ANKH

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 9 May 2012

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Word of the Day:

ANKH  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a figure resembling a cross with a loop for its upper vertical arm and serving especially in ancient Egypt as a symbol of eternal life

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: HANK, KHAN
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

Signs & Symbols

Epilogue:

The ANKH (☥) is an ancient symbol, commonly seen in amulets, artwork, and tombs of ancient Egypt.  It is believed to have symbolized life, fertility, or balance, though the reason for its shape is unknown and much disputed.  It has also been known as the Key of Life, the Key of the Nile, the handled cross, or the ansate cross or crux ansata (Latin for “cross with a handle”).

The shape and symbolism of the ANKH may have influenced the development of the Coptic cross (which, however, now has a different form), and today it is still used as a mystical symbol by various New Age groups.

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MANDALA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 8 May 2012

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Word of the Day:

MANDALA  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a graphic symbol of the universe, used chiefly in Hinduism or Buddhism as an aid to meditation or concentration; often, specifically: a circle enclosing a square and bearing symmetrically arranged representations of deities
2. any graphic or symbolic pattern in the form of a circle divided into sections or bearing multiple projections of an image, usually intended to depict the world or the universe

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: MANDALIC (adj.)

Current theme:

Signs & Symbols

Epilogue:

This word derives from the Sanskrit mandala (“circle”), and most writings associate it with religious traditions of Asia.  However, types of MANDALAS have been found in various cultures throughout history, including among Africans, Europeans, Native Americans, and Polynesians.  Some use the term even more broadly to refer to any representation of the universe (such as the yin yang symbol ☯) or to any symbol in a dream or vision.

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FYLFOT

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 7 May 2012

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Word of the Day: 

FYLFOT  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a symbol or ornament in the form of a cross with arms bent at right angles in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; a swastika

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: SWASTIKA, SWASTICA, GAMMADION

Current theme:

Signs & Symbols

Epilogue:

This symbol (卍 or 卐) has been seen in various forms throughout history.  As the OED puts it, the symbol “has been extensively used as a decoration (often, apparently, as a mystical symbol) in almost all known parts of the world from prehistoric times to the present day.”  The three most common names for it in English are FYLFOT, SWASTIKA, and GAMMADION.

FYLFOT is the oldest of the words, dating to approximately 1500, when it first appeared in a medieval manuscript.  The word in that manuscript was probably a form of the term “fill-foot” (a device that “fills the foot” of a painted window), but the term caught on and has remained in use ever since.  Today, it is still employed in writings about flags, heraldry, and other fields where such symbols are relatively common.

Under the name SWASTIKA (or SWASTICA), the symbol is regarded as an emblem of Nazi Germany.  That word derives from Sanskrit svastika, meaning “well-being” or “fortune,” because it was once regarded as a symbol of good luck.  Because of the negative connotations surrounding this word, however, it is now used mainly to refer to the Nazi symbol.

The term GAMMADION (plural GAMMADIA) refers to the fact that each arm resembles the uppercase form of the Greek letter gamma (Γ).  Nowadays it is used mostly to refer to “gammadion pendants” and other jewelry with a similar shape.

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"language disrupts..."

Quote of the Week:

Like desire, language disrupts, refuses to be contained within boundaries.
~ bell hooks (1952- )

"a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters..."

Quote of the Week:

We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
~ Robert Wilensky (1951- )

INDRI

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 27 April 2012

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INDRI  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a large, short-tailed lemur of Madagascar

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: CYLindriC, SPindriFT, SPindriFTS, CYLindriCAL, CYLindriCALLY, SEMICYLindriCAL
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Epilogue:

The INDRI, like most lemurs, is native to Madagascar and is ARBOREAL, meaning that it spends most of its time in trees. 

