Seldom Used Words (Cont'd)

[AllardChardon]

Og, now I understand the size of the article as opposed to the study itself. Thanks for explaining. Also, I thought I might try to make some negus on a cold night and see how I like it, it does sound interesting. We could call it a Wine Hotter instead of a Wine Cooler.

Now that I see the definition to this word, I understand its origin;

negligee also neglige' - noun 1. a woman's long flowing dressing gown 2. a carelessly informal or incomplete attire

 

[AllardChardon]

Even though this word is not seldom-used, it was too good to pass by;

nefarious - adj flagrantly wicked or impious: EVIL

 

[Handley_Page]

Even though this word is not seldom-used, it was too good to pass by;

nefarious - adj flagrantly wicked or impious: EVIL

It's a very useful word, particularly when discussing matters of a political or Victorian nature (nefarious crimes, etc..)

 

[AllardChardon]

I agree, Handley, it is a great word that sounds like what it means, and not all words do that.

Here's one that says exactly what it means;

ne'er-do-well - noun an idle worthless person

 

[CarlusMagnus]

Neap

Neap, or Neep, a turnip. the true and original word for this vegetable. Mr. Halliwell quotes it as used in Cornwall. In Scotland, its use is universal. Whence the first syllable in the ordinary English word was derived, is difficult to discover.

—Source: Lost Beauties of the English Language, Charles*Mackay,*LL.D.

 

[Weird Harold]

Neap, or Neep, a turnip. the true and original word for this vegetable. Mr. Halliwell quotes it as used in Cornwall. In Scotland, its use is universal. Whence the first syllable in the ordinary English word was derived, is difficult to discover.

—Source: Lost Beauties of the English Language, Charles*Mackay,*LL.D.

Would that make a shallow tide a "Turnip Tide"?

NEAP
: of, relating to, or constituting a neap tide

Origin of NEAP
Middle English neep, from Old English nēp being at the stage of neap tide
First Known Use: before 12th century

 

[AllardChardon]

What is a neap tide, Harold, as opposed to any other kind of tide? In either definition, I would not have any idea what the word meant, turnip or tide.

needs - adv of necessity: NECESSARILY [must ~ be recognized]

 

[oggbashan]

Tides

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide

The semi-diurnal range (the difference in height between high and low waters over about half a day) varies in a two-week cycle. Approximately twice a month, around new moon and full moon when the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a line (a condition known as syzygy), the tidal force due to the sun reinforces that due to the Moon. The tide's range is then at its maximum; this is called the spring tide. It is not named after the season, but, like that word, derives from the meaning "jump, burst forth, rise", as in a natural spring.

When the Moon is at first quarter or third quarter, the sun and Moon are separated by 90° when viewed from the Earth, and the solar tidal force partially cancels the Moon's. At these points in the lunar cycle, the tide's range is at its minimum; this is called the neap tide, or neaps (a word of uncertain origin).

Spring tides result in high waters that are higher than average, low waters that are lower than average, 'slack water' time that is shorter than average, and stronger tidal currents than average. Neaps result in less-extreme tidal conditions. There is about a seven-day interval between springs and neaps.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide

The semi-diurnal range (the difference in height between high and low waters over about half a day) varies in a two-week cycle. Approximately twice a month, around new moon and full moon when the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a line (a condition known as syzygy), the tidal force due to the sun reinforces that due to the Moon. The tide's range is then at its maximum; this is called the spring tide. It is not named after the season, but, like that word, derives from the meaning "jump, burst forth, rise", as in a natural spring.

When the Moon is at first quarter or third quarter, the sun and Moon are separated by 90° when viewed from the Earth, and the solar tidal force partially cancels the Moon's. At these points in the lunar cycle, the tide's range is at its minimum; this is called the neap tide, or neaps (a word of uncertain origin).

Spring tides result in high waters that are higher than average, low waters that are lower than average, 'slack water' time that is shorter than average, and stronger tidal currents than average. Neaps result in less-extreme tidal conditions. There is about a seven-day interval between springs and neaps.

This is generally correct, but somewhat imprecise. When "the Sun, Moon, and Earth form a line," we have an eclipse. A syzygy is a bit more general.

