More Free Rice Words, Especially Classical Terms

Though there are is a strikingly large collection of non-English words in levels 51-55 of the latest version of Free Rice (I will get to such words as kiekie, bonze, foism, gidgee, moshav, chalutz, pombe, piupiu, raga, to mention only a few), I will focus in this essay on some classical terms and some interesting and rare words derived from proper names. But, as often is the case, one word suggests other words that may not be on the list; sometimes we then just have to take a detour...

Classical Words/Words Named After a Person

A detour is precisely what I took after I got the word chersonese (KER son eese) right. The Chersonese is a peninsula, but in antiquity it referred to the ancient Thracian Chersonese, which was the peninsula of Gallipoli in European Turkey between the Hellespont and the Aegean Sea. Actually, the word comes from two Greek words: cherson, which means "land" or "dry land" and nesos, meaning "an island." From Drayton: "And, on the other side, Hayle's vaster mouth doth make/ A chersonese thereof."

The narrow neck of land connecting a chersonese and the larger tract of land is called an isthmus. Normally that word, which doesn't appear in Free Rice levels 51-55, only refers to the narrow neck itself. But there is a very enterprising Federal Judge (I think he probably has Senior Status now) on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, Bruce Selya, who lives in Providence and was a classics major in college. He seemingly tries to introduce new words into almost every opinion he writes. In a 2001 opinion he wrote:

"It is our task, then, to separate wheat from chaff, and to determine whether this case fits into one of the isthmian exceptions to this general rule of non-intervention."

Obviously, Judge Selya is using isthmian as a synonym for narrow. I much prefer it to the word narrow, don't you?

Then we have mithridatic or mithridate. Behind the word stands, or now lies, Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus who died around 63 BCE. He developed an immunity against poisons by ingesting small doses of them over time. Pliny tells us that he also experimented with antidotes derived from the blood of Pontic ducks. The only problem with this was that he desired to take his life when the Romans were closing in on him but found himself unable to kill himself by poison. Thus, he had to ask the assistance of someone to kill him with the sword. Indeed, I learned a word I hadn't previously known through my study of Mithridates: theriaca. A theriaca is an antidote to poison, esp. to the bite of a venomous serpent. The word comes from the Greek therion, a wild beast or poisonous reptile. Thus, we can say that Mithridates became an expert in the science of theriaca(e). But a mithridate is also a theriaca or, more specifically: "any of various medicinal preparations, usually in the form of an electuary compounded of many ingredients, believed to be a universal antidote to poison." Something mithridatic confers immunity to poisons. "Poison has no more effect on my mithridatic constitution than ginger-beer."

The OED also informs us that mithridate in extended use means "any healing or restoring agency or influence," even though this use is said to be rare. Thus, it is synonymous with "antidote." From 1834: "Love is a drop of the true elixir, no mithridate so effectual against the infection of vice."

Other Words From Personal Names

Three words derived in part or full from personal names, the first two of which appear in levels 51-55 (the other appears in a lower level) are billingsgate, greengage, and comstockery. Let's take a moment on each. The greengage (Prunus domestica) is an edible, drupaceous fruit, a cultivar of the plum. It was developed in France from a green-fruited wild plum found originally in Asia Minor. Its French name is the "Reine Claude." A quotation in Collinson's Horus Collinsonianus from 1759 says this: "I was on a visit to Sir William Gage..he told me that..in compliment to him the Plum was called the Green Gage; this was about the year 1725." There you have it.

Comstockery has a more interesting origin and meaning. It is named after Anthony Comstock (1844-1915) a member of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Comstockery is excessive opposition to, or censorship of, supposed immorality in art or literature; prudery." The Comstock Act, 17 Stat. 598, enacted March 3, 1873, is a US federal law that made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, including contraceptive devices and information. You open up a huge chapter in the history of 19th and 20th century America by studying this man and what he was trying to do. America has dual approach to sexuality: on the one hand we seem to want to keep sexual things away from children (and lots of adults, too) but, on the other hand, we are the world's largest purveyor of pornographic videos and sexual materials.

Finally, let's become acquainted with billingsgate. Capitalized, the word names a ward in the SE section of London, where in 1666 the Great Fire of London began. A fish market was established there and, wherever you have fish markets you have abusive language. Hence, billingsgate is "scurrilous vituperation, violent abuse." From Shaftsbury in 1710, we have: "Philosophers and Divines, who can be contented to...write in learned Billingsgate." How can the politicians endure the constant billingsgate heaped on them?

Conclusion--A Bonus Word

Let's conclude with lanner, a kind of falcon. The Falco lanarius is a noble hawk of southern and central Europe and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean. In falconry it is the female of the species. Longfellow could write: "Downward fluttered sail and banner as alights the screaming lanner." But the thing I found interesting is that the male of the species is called a lanneret. Now, this is not lanerette, but where else have you seen it where the male has the "et" form? Normally we think of the male as having the basic word and the female form is derived from it. But not with our falcons. I would like to learn some day why that is the case...

We didn't make it to many of the words that I intended today; well, there is always tomorrow.

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