Words are like us, they have families. Etymologists hunt down the DNA of our vocabulary, so that we can find out their ancient ancestors from all around the world and we learn that we end up with words that have changed both spelling and meaning over the years but still retain similarities.
Words that sound [more…]
Thousands of years ago, people in Egypt used a dark powder as an eye cosmetic. This powder was made up of substances such as crushed antimony, burnt almonds, lead, oxidised copper, ochre, ash and malachite and was called kohl, from the Arabic al-kuhl, ‘al’ being ‘the’ in Arabic. In fact there are several words [more…]
One of the occupational hazards of this job is that I’m constantly flicking through the dictionary, on a mission to find something, only to get waylaid by fascinating words and meanings.
Just now, at the risk of sounding utterly self-absorbed, I looked up the nearest word to my name Christine. Christingle is a Christian service [more…]
It is a glorious thing, apparently, to have something named after you or for your name to become a word.
Many a royal personage has an eponymous country. The Philippines is named after King Philip II of Spain and Mauritius is named after Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. Explorers such as Amerigo Vespucci (America), [more…]
Some of our more colourful vocabulary comes straight from the pages of fiction. We can thank prolific author Charles Dickens for introducing in his novels the following words, which are still in common use: butterfingers, someone who drops things; abuzz, alive with noise and activity; the creeps, a shiver of horror; devil-may-care, of a [more…]
Word Snake, page 53
The clue at 6. should have read ‘Indigestion remedy’ for the answer ANTACID.
Thanks to J Barratt from SA for reporting this gremlin.
Anyone who was a child in the 50s might remember a time before fridges in the home. It must be hard for younger people to imagine not having a fridge. We had a meat safe, which was used for milk as well. I remember my mother walked to the local village every day to [more…]
Since ancient times, the raven has been a symbol of death. This could be because it’s a carrion bird, feeding on the flesh of dead animals but there’s also something about the jet-black raven that makes it seem sinister, the sort of bird you might see in a Dracula movie perched eerily on top [more…]
At the close of a Sunday school class in 1876, Ann Jarvis expressed a deeply-held wish; she hoped there would be a day commemorating mothers like her for their peerless service rendered to humanity. At just 12 years old, Anna Jarvis heard her mother’s prayer, and she took it to heart. Two years after [more…]
