2005 National Spelling Bee VIII

The words I am reviewing are listed in the previous essay. Let's get right to work. I really don't appreciate the word miliaceous, even though it is neatly defined in the Unabridged as "MILIARY," which itself is defined "accompanied or marked by an eruption or formation of lesions the size of millet seeds." So, the word is about something the size of a millet seed (apparently two millimeters in diameter). Not to belabor something that shouldn't have been used, the OED has "resembling a millet seed," but then has attestations no more recent than the 17th century. Skip it, folks. Bad choice.

Caixinha, pronounced ki SHEN ya, defined as a "box rattle used in Brazilian dance orchestras" also should not have been used. It isn't in the OED or other dictionaries, and its only attestations are in Portuguese or in nonsense sites. If I were Carlie Gakstatter from Marquette, MI who, of course, misspelled it, I would be upset. With words like this, winning is not completely, but largely, a crxap shoot. [Dec. 2007 note--I would have had the judge spell her last name; if he couldn't, he or she should have to sit down and shut up.]

With buran we are now testing our knowledge of a Kirghiz or Turkic word. I sometimes regret that I didn't pursue a Ph. D. in Uralic-Altaic studies, where I am sure this word would have been very familiar, but I didn't. At least this one, unlike caixinha, could be sounded out. What is it? "a northeasterly wind of gale force in Russia or Central Asia usually identified with sandstorms in summer and blizzards in winter." I was then directed to purga, which is an "intense arctic snowstorm occurring usually in flat open country and characterized by severe cold and wind-driven snow." This is of Karelian origin, though the word also echoes a Finnish word. I wonder if there ever was a kid in the northern climes who came bursting into the house, "Daddy, the purga is out there, and I am freezing!" To which the daddy replied, "You dummy, that isn't a purga; that's a buran!" I even found another word for purga--myatel, which neither the OED nor, mercifully, the Unabridged has.

The most interesting words beginning with "my" are those picking up on the Greek word for "muscle"--my (pronounced myu). Some of the more interesting are myalgia (muscle pain), myasthenia (muscle weakness), and myatonia (lack of muscle tone). But once you stray down the road and get into the prefix myc you are in the realm of mushrooms or fungi. We won't go there today. Oh, by the way, we also have the word myalism which has nothing to do with muscles but is defined: "a cult among West Indian Negroes akin to obeah and prob. of W. African origin." The word obeah goes back to the early 18th century in English and designates a person or thing involved with or associated with the practice of a kind of sorcery, witchcraft or folk medicine originating in W. Africa and practiced in the English-speaking Caribbean. But isn't this definition a little "Eurocentric?" Things that other people do are "witchcraft," while Anglican communion, for example, is the height of rationality.

Continuing

So as not to get further afield than I already am, I return to the interesting word glima. Again, I had not heard of it and it isn't in the OED, but it is a word and concept worth knowing. I found this perfectly delightful web page on the history of glima, which is Icelandic wrestling. Beginning more than 1100 years ago, this sport, which literally means "The Game of Joy," is still practiced in the northern climes. Here is the purpose:

"The basic idea is to grip your opponent in the proper way, and then force them to touch their torso or any area above the elbows or knees, to the ground for the best 2 out of 3 falls. Also, if both of their arms touch the ground, it is a fall. If both players fall together then it is called a “brother-fall” and neither player gets the point."

The site lists the "8 Basic Tricks" of the sport and then closes with a picture of a guy, with the appropriate name of Jossephson, flexing his biceps and wearing the "Grettir Belt" as the 1907-08 Champion. Studying Icelandic culture is just below learning Uralic-Altaic languages in priority order for me...

An isocheim is actually something useful to know about. Derived from two Greek words meaning "equal" and "winter," it is "a line (on a map, etc.) connecting places at which the mean winter temperature is the same." Another way of saying it is "an isotherm [line of = temperature] of mean winter temperature." We can also call it an isochimenal line. I do need a little digression before I leave this word. The Greek word for winter, as suggested, is "cheim," while the Latin word is hiemalis. English words formed off the latter word are hiemal (belonging to winter), hiemate (to "hibernate"), hiemation (the spending of the winter) and hiems (winter, esp. in poetic personification..."Now Hiems heapes the dyke with snow and shewes her frostie face"). There are no English words beginning with the prefix cheim, though if you wandered down the road to cheir, you would have all the words which are built upon "hand." Oh, before we leave winter, we also have the Latin word brumal, meaning "belonging to winter," which can also express the same idea. Brumaire, for example, was the name adopted by the French Republic in 1793 for the second month of the year, extending from Oct. 22 to Nov. 20),

Let's rush on to agalloch, a word I would have spelled correctly without knowing what it meant. It is, obscurely, the soft resinous wood of an East Indian tree of the family Thymelaeaceae that is burnt as a perfume by the Orientals." Just for reference, it is also knowns as "agila-wood," "aloes-wood," and "eagle-wood." I was delighted to learn, through a quick search, that Agalloch is an "American atmospheric folk metal and experimental band formed in 1996 in (nearby) Portland, OR." One of their more popular tunes is known, appropriately, as "Ashes Against the Grain." I am so grateful to learn just a little about them, and I would look forward to digesting not only their music but the musical influences which shaped them.

One More, in Conclusion

Where else can you go to get this type of diverse information in such short compass? The time is far past when any one person could do a comprehensive "history" of almost anything (except bogs), but I get the feeling by doing words like those here, with their Icelandic or Karelian or Portuguese or East Indian origins, that I am beginning to sink myself deeper into understanding of this wonderfully complex but exciting world in which we live.

So, let's close with a "bonus," i.e., one more word. It is carrosserie. Oops, this isn't a good one because it is nowhere attested except in our Unabridged and simply means a chassis of a car, I believe. Not too exciting, but why pick it? Let's really close with Fomorian. The OED has the following: "In Irish legend, one of a race of pirates or giants, perhaps originally representing the gods of death and darkness." But this gets us far afield into Celtic mythology, which will have to await its day...

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