Some E's from the Unabridged

One of my new year's resolutions is to learn the (rest of) the Unabridged dictionary this year. In order to get going on that task, I decided to make a list of about 45 or so words from the Unabridged which I either didn't know or which are interesting words. I decided to look at words beginning with "e." Take heart; even though there are tons of difficult words in English, the number is finite, and each day's work gets you closer. Let's begin with a list of the words.

Echelette, echelonment, eciton, eboulement, ecanda, eccoprotic/eccoproticophoric, ecthlipsis, eccyclema, echelle, echeneid/echeneis, eaceworm, ebauche, ebauchoir, eberthella, echimyine, echinoparyphium, echis, eclegma, eclosion, ecorche, ecossaise, ecrevisse, ecribellate, ectasis, ecstasiate, ecthyma, ectolecithal, ectomeninx, ecuelle, edestin, edreobenthos, eelfare, efatese, efe, efik, egeran, egeria, eglomise, egocerus, egueiite, ehuawa, ehatisaht (though the word ehattesaht has 3X the appearances of ehatisaht in Google searches), eigne, eimeria, egestous, Eidophusikon.

Looking at Some Choice Words

1. Well, where do we start in such a list of 45 words? I always like to start with easy things, so let's begin with eigne (pronounced "ayne"). It is a legal term meaning "first-born" or "eldest." Usually the word is preceded by the term "bastard," such as "Hee hath issue a sonne naturall by a concubine and after marryeth the same concubine, him the lawyers of Englande, call a Bastarde eigne." Then, to introduce another word, one can say, "Where there be many of one name, diversitie of the names must be put by addition of eigne, puisne, etc." Puisne (PU nee) means "born later or younger or junior." Good. Only 40 words to go.

2. Eidophusikon is not in the Unabridged, but it appears in the OED and should be understood. It is a device invented by Philip de Loutherbourg in 1781 to pportray a kind of magic lantern showing a series of pictures illustrative of some occurrence such as a shipwreck. Here is a web site dedicated to understanding this predecessor of 'motion pictures.' The name means "a natural form."

3. Fun. Let's continue. To be egestuous is to be poor or needy. This brings us into the world of egesta, which are excreta or waste matters passed out of the body. Egesta is also the Latin word for 'poverty.' Further behind the word is the Latin gerere, which means "to bear" and ex, which means "out of." Thus, egerere is to eliminate to bring out of (the body). Egestion is the opposite of ingestion. If a mother said to her child: "Please egest your food carefully, she would be saying to puke carefully."

4. Ecthlipsis is a term from ancient grammar or rhetoric which is derived from the Greek word for "rubbing out" and refers to the practice in ancient Greek/Latin poetry of dropping of a final "m" and the vowel preceding it when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel. "Multum ille" becomes "Mult' ille." I bet you are glad to know a word which was only invented to illustrate something in an ancient language. But I have discovered that if you learn enough useless information, it all comes round and eventually it all becomes useful.

5. While we are on an obscure ancient Greek word, let's mention eccyclema (pronounced ex i CLAY mah). It doesn't occur often even in Google, but it is a mechanism in ancient Greek theater--a platform that rolled on wheels or revolved on an axis and that could be pushed onstage to present a scene or clarify the action. Smith's mid-nineteenth century classical dictionary has an article on exostra, which was a similar instrument. As the article says, it permitted something to be exhibited to the spectators which often couldn't conveniently take place on stage (such as a murder or suicide). By the way, the stage would be the proscenium; if something happened "behind the scenes," it was said to be behind the siparium.

As is usual with me, I just couldn't keep well enough alone, and so I had to track down siparium, which an article in the Classical Review from 1964 by Prof. D. M. Gaunt says was the "subsidiary curtain" used during the presentation of a Roman comedy. However, the 1st Cent. CE Latin teacher of rhetoric Quintilian took over the term and extended its meaning to refer to a portable frame on which a canvas could be displayed in court. On the canvas were pictures of a scene that the prosecutor or defense wanted to present. Quintilian referred to siparia (Inst. Orat. vi.1.32; vi.3.72) because he was interested in means of persuasion, and the visual nature of a siparium would allow a lawyer to make his case much more "visually." Quintilian, however, condemned the practice partly because the orator should influence the hearers by words skillfully used rather than these props.

6. I love the word echeneis and the picture created by it and echeneid. It is derived from two Greek words, echein and vaus, which translates literally into "hold the boat." The English equivalent of the word is "Remora," also known as the "Sucking-fish," which in the mythology of antiquity was said to be able to suck onto a ship and keep it from moving through the water. Here is my essay on it. The family of fish so known is the Echeneidae.

7. One more word will complete this essay. How about egeria? It is derived from Egeria, a goddess in Roman mythology supposed to be the instructor and wife of the early Roman King Numa Pompilius. Thus, if a woman is an egeria, she acts as a counselor or advice-giver. If all of us listened to the promptings of our various egerias, the world would be a better place.

Maybe I can go more quickly in the next essay.

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