bless thee, master!"

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 2010
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
King Lear

Von

Serenity (Word of the week)

Serenity is a state of calm and peacefulness, something we all wish for but so rarely achieve.  The meaning of this word has changed.  Originally, in the fifteenth century, it was a title of honour, such as "his most serene highness", and is still occasionally used today.  Before 1460, the word serenity was used to mean fair weather and clear skies, taken from the Middle French serenite and the Latin serenitatem which meant clearness and calmness.
If only we could be as clear headed and calm as this.  In order to achieve serenity, some people meditate, some pray.  Heave you ever heard of the Serenity Prayer?

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The origin of this prayer is cause for debate, but the theologian Dr. Rheinhold Niebuhr is generally credited with its authorship, when he used it in a sermon in the 1930s.  It was printed on cards for US troops during World War Two and has since been used by many self-help groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous since the 1940s.

So next time you feel stressed and overwhelmed by life's problems, try saying this prayer.  Because when you talk to Him, God listens.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.
The Origin of our Serenity Prayer (1992) [online]. Available from: http://www.aahistory.com/prayer.html (Accessed 12th January 2011).

Juliana

Cucumiform (Word of the week)

A really short entry for word of the week this time round. Its not a really old world, nor a mysterious word but its a word that made me grin a lot yesterday when I came across it in the dictionary. I'm not sure why I found it amusing exactly, although I expect there's something of a 'nudge nudge, wink wink' double entendre in there that caught my attention. So, without any more ado. This week's word is:

cucumiform
which originates from the Latin cucumis + form and is an adjective meaning - to have the shape of a cucumber.

That's it, that's all there is to it, but I just love the fact that there's a word which means that!

To make this a tiny bit longer for us all, I'll just explain that the word cucumber (first seen around 1440s) and before that cucumer without the b, can be traced back through Old French cocombre, to the Latin cucumis, which was used for cucumbers or for a similar looking sea plant.

The word form also originates in Latin and means shape, sort or type.

Sources:

Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 2010
Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989

Von

Tarantism (Word of the week)

This week's word originates from the southern Italian city Taranto, near where large spiders could be found - hence the word tarantula.

Tarantism was supposedly a nervous disorder which resulted in the sufferer needing to dance in a mad, whirling way (hence the dance tarentella). The illness was frequently reported in Southern Italy from the 15th to 17th centuries.

Tarantism was reportedly either caused by the bite of a tarantula or alternatively was cured by a tarantula's bite.

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 2010 

Von

Bellwether (Word of the week)

This week's word is bellwether. That's wether, not weather as this word does have something to do with bells but nothing to do with meterology.

Bellwether has two possible meanings:-

• The leading sheep of a flock, identified by a bell hung from its neck.

• A person who leads the way. A ringleader or someone who sets a trend or standard.

The first part of the word bell has a nice obvious, literal meaning. The second part is an old english word originating in old norse - wethervedr, meaning ram and can be found in old Frisian - withar, old Saxon - wibar and old high German - widar.

Wether basically means sheep, although more specifically it means a ram (particularly a castrated ram) and in the mid 16th century was used as a noun meaning a eunuch.

Other words origating from wether include:

• grey wethers - large boulders which look like sheep when seen from a distance or through fog and mist.
• wether head - a sheep's head or a stupid person.

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989
Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson, Penguin Books 1997 (2nd edition)


Von

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

Funest (Word of the week)

So, a quick question for everyone to start us off today:- When is fun no fun at all? The answer? When its funest of course!

Funest is an adjective that first appeared in the mid 17th century. It originates from the French funeste and means:

• causing or warning of death or evil. Something that is fatal, disasterous or dreadful.

So, as you can see, no fun at all. This is because the French funeste is derived from the Latin funus meaning funeral, death or corpse.

To finish off, I've got another question for you, along with a bonus word. Knowing what funest means what do you think a funambulist is? Someone who walks with a funeral procession? A walking corpse? No, it actually means tight-rope walker or rope dancer. Bet you didn't see that one coming! That's because it doesn't derive from funus, instead it derives from funis (rope) and ambulare (to walk). See it all makes sense now...

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
Chambers Concise Dictionary, 1989

Von

valetudinarianism (Word of the week)

Its Wednesday, so it must be Word of the Week. Did you see what I did with the alliteration there? I figured it'd help remind me to post on Wednesdays :)

Anyhows, I decided to go for a word that seemed very appropriate right now since I've come down with what seems to be plague, although it could possibly be a cold I guess...So our word this week is:

valetudinarianism
a noun in use in the early nineteenth century, meaning a tendency to be in poor health or to be unduly concerned with one's health.

This derived from the early eighteenth century noun: valetudinarian, which meant a person in poor health or a person who unduly worries about their health. The word comes from the Latin valetudinarius meaning in ill health.

Interesting how the Latin based valetudinarianism has disappeared from our vocuabulary but we use instead, hyperchondriac, which comes from Ancient Greek.

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/valetudinarianism
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hypochondria

Von (who now returns, coughing and sniffling, to wallow in her pit of self pity).

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

Tiddlypush (Word of the Week)

I have a tendancy to overthink things and I've been wracking my brains trying to think of a deep and significant word to be our first ever word of the week. I've given up however, and decided instead to go for a nice inane word that makes me grin somewhat. So, here goes our first ever Word of the Week is:

Tiddlypush
A colloquial noun that turned up sometime in the mid 20th Century, so not that old in the word stakes. It has two meanings that I've come across
1) A nonsense word meaning 'goodbye'
2) A person or thing whose name is unknown, or is indelicate to mention.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary suggests that it is similar in meaning to: thingy, thingumajig and thingumabob. I guess we could add whatjamacallit, whatsisname and doohickey to the list as well.

I particularly love the idea of it being used for someone that it is indelicate to mention, perhaps the mother-in-law?

Sources:
Shorter Oxford Dictionary (2 volumes) 6th edition, 2007.
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2005 by E. Partridge and P. Beale

Von