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Seldom-Used Words

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Ben, which came first? The S or the S-shaped pothook, that is the question.

pother(1) - noun 1.a. a noisy distubance b. FUSS 2. a choking cloud of dust or smoke 3. mental turmoil

pother(2) - vt to put into a pother ~ vi to be in a pother
 
AllardChardon said:
Ben, which came first? The S or the S-shaped pothook, that is the question.
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The letter S has it's roots in the Greek alphabet and is descended from its sharply angular Sigma (Σ). The letter remained angular until after the first century B.C. when the Romans conquered the Greeks. The Romans eventually smoothed the angles of sigma into curves until it eventually took the shape we now know S to be.

Much, much earlier (some historians say seven centuries earlier) there was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Surely, the Babylonians would have been in need of pothooks to hang their treasured floral specimens. Scholars place the Hanging Gardens well before the time the Romans conquered the Greeks, and therefore well before the evolution of today's sexily curved letter S.

So pothooks came first.
 
mynameisben said:
Anyone who would use definition number 2, for any reason, is a real d-u-m-b-a-pothook-pothook.
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I can see legitimate uses for it in sense 2: "The writing was in an alphabet he did not know; it was just curlicues and pothooks to him."
 
mynameisben said:
The letter S has it's roots in the Greek alphabet and is descended from its sharply angular Sigma (Σ). The letter remained angular until after the first century B.C. when the Romans conquered the Greeks. The Romans eventually smoothed the angles of sigma into curves until it eventually took the shape we now know S to be.

Much, much earlier (some historians say seven centuries earlier) there was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Surely, the Babylonians would have been in need of pothooks to hang their treasured floral specimens. Scholars place the Hanging Gardens well before the time the Romans conquered the Greeks, and therefore well before the evolution of today's sexily curved letter S.

So pothooks came first.
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Dubious history, but I do agree with your conclusion; the pothook came first.

Actually, I doubt that pothooks and the letter S directly share any etymology. Pothooks, in the form of green branches, probably actually predate pots.

Green branches cut so that the stubs of limbs form hooks were used by early humans and primitive modern humans to hang water-filled animal stomachs or animal skins over fires. When pots were invented or acquired, using the same method to hang them over the fire was natural.

As late as the early sixties, Boy Scouts were being taught how to use green branches to hang pots over a fire.
 
Welcome, kairotic. Thanks for joining us.

I thought it was possible that the S-shaped hook might predate the pots that utilized them. Thanks, Harold and Ben, for the history lessons. What were the first S-shaped hooks made of, I wonder. Iron? Copper?

pot hat - noun a hat with a stiff crown, esp: DERBY
 
poteen noun (Irish Gaelic - poitin) Illegally distilled whisky, often from potato; moonshine. Home-made Redbreast, but without the aging.
 
Good day, everyone. Here a couple more from the pot section;

pot cheese - noun COTTAGE CHEESE

pot boy - noun a boy who serves drinks in a tavern
 
A Happy Weekend Wish to ALL.

potboiler - noun a usually inferior work of art or literature produced chiefly for monetary return
 
How about...

pothouse - a historical(?) name for a tavern. (Please, could someone confirm the historical? I'm honestly not sure.)
 
Welcome Dirty Doc, and never fear I even post words that have been posted before on this rather long thread. Pothouse is a great word, regardless of how many times it is posted.

Yes, Handley, propinquity is seldom-used these days, but rather common in the 1800s. I first read it in a Mark Twain novel and had to look it up.

propinquity - noun 1. nearness of blood: KINSHSIP 2. nearness in place or time: PROXIMITY
 
Good day, everyone.

Here is another French word I am unfamiliar with;

pot-au-feu - noun a thick French soup of meat and vegetables
 
AllardChardon said:
Good day, everyone.

Here is another French word I am unfamiliar with;

pot-au-feu - noun a thick French soup of meat and vegetables
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pot-au-feu /ptofo/ n. Pl. (rare) pots-au-feu (pronounced same). L18. [Fr., lit. 'pot on the fire'.]
A large cooking pot of a kind common in France; the (traditional) soup cooked in this.

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Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I saw a thing once where the phrase is also used to describe a type of execution, but I can't remember the details.
 
Handley, if it was boiled in oil, that would be a gruesome way to go.

Here are a couple of goodies;

potation - noun 1. a usual alcoholic drink or brew 2.a. the act of drinking b. DRAFT

potatory - adj of, relating to, or given to drinking (alcohol, I would assume)
 
Hello, everyone. This week, it is annual physical exams keeping me busy in the mornings.

pot ale - noun the residue of fermented wort left in a still after whiskey or alcohol has been distilled off and used for feeding swine

After watching Deadwood and seeing the Chinaman feed his pigs bodies of humans, this seems to be in line. "What didn't they feed swine" has become my question. And no wonder the animal is considered "unclean".
 
I have returned and found a cute little word right away;

posy - noun 1. a brief sentiment, motto, or legend 2. BOUQUET, NOSEGAY
 
I don't know how I missed this one, while looking in the Rs, but I did find it in the Ps;

postrorse - adj RETRORSE

retrorse - adj bent backward or downward

Opposite of;

antrorse - adj directed forward or upward

Ah, the possibilities for usage in erotica writing leaps to mind...
 
A happy Sunday to you all. I seem to be the only one here lately, but I will carry on;

postprandial - adj following a meal
 
Gentlemen, both are correct because the word means basically "after lunch" and could refer to the nap often taken after the mid-day meal, back when life was less hectic, I suppose.

postilion or postillion - noun one who rides as the guide on a near horse of one of the pairs attached to a coach or post chaise esp. without a coachman
 


mascaron noun, (architecture) mask.



ETYMOLOGY:
1655–65; French, Italian mascherone, augmentative of maschera.







Ina Caro used the word in her delightful Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train.

...The Petit Trianon was designed with large French doors that opened onto a porch overlooking the king's garden. Mascarons above the doors were carved to represent the seasons...
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machicolation
merlon(s)
sardonyx
 
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