Seldom-Used Words

Og, the definition seemed a little inadequate, when I posted it, and I thank you for the added clarification. I figured you would know, being the avid book collector that you are.

octarius - noun PINT

AllardChardon said:

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octarius - noun PINT

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Octarius is an eighth of a gallon. A more usual fraction is a quart - a quarter of a gallon.

oggbashan said:

A quarto piece of paper, like foolscap, only became a standard size in the 19th Century.

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Foolscap is itself an interesting word, as applied to paper.

It originates from the watermark European papermakers once used:

http://nga.gov.au/whistler/details/foolscap.cfm

Carlus, thanks for catching that other obscure word and posting a link to explain it.

Og, does that mean I can or cannot ask for an octarius of Guinness, when I finally get to the Dublin brewery?

octameter - noun a verse consisting of eight feet

Will someone explain to me how verse can be measured in feet?

AllardChardon said:

Carlus, thanks for catching that other obscure word and posting a link to explain it.

Og, does that mean I can or cannot ask for an octarius of Guinness, when I finally get to the Dublin brewery?

octameter - noun a verse consisting of eight feet

Will someone explain to me how verse can be measured in feet?

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You could ask for an octarius, but whether anyone would understand the word is doubtful.

Verse is measured in feet because that is how verse is paced to be read. Imagine someone walking that rhythm while speaking the words.

Og, your explanation did not quite clear up my confusion, so I looked it up on Wiki;

Trochaic octameter is a poetic meter that has eight trochaic metrical feet per line. Each foot has one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Trochaic octameter is a rarely used meter.

The best known work in trochaic octameter is Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," which utilizes five lines of trochaic octameter followed by a "short" half line (in reality, 7 beats) that, by the end of the poem, takes on the qualities of a refrain.

Another well-known work is Banjo Paterson's "Clancy of the Overflow", which uses four lines of trochaic octameter for each verse throughout.

Because of the length of the line, trochaic octameter lends itself to the heavy use of internal rhyme and alliteration and is also extraordinarily difficult to use consistently. The Raven, for example, breaks into two half-lines of approximately 8 syllables, generally with a caesura between them.

Clancy of the Overflow

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan years ago;
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just on spec, addressed as follows, "Clancy, of The Overflow."

And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected
(And I think the same was written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar);
'Twas his shearing mate who wrote it, and verbatim I will quote it:
"Clancy's gone to Queensland droving, and we don't know where he are."

In my wild erratic fancy, visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.

And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plain extended,
And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars.

I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city,
Through the open window floating, spreads it foulness over all.

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle
Of the tramways and the buses making hurry down the street;
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.

And the hurrying people daunt me,and their pallid faces haunt me
As they shoulder one another in their rush and nervous haste,
With their eager eyes and greedy, and their stunted forms and weedy,
For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste.

And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,
Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,
While he faced the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal
But I doubt he's suit the office, Clancy, of The Overflow.

A. B. Paterson

Thank you, Og, for posting that wonderful octameter verse. I truly enjoyed it and, after my own stint in offices as a young woman, I chose to work outdoors, as well.

A word I missed, when I was in the Ss;

stint(2) - noun 1. RESTRAINT, LIMITATION 2. a definite quantity of work assigned

distrait
adj.
Inattentive or preoccupied, especially because of anxiety

distrait, distraught - Distrait means "absent-minded as a result of apprehension, worry, etc."—while distraught means "agitated" and "bewildered, distracted."

Yet another new-old word from Regency Romances

Very nice, Harold, thanks for reading those romance novels and keeping us up to date on new/old words.

ochone - inter Irish & Scot used as an exclamation of regret or grief

Here is an interesting word;

ochlocracy - noun government by the mob

AllardChardon said:

Here is an interesting word;

ochlocracy - noun government by the mob

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To listen to "Yesterday in Parliament" on the radio, one might thing is is an ochlocracy!

Yes, Handley, there is a bit of that here, too.

Oceanus - noun the god of the great outer seal held in Greek mythology to encircle the earth

Oceanid - noun any of the ocean nymphs held in Greek mythology to be the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys

This one caught my eye today;

occultation - noun 1. the state of being hidden from view or lost to notice 2. the shutting off of the light of one celestial body by the intervention of another; esp: an eclipse of a star or planet by the moon

This a word I am familiar with, but never really understood;

occident - noun 1. western lands or regions; the West 2. the countries of Europe and the Western Hemisphere

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin occidns, occident, from present participle of occidere, to set (used of the sun)

AllardChardon said:

This a word I am familiar with, but never really understood;

occident - noun 1. western lands or regions; the West 2. the countries of Europe and the Western Hemisphere

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin occidns, occident, from present participle of occidere, to set (used of the sun)

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It is an interesting concept. Occident means West of...