This word is one of my favorites because of its unusual and amusing etymology — or at least one theory of its etymology.  The story goes that while working in Madagascar in the late 18th century, the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat heard his native guides say “indry! indry!” when spotting one of the creatures in the trees.  Sonnerat therefore assumed that was the native name for the animal and recorded it dutifully.  In actuality, the Malagasy word indry simply means “look” or “behold.”  The natives were just saying “look! look!”  Probably as in “look, look, there goes a babakoto”, for babakoto (or babacoote) is the common native name for the indri. 

A few sources dispute this fanciful story, suggesting that the word may instead be a corruption of endrina, a word that the natives of Madagascar apparently did once use for a type of lemur.  There is no proof of the connection between endrina and indri, however, and the mistaken translation theory of this word’s etymology remains in most modern dictionaries.

Recapping this week’s featured words:

TALAPOIN, RHESUS, HANUMAN, and INDRI

Also mentioned:

ARBOREAL, CAPUCHIN, CAPPUCCINO, CESTUS, ENTELLUS, LANGUR, LEMUR, MACACO, and MACAQUE

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HANUMAN

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 25 April 2012

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HANUMAN  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a small monkey of southern Asia
2. (n.) in Hinduism, the monkey god and helper of Rama

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: ENTELLUS

Current theme:

Monkey business

Epilogue:

Biologically, the HANUMAN is one of a family of slender, long-tailed monkeys known as LANGURS (the word LANGUR derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “having a tail”).  Its name has great significance in several Indian religions: Hanuman is a monkey god described in the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana, and he is variously associated with strength, courage, and devotion.

The HANUMAN monkey is also called ENTELLUS, probably after the hero Entellus, who is described in Virgil’s Aeneid (c. 25 BC) as winning a boxing match against a Trojan named Dares.  In most such ancient boxing matches, the participants wore CESTUSES: a CESTUS being a battle glove usually made of leather and sometimes weighted with metal or other weaponry.  Needless to say, these were brutal and bloody contests.  What any of this has to do with monkeys is anyone’s guess, but it is all pretty fascinating nonetheless.

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RHESUS

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 24 April 2012

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RHESUS  (n. pl. -ES)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a pale brown Asian monkey

Useful info for word game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: (none)
• Anagrams: RHUSES, RUSHES, USHERS
• Longer extensions: rhesusES
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:

Monkeying around with unusual primate names

Epilogue:

Truth be told, it is not known why the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Audebert gave this monkey the name RHESUS.  Rhesos was the name of a prince of Thrace in ancient Greece, and apparently Audebert liked the sound of it — no better explanation has been offered.  The RHESUS monkey has frequently been the source of biological experimentation, and the “Rhesus factor” or “RH factor” (a type of protein found on red blood cells) is named after it.

The RHESUS is also a type of MACAQUE, a genus of sturdy and mostly short-tailed or tailless Asian monkeys.  The word MACAQUE was borrowed from Portuguese, but it comes from a Bantu language of central Africa where it meant roughly “monkeys.”  The same Bantu word gave English the word MACACO, but this word now usually refers to a type of LEMUR.  A lemur is not a monkey, but rather a small, arboreal, and chiefly nocturnal primate of Madagascar.

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TALAPOIN

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 23 April 2012

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TALAPOIN  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a small monkey of central and western Africa
2. (n.) a Buddhist monk or priest

Useful info for word game players:

• Back hooks: -S
• Front hooks: (none)
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:
   Unusual primate names


Epilogue:

The name for this small African monkey comes from the Portuguese talapao, a word for a type of Buddhist monk.  The ultimate derivation is probably tala poi (“my lord”), a phrase from the Old Teguan language, the modern form of which is known as Mon and is spoken in Burma and Thailand.  The TALAPOIN monkey was given the moniker because of its supposed resemblance to a Buddhist monk. 

Similarly, the CAPUCHIN monkey is named after its supposed resemblance to the hood-wearing Capuchin order of monks.  The coffee drink known as CAPPUCCINO is named after the same monastic order, probably because the color of the drink somewhat resembles the hue of the monks’ brown cowls.

