TileHead’s Word of the Day for 8 September 2011
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FAMULUS (n. pl. FAMULI)
Definition(s):
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
FAMULUS (n. pl. FAMULI)
Definition(s):
- (n.) a close servant, secretary, or attendant, especially one who assists a scholar or magician
Useful information for game players:
- Front hooks: (none)
- Back hooks: (none)
- Anagrams: (none)
- Longer extensions: (none)
- Wraparounds: (none)
- Other Spellings: (none)
- Related Forms: (none)
Epilogue:
This word has largely fallen out of use, which is a shame since it is far more interesting and elegant than terms such as graduate assistant, teaching assistant (shortened to “TA” in many colleges and universities), secretary, or similar. And if you happen to need to refer to a sorcerer’s assistant, no other word will do, its usage in this sense being very well established (as, for example, when Thomas Carlyle wrote of “the Magician’s Famulus” who “got hold of the forbidden Book and summoned a Goblin”). English probably borrowed FAMULUS from German, but it comes intact from the Latin famulus (“servant”), which is also the source for the Latin familia and the English FAMILY.
In the spirit of reviving occupational words in danger of falling into desuetude, there’s also AMANUENSIS, an old term for a secretary or scribe. It comes from a Latin term roughly meaning “servant from the hand,” that is one who takes dictation or serves close at hand as an assistant or secretary.
This week’s theme: occupational words
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This word has largely fallen out of use, which is a shame since it is far more interesting and elegant than terms such as graduate assistant, teaching assistant (shortened to “TA” in many colleges and universities), secretary, or similar. And if you happen to need to refer to a sorcerer’s assistant, no other word will do, its usage in this sense being very well established (as, for example, when Thomas Carlyle wrote of “the Magician’s Famulus” who “got hold of the forbidden Book and summoned a Goblin”). English probably borrowed FAMULUS from German, but it comes intact from the Latin famulus (“servant”), which is also the source for the Latin familia and the English FAMILY.
In the spirit of reviving occupational words in danger of falling into desuetude, there’s also AMANUENSIS, an old term for a secretary or scribe. It comes from a Latin term roughly meaning “servant from the hand,” that is one who takes dictation or serves close at hand as an assistant or secretary.
This week’s theme: occupational words
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
No comments:
Post a Comment