Re-bar Bee II

Of the 35 words remaining after the preceding essay, let's begin with the spiritual, theological or ecclesiastical terms and then move to certain "contraptions" or "gadgets" that were used for a while. The word hypsistarian is one you will never meet, even though you might meet a person conforming to their beliefs. Derived from the Greek word meaning "most high," a hypsistarian was a Christian of 4th century Cappadocia (Asia Minor) who worshiped God under this name. There must be more to it than this, since the word is a Biblical one, but as with most shadowy things in the world of 4th-5th century heresiology, we don't really know who the people were, what they really believed or did or where they really lived. The Chambers Encyclopedia (1730s) said only that its doctrine was an "assemblage of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity." Not much help at all. Sounds like a distant echo of Epiphanius. Yet, they bequeathed a word to us that is practically useless, except in spelling bees.

Well, maybe we can do a little better with babism. Babism is the doctrine or practice of Baha'i, which originated in 1843 in Persia and whose doctrine contained elements of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. Hm...sounds like they could have been neighbors of the hypsistarians. More specifically, the Century tells us that it "inculcates a high morality; discountenances polygamy; forbids concubinage, asceticism and mendicancy..."

Leaving the individuals or groups for a moment, let's move to a religious/academic garment, the zimarra. When you enter into the world of religious garments you can actually be overwhelmed with terminology--from soutanes to cassocks to surplices to the mantellum to cinctures to rochets to scapulars etc. etc. But a zimarra (not in the OED) is the continental European equivalent to the chimere, which resembles an academic gown but without sleeves, and is usually made of scarlet or black cloth, open in front and worn over a rochet. Picture is here. Some were decorated with buttons, but I am not able to get into that issue now...

One Philosophical Term

The one philosophical term from the list is haecceity or hecceity. Again, as with the theological terms, it is obsolete but it meant something to at least a handful of people at one time. So, it is fair game. It is a term from scholastic philosophy meaning "the quality implied in the use of this, as this man." Thus, it is "thisness" or "hereness and nowness" or the "individuality" of a thing. It is almost as obscure as another good spelling-bee word--quiddity, which probably explains the spoofing line through which both words came into English in 1647: "Club-fisted Logick with all her Quiddities...nor Scotus with his haeccities." Or, as Cudworth famously said in 1678: "Scholasticks..could not make a Rational Discourse of anything, though never so small, but they must stuff it with their Quiddities, Entities, Essences, Haecceities, and the like." Thus, haecceity is a "certain positive determining entity," whatever that means. I don't know if life will be long enough for me to try to unravel Duns Scotus' interpretation of Aristotelian philosophy of being in order to make haecceity patently clear.

Contraptions

There were three words in the final Re-bar bee for gadgets: resnatron, phenakistoscope and clavilux. None are in much use anymore, but the words each have an interesting story to tell. The word resnatron is rare even on Google, and is defined only as "a microwave-beam tetrode containing cavity resonators, used chiefly for generating large amounts of continuous power at high frequencies." Well, we know it was used primarily in WWII to jam enemy radar. I suppose it has, like haecceity, been deposited into the dust bin of history where it now rests--in dictionaries!

The phenakistoscope was invented in the early 1830s apparently simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer. It was an early animation device, where images on the outside of a whirling disk or plate appear to move and represent action when the disk or plate is spun. For example, this picture shows two boxers engaging in their pugilistic endeavors. The word is derived from the Greek word phenax, a cheat, and phenakizein, to deceive or trick. It is so called because, with the whirling of the plate or card, a sort of "deception" takes place. The Century has an entry for phenakism, which may have originated with Francis Bacon, and connotes the "act of conveying false ideas or impressions; deceit."

Then we have the clavilux, which literally means the "light club." The word comes from the early 20th century, and was a technique invented by the Danish-born visual artist Thomas Wilfred to reduce light to sound. Here is a web site discussing the history of this endeavor, of which Wilfred's was only an example. It says about his effort that it was a "color organ, which used rotating glass disks with hand-painted color patterns." It further goes on to say that the inspiration for this contraption was from a group of Theosophists who wanted to demonstrate spiritual principles through the use of light and color. Now that would be an interesting thing to track down... Wilfred named the art form of color-music projections "Lumia." I don't know what came of "Lumia," but probably, like the phenakistoscope and the resnatron, it soon faded from significance as motion pictures increasingly used sound in the 1920s and 1930s.

Conclusion

Let's end with one of the other words--a rare one but one which packs a very visual image with it. It is vorago. Don't confuse it with virago, the word for "a bold, impudent woman; a termagant, a scold." Definitely not a "pc" word, is it? But vorago is derived from the Latin word "vorare," which means "to devour," and suggests "an abyss, gulf, or chasm." I suppose these things can devour you, or seem to be able to do so. In that connection, I think the word is useful, even though the OED calls it "now rare." It was even used figuratively in the 19th century: "Adultery and concubinage did you mention! Another vorago, two voragoes, Scylla and Charybdis, of national wealth."

Another two essays should put this bee to bed.

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