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"the most powerful drug"

Quote of the Week:

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
~ Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

"Passion drives out reason..."

Quote of the Week:

Never act in a Passion. If you do, all is lost. You cannot act for yourself if you are not yourself, and passion drives out reason.... That is why lookers-on see most of the game, because they keep cool.
~ Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658), Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia (1647)

"Kwyjibo on the loose!"

Quote of the Week:

Bart:  Here we go.  Kwyjibo.  [places his tiles]  K-W-Y-J-I-B-O. Twenty-two points, plus triple-word-score, plus fifty points for using all my letters.  Game's over.  I'm outta here. [gets up]
Homer: [grabs Bart with his left hand, holding a banana in his right]  Wait a minute, you little cheater! You're not going anywhere until you tell me what a kwyjibo is.
Bart:  Kwyjibo.  Uh... a big, dumb, balding North American ape.  With no chin.
Marge: And a short temper.
Homer: I'll show you a big, dumb, balding ape!  [leaps for Bart]
Bart:  [making his escape]  Uh oh.  Kwyjibo on the loose!
~ from The Simpsons TV show, "Bart the Genius" episode (1990)

"One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing..."

Quote of the Week:

One forgets words as one forgets names. One's vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.
~ Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966)

PHILTRUM

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 23 March 2012

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PHILTRUM  (n. pl. PHILTRA)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the indentation between the upper lip and the nose
2. (n.) a love potion or charm

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: (none)
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: PHILTER (v.), PHILTRE (v.)

Epilogue:
Shapely lips have long been associated with love and romance, and that is probably why the Greek philtron (“love potion”) came to be used to describe the groove in the upper lip.  The same root is behind the verb PHILTER (or PHILTRE), meaning “to put under the spell of a love potion.”


Recapping this week’s featured words:
DIASTEMA, GLABELLA, THENAR, and PHILTRUM

Also given a nod:
DIASTEM, EQUIPOLLENT, GLABRATE, GLABROUS, GLABELLAR, GLABRESCENT, PHENAL, PHILTER, PHILTRE, and POLLEX


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THENAR

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 21 March 2012

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THENAR  (n. pl. -S)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the fleshy part of the hand at the base of the thumb
2. (adj.) of or relating to the fleshy mass at the base of the thumb or to the musculature of the thumb

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -S
• Anagrams: ANTHER
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: THENAL

Epilogue:
Thumbs up if you knew that THENAR comes from the Greek for “palm of the hand,” and that’s why the similar-looking THENAL means “pertaining to the palm of the hand.”  Over time, however, THENAR came to be used primarily to refer to the musculature of the thumb, while THENAL has retained its “palm” meaning.

Two thumbs up if you also knew that POLLEX is the medical term for the thumb (or more precisely, for the first or innermost digit of the forelimb).  The word was taken over intact from Latin, where it also meant either “thumb” or “bit toe.”  Some sources suggest that it may be derived from the verb pollere (“to be strong”), since the thumb is the strongest digit.  That root is also behind the rare word EQUIPOLLENT, “something that has equal power, force, or significance.”


Theme:
A body of words pertaining to human anatomy


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GLABELLA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 20 March 2012

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GLABELLA  (n. pl. GLABELLAE)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) the small, usually smooth area on the human forehead between the eyebrows and just above the nose

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -E, -R
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: GLABRATE (adj.), GLABROUS (adj.), GLABELLAR (adj.), GLABRESCENT (adj.)

Epilogue:
Once I learn a word like this, a perfectly precise word for a common thing, I wonder how I ever managed without it.  The word comes from the Latin glaber, meaning “smooth or bald.”  Similarly, GLABRATE and GLABROUS can mean “smooth or hairless,” while the useful GLABRESCENT means “tending to become glabrous with age or maturity” — it is usually used with reference to plants, but more than one writer has referred to a man’s “glabrescent scalp.”


Theme:
A body of words pertaining to human anatomy


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