 

[AllardChardon]

What a great word, syzygy, and a nice lesson in tides to boot. Thank you, gentlemen, for making this thread more interesting than usual.

The last S entry in my dictionary;

syzygy - noun the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system

 

[AllardChardon]

While I was in New Orleans, I visited the centuries-old cemeteries there, and this word certainly reminds me of the experience.

necropolis - noun CEMETERY; esp: a large elaborate cemetery of an ancient city

 

[oggbashan]

While I was in New Orleans, I visited the centuries-old cemeteries there, and this word certainly reminds me of the experience.

necropolis - noun CEMETERY; esp: a large elaborate cemetery of an ancient city

London had its own Necropolis Railway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Necropolis_Railway

The London Necropolis Company offered three classes of funerals, which also determined the type of railway ticket sold to mourners and the deceased. A first class funeral allowed the person buying the funeral to select the grave site of their choice anywhere in the cemetery;[note 6] at the time of opening prices began at £2 10s (about £199 in 2014 terms) for a basic 9-by-4-foot (2.7 m × 1.2 m) plot with no special coffin specifications. It was expected by the LNC that those using first class graves would erect a permanent memorial of some kind in due course following the funeral.

Second class funerals cost £1 (about £79 in 2014 terms) and allowed some control over the burial location. The right to erect a permanent memorial cost an additional 10 shillings (about £40 in 2014 terms); if a permanent memorial was not erected the LNC reserved the right to re-use the grave in future.

Third class funerals were reserved for pauper funerals; those buried at parish expense in the section of the cemetery designated for that parish. Although the LNC was forbidden from using mass graves (other than the burial of next of kin in the same grave) and thus even the lowest class of funeral provided a separate grave for the deceased, third class funerals were not granted the right to erect a permanent memorial on the site. (The families of those buried could pay afterwards to upgrade a third-class grave to a higher class if they later wanted to erect a memorial, but this practice was rare.)

 

[oggbashan]

A word similar to Necropolis is Mausoleum, named after the tomb of King Mausolus. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_at_Halicarnassus

Although scholars disagree about its actual form, the remains are still visible in modern Turkey.

I am familiar with it because of the War Memorial in Melbourne, Australia, which was designed using the Mausoleum as an inspiration:

 

[Handley_Page]

The lion-guarded approach steps put my in mind of the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (about 1450bc)

 

[AllardChardon]

Simply wonderful posts, Og, thanks so much for teaching me so much about so many different things.

This one is for the zombie-lovers;

necrophagia - noun the act or practice of eating corpses or carrion

 

[AllardChardon]

While studying about Joseph Smith and the Mormons, I read that Joseph was accused of practicing the following;

necromancy - noun 1. conjuration of the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events 2. MAGIC, SORCERY

 

[oggbashan]

...

This one is for the zombie-lovers;

necrophagia - noun the act or practice of eating corpses or carrion

There are a number of words starting 'necro' which are similar in ending to words starting 'copro':

Copro- before a vowel copr- from Greek = dung, shit, faeces, hence:

copraemia - blood poisoning from the faeces in cases of costiveness = severe constipation

coprolite - a stony roundish fossil, supposed to be the petrified excrement of an animal.

coprolith - a ball formed of hardened faeces in the anus.

coprology - a gathering of ordure.

coprophagan - a dung-eating beetle

coprophagist - a dung-eater [I used that on the GB to describe Bunny Slippers].

coprophilous - fond of dung; feeding or growing upon dung.

coprostatis - constipation

The 'necro' words:

necrolatry - worship of the dead

necrophagus - feeding on dead bodies or carrion

necrophore - a burying-beetle

necroscopy - examination of bodies after death

necrotomy - the dissection of dead bodies; the excision of dead tissue.

necrobiosis - the process of decay or death in tissues of the body; the gradual degeneration and death of a part through suspended or imperfect nutrition

necrology - 1a. A register containing entries of (deceased) people connected with the church, monastery etc; 1b. a death roll; 2. An obituary notice, hence necrologic, necrological about obituaries, hence necrologist - one who writes obituaries, necrologue - an extended obituary.

