Another Day, Another Word

Words encompassing and arising from a person's name

Kafkaesque [kahf-kuh-esk]

Ah Kafka, a surrealist before the term was coined. You may notice that many of the word's in the current theme are auctorial descriptives. (ok, so guess I have to define that as well: Auctorial descriptives are a series of adjectives based on authors' names)

Not surprising, since few things have the power to change the way we see the world than the pen of a master writer.
But Franz Kafka holds a special place for me as the term Kafkaesque has a very fluid meaning and differing interpretations.

EG:

"marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity: Kafkaesque bureaucracies"
"marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger: Kafkaesque fantasies of the impassive interrogation, the false trial, the confiscated passport ... haunt his innocence"

The main reason I see for this is that Kafka wrote in an intentionally ambiguous language in his native German. Which has caused many problems for the people tasked with translating his works. To really get the taste of his works I would suggest his novella The Metamorphosis but in line with the issues I mentioned about translation I would strongly recommend finding a copy translated by either David Wyllie or Joachim Neugroschel.

To give an example of what Kafkaesque is, the first line of The Metamorphosis:
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin"
And so it goes from there.

Another Day, Another Word

Continuing on the theme of words encompassing and arising from a persons name.

Caesarean [si-zair-ee-uhn]

Now I assume that you all know the meaning of the word.

noun
1. the delivery of a fetus by surgical incision through the abdominal wall and uterus (from the belief that Julius Caesar was born that way)

Now wether it was Gaius Julius Caesar, who became the first Emperor of Rome, that the c-section was named after or one of his ancestors is hard to determine now. Caesar was a common name in the Juli family for many generations before Gaius' birth. The oldest surviving reference to it now in existence was by Pliny the Elder in the first century AD, some 300 years after the big GJC. Pliny stated that it was an ancestor of the Emperor that it was named after.

But like in so many things Rome in general and Gaius Julius Caesar in particular had such a far reaching influence on Europe and western civilization that most sources state that is was GJC himself who was born via c-section.

Either way the name has stuck.

Going a bit further on the impact of Caesar on the modern world.

• The title of Emperor, which Napoleon bestowed on himself (well actually the French word is empereur) just prior to leading his Grande Army on a merry jaunt around Europe is a direct descendant of the Latin Imperator which was equivalent to commander or General.
  
• Dictator was the title given to one person, in times of great crisis, all the powers that were normally held by the senate. Part of the deal was that they were Dictator only for a set period of time.
  
• The Russian Tsar and the German Khizer were both derivations of Caesar

I could continue but that is enough for today.

Another Day, Another Word

Thought I would change the theme today. I was inspired by reading an article in the SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) this morning written by one of our ex-PM's. Someone who took great joy in the use of language and slicing up his opponents with words. So today's word is:

Goebbelsian [Go-bells-e-n]

So can you guess the new theme?...

That's right! Words encompassing and arising from a persons name.

SMH article

Now, I cannot give you a dictionary definition for this word for after a bit of googling it looks like this was the first use of the word. So this may end up in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary, the Big 16 volume one which gives the definition and then quotes the words first use in print) as the reference.

What I can do is give a little background on the person involved...Joseph Goebbels.

For those of you who don't know he was "a German politician and Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the National Socialist regime from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolph Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers. Goebbels was known for his zealous, energetic oratory and virulent anti-Semitism."

A lot can be gleaned about the man and the meaning of Goebbelsian from his ministerial title "Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda"... Normally the two terms used would be seen as Mutually Exclusive. George Orwell used the same twisted language in 1984, where the War Ministry was called The Ministry of Peace.

More detail here is you so desire:Joseph Goebbels

I think you get the idea.

Another Day, Another Word

Today's word:

Sinister [sin-uh-ster]

Here is another word that has changed its meaning over time. The current definitions are:

adjective
1. threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble; ominous: a sinister remark.
2. bad, evil, base, or wicked; fell: his sinister purposes.
3. unfortunate; disastrous; unfavourable: a sinister accident.
4. of or on the left side; left.
5. Heraldry. noting the side of an escutcheon or achievement of arms that is to the left of the bearer, as opposed to dexter (apologies for those dealing with dexter case for bringing the word up here...) meaning right side.

Sinister came into use in English in the late middle ages, 1450ish. What I find interesting is that, while the spelling we get of the word comes from Latin ( via French), the association it has with bad, evil etc actually comes from the ancient Greek usage. Both cultures used the word to mean left. The Greeks also used it to describe an 'evil omen' because they would always face north to make a reading of the portents. Apparently if a bird was seen in the west, thus the left side, it was bad.

Don't ask me why, it just was. One the other hand (not the topical word play...) the Romans saw the left side as fortunate.

So we have the Roman spelling but the Greek meaning.

Another Day, Another Word

Today's word:

Salient [sey-lee-uhnt]

Another one I quiet like. Salient is one of those words that many people use (" The salient point of the matter is...") but few actually know what it means. It first made its way into English in the mid 1500's as a term in Heraldry to describe a leaping animal eg: :Salient Lion.

It came to English from the Latin salire "To Leap" but goes further back than that. It's most ancient know form is from PIE (Proto-Indo-European: The ancient mother tongue from which of most European, Middle Eastern languages formed. Sanskrit comes from PIE as well.) sie also "To Leap"

From the heraldic origins we have its next two uses, both military, for the most outward jutting point in a walls defences, a salient angle and the first part of a battle line to engage the enemy, the salient troops. This was about 100 years after its first use.

It then took another 200 odd years for its more modern use to mean anything that is prominent or important. So we finally make it back to where we started but now we know what a salient point actually is.

For one final bit of Trivia: The last name of Antonio Salieri the composer, who was cast as the villain in the great film Amadeus about the life of Mozart, (If you have never seen it, do yourself a favour and rent it) comes from the same origin. His name sounds so much better as it is than if it was Anglicised to Anthony The Leaping...

Another day, another word

Ok, time for me to ramble on a bit.

One of the things that fascinates me about language is its organic nature. In that the meaning attached to a word or phrase is mutable, it changes over time and usage. So for the next couple of words' I will look at some words whose meaning has changed or been greatly expanded over time. Which brings us to today's word. (Nice segue, don't you think?...)

Weird

Now, I assume that everyone is familiar with this word, as it is still in general use today. However the common usage of it today, as in 'strange', 'out of the ordinary', and 'disturbing' ("You're really weirding me out, man!") is very different from its origins. The person we have to thank for that is none other than 'Old Bill', William Shakespeare.

His description of the Three Witches in Macbeth (It is OK to type the name, just not to say it. If you don't know what I am talking about, I'll tell you later) as Weird Sisters set the word on the path to the common usage we know today.

Prior to this the word came from the Old English, word of Wyrd which literally meant "That which comes" and was used to describe fate, destiny and prophesy.

Shakespeare used it in this sense in The Scottish Play to describe the three witches when they told both Macbeth and Banquo what their future would hold. One to be King and the other to father a line of Kings.

Now this is what I find interesting, while Shakespeare's intended use of the word was for it's traditional meaning of fortune telling, it came over time to adopt it's more modern meaning of strange because of it's use in the play and the way the witches have been portrayed on stage since the 1600's.

So the man who is responsible for changing the meaning of Weird, did not actually intend it to happen.

Weird isn't it!...