West of what or where? The word occident and its opposite orient was in use long before the Greenwich Meridian, or any Meridian was set. The agreement that Greenwich should be zero degrees was only decided in the 19th Century, yet the words occident and orient were in use in Shakespeare's time.

My house is East of Greenwich so I am in the Eastern Hemisphere yet most of Europe is classed as in the occident. Was the break between occident and orient set on Rome? Or Jerusalem?

The Carol "We Three Kings of Orient Are" shows that the Three Wise Men came from the East of Bethlehem.

But the generally accepted use of 'Oriental' to describe a person starts where? Pakistan? India? It certainly applies to someone from China or Japan, but how far West of China?

AllardChardon said:

This a word I am familiar with, but never really understood;

occident - noun 1. western lands or regions; the West 2. the countries of Europe and the Western Hemisphere

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin occidns, occident, from present participle of occidere, to set (used of the sun)

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I've always considered Occident as the opposite or complement of Orient Neither really has meaning without the other; just another way of separating US from
THEM.

Og, those are all valid questions and I, for one, would like to know the answers, but do not have any to contribute. I never thought of Europe as West, but in the days of the usage of Orient and Occident, it would have been, of course. If anyone out there knows where the center was, please share it with us.

obvolute - adj OVERLAPPING, CONVOLUTE

AllardChardon said:

This a word I am familiar with, but never really understood;

occident - noun 1. western lands or regions; the West 2. the countries of Europe and the Western Hemisphere

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin occidns, occident, from present participle of occidere, to set (used of the sun)

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I've always understood it pretty well, more or less … are you ready for this? … occidentally.

AllardChardon said:

Og, those are all valid questions and I, for one, would like to know the answers, but do not have any to contribute. I never thought of Europe as West, but in the days of the usage of Orient and Occident, it would have been, of course. If anyone out there knows where the center was, please share it with us.

obvolute - adj OVERLAPPING, CONVOLUTE

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Europe is, nevertheless, the cradle of so-called Western Civilization, and is the West in that sense.

AllardChardon said:

If anyone out there knows where the center was, please share it with us.

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Researching the term just leads to more confusion! Like the terms Near East and Middle East mean the same geographic area.


On point, the origin seems to refer to a border rather than a "center."

History of the term
Further information: Orientalism

In the later Roman Empire, the Praetorian prefecture of the East, the Praefectura Praetorio Orientis, included most of the Eastern Roman Empire from the eastern Balkans eastwards; its easternmost part was the Diocese of the East, the Dioecesis Orientis, corresponding roughly to the region of Syria. Over time, the common understanding of 'the Orient' has continually shifted eastwards, as Western explorers traveled farther into Asia.

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also:

The Orient means the East. It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Near East or Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the continent of Asia.

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It is a very context sensitive word. Siberia extends much further east but is not generally included in "The Orient" for English speakers. Morocco, OTOH, is south and west of Europe was once considered part of the Orient -- when it meant roughly "Part of the Ottoman Empire"

Weird Harold said:

Researching the term just leads to more confusion! Like the terms Near East and Middle East mean the same geographic area.


On point, the origin seems to refer to a border rather than a "center."

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Centre's are problematic too - the midwest was the frontier at one time, and even now, we know roughly where the centre is, but where does the mid west end.

In Sydney there are two pubs, The Occidental and The Oriental relatively North South to each other.

AllardChardon said:

Og, those are all valid questions and I, for one, would like to know the answers, but do not have any to contribute. I never thought of Europe as West, but in the days of the usage of Orient and Occident, it would have been, of course. If anyone out there knows where the center was, please share it with us.

obvolute - adj OVERLAPPING, CONVOLUTE

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The Centre ?
I reckon there are many who might regard Jerusalem as the centre.
Recall Mappa Mundi ? Or something of like kind?

Nice discussion, gentlemen, of an interesting pair of old words, used to describe the world, as they knew it, back then. Jerusalem at the center of it all does make sense, as did Rome. That is what I love about the history of words and their usage, it brings forth great discussions. Thanks for carrying on without me. Today, I will only be here for a minute and the same goes for tomorrow, too.

obviate - vt to see beforehand and dispose of: make unnecessary syn PREVENT

I missed you all yesterday, but here I am, again, today;

obvert - vt to turn so as to present a different surface to view