That's enough from me about dead shit.

 

[CarlusMagnus]

coprology - a gathering of ordure.

This seemed wrong to me. My dictionary gives

coprology - another term for scatology.

And for the latter:

scatology - an interest in or preoccupation with excrement and excretion.

or

- obscene literature that is concerned with excrement and excretion.

 

[oggbashan]

This seemed wrong to me. My dictionary gives

coprology - another term for scatology.

And for the latter:

scatology - an interest in or preoccupation with excrement and excretion.

or

- obscene literature that is concerned with excrement and excretion.

You are right. I think my dictionary definition of coprology is unclear. I think what is meant is a collection for study, rather than a gathering, and the missing word is a coprologist, for someone who collects it.

Last year I went to a movie lecture on the then Exhibition in London on Herculaneum and Pompeii. One of the most fascinating parts was a talk by a professor who was leading the excavation of a length of sewer in Herculaneum.

http://phys.org/news/2011-06-ancient-sewer-excavation-roman-diet.html

The sewer ran from Insulae - apartment blocks, and third-rate shops. It was a rare opportunity to discover about the lives of the people at the bottom of the social scale in the Roman Empire, slaves and freemen surviving on very little.

But the sewer showed that 'very little' at the time would have been luxury 1,000 years later. Analysis of the preserved faeces showed that they were eating foods and spices from the whole Roman Empire and far beyond. There was black pepper from India. They were eating a wide range of fishes, several types of meat, fruit and grain.

Even the broken pottery and other items dropped into the sewer were of higher quality than had been expected. The industrial-scale production of 'quality' goods had made them affordable by the poorest, even if perhaps as secondhand.

So far, the professor and his team had removed for examination 770 bags of sewer deposits. They have eight tonnes yet to examine and decades of work yet to do on that they already have.

Is the work of the professor and the team 'coprology'? And is he a 'coprologist'? Whatever he and they are, they are the world's experts in their field.

Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21996125

More information:

http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-sewers-of-herculaneum.html

 

[AllardChardon]

Most interesting, Og, I love it when a word I post sends you in an interesting direction and you take the time to take us with you. Thanks so much.

I had to look this one up;

ordure - noun 1. EXCREMENT 2. something morally degrading or depraving

 

[Handley_Page]

Most interesting, Og, I love it when a word I post sends you in an interesting direction and you take the time to take us with you. Thanks so much.

I had to look this one up;

ordure - noun 1. EXCREMENT 2. something morally degrading or depraving

There seem to be several interesting words on the subject of [frankly] shit.
I wonder if some may have started out as 'alternatives' ?

 

[AllardChardon]

No idea, Handley, but I do find it interesting that ordure and manure rhyme.

I had to add this one;

necking - noun 1. a small molding near the top of a column or pilaster 2. the act or practice of kissing and caressing amorously

 

[oggbashan]

No idea, Handley, but I do find it interesting that ordure and manure rhyme.

I had to add this one;

necking - noun 1. a small molding near the top of a column or pilaster 2. the act or practice of kissing and caressing amorously

Also, the ridiculous French custom of opening a bottle of champagne by cutting the bottle's neck with a sword. They are supposed to cut the cork, but usually miss - hence 'necking'.

 

[oggbashan]

Historical Slang - Neck etc.

neck verb - 1. to hang C18-19; strike on the neck, behead. 2. To swallow a drink (usually alcoholic)

In the neck - especially Get it in the neck = suffer unpleasant consequences.

Talk through the back of one's neck - to talk extravagently, catachrestically [Og's note = misuse of words or phrases, think Mrs Malaprop, or some of the General Board posters]

Wash one's neck - to drink

Unable to neck it - lacking courage (to perform an action)

 

[oggbashan]

...

Now that I see the definition to this word, I understand its origin;

negligee also neglige' - noun 1. a woman's long flowing dressing gown 2. a carelessly informal or incomplete attire

For meaning 2 blame Robert Herrick (1591-1674) with his poem 'Delight in Disorder':

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness.

A winning wave (deserving note)
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.