More "Local" Words--Starting with Spancel

My theory about words is that every one of them, even those we may have never encountered, is simple to someone. Thus, each word is simple. The context in which it developed/was used is usually simple to understand. Thus, we ought to learn all the words and not be afraid of discovering the words and their contexts. For example, while looking at spalpeen for the previous essay, I ran across spancel. For some reason I don't think I had ever seen it. It reminds me of pencil and stencil and chancel and even spandrel, but is definitely not a portmanteau word. It is probably Flemish or Dutch-derived (the verb spannen means to stretch) and is "a rope or fetter for hobbling cattle, horses, etc.; esp. a short, noosed rope used for fettering the hind legs of a cow during milking." I found such a clear picture of a spancel that I just have to show it to you. Here it is. Oh, by the way, it is in red.

Before resuming my journey, I had to stop for a second on spanandry, which also lives in the neighborhood. Derived from the Greek spanis, scarcity, and aner, male, it means "Lack or extreme scarcity of males in a population." Though we have an attestation for this word as early as 1924, the 1967 usage in Popular Science is one of the first: "Polygamy is extreme, but, since this follows from the fact that males are produced in much smaller numbers than females, spanandry seems a better term, and is used here." One might speak of the spanandrous conditions in a nursing or an elementary education program. There is no corresponding word for an extreme paucity of females. Does that mean that there always are enough of them wherever you go?

Tardive

Tardive, derived from the French tardif, simply means late or tardy. I put it here because I just realized the great harvest of words that begin with "tard" in English. Of course, we have tardy, tardily, tardiness, but we also have tardiloquent to describe speaking slowly, or tardigrade, to denote walking slowly or sluggish in action or thought. The latter has a potentially useful figurative meaning. From 1883: "Even in our tardigrade (i.e., "unprogressive) West Country the farmer has begun to discover...that he, too, is an economical power." In our day, however, tardive is generally the first word in the phrase "tardive dyskinesia," a neurological disorder developed as a side-effect of long-term treatment with anti-psychotic drugs. The major symptom of tardive dyskinesia is involuntary movements of face and jaws. From Nature in 1979: "Of all the side effects of drugs used to treat psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, chronic tardive dyskinesias are the most disturbing."

Oh, and on a separate note, did you realize that a sub-atomic particle travelling less than the speed of light is called a tardyon? The word is improperly spelled in the following 1970 sentence: "The number of tachyons in a system may vary from observer to observer--yet another deviation from the conventional world of tardons (sic)." So, a tachyon moves really quickly (faster than light); a tardyon moves slower. We are also informed that the word bradyon describes a particle travelling slower than light, though the article says that even among physicists this type of terminology is not yet common. Nice, for once, to be at the head of the parade...

Punnet and Conn

I had never seen the word punnet previosly, though you and I see punnets all the time. It has been around since 1822 and is defined as "a small light shallow container used esp. for strawberries, rasperries, mushrooms, and similar produce." And, dah-dah, here they are. They are containers, not exactly corrugated but indented, usually made out of a tough fibrous material, for holding plants and small fruit. I usually recall seeing them with strawberry stains all over them.... I punnet is also called a pottle. I didn't know that the first definition of pottle was a pot or container that could hold dry as well as liquid goods. A pottle was originally a unit of capacity, equal to 1/2 gallon.

I am so grateful for the word decective site, because when I came to "conn," which means to stter or direct a vessel, I realized I could do no better than quote this source. Here is the relevant portion:

"“Conn,” meaning the power to metaphorically steer the course of an endeavor or enterprise, comes from the literal use of that power. When “conn” (in the form “cun”) first appeared in English in the 17th century as a verb, it meant “to direct the steering or course of a ship,” usually from the bridge of the ship or its equivalent. Obviously, the captain of a ship has the primary responsibility for “conning” the vessel, but often delegates the “conn” (the noun appeared in the early 19th century) to subordinate officers. Early battleships actually had elevated “conning towers,” armored to protect the captain, et al., but today the same functions are usually carried out from a “conning station” on the ship’s bridge.

For a term redolent of the high seas and naval battles of yore, “conn” has a remarkably tame origin. “Conn” apparently arose as a variant form of the verb “cond,” also meaning “to direct the steering of a ship,” which in turn derived from the obsolete verb “condue,” meaning “to conduct or guide.” As you might suspect, “condue” itself ultimately harks back to the Latin “conducere” (to lead or guide), which also gave us our modern English “conduct.”

The word is often used in our speech today as synonymous with power. "Who has the conn?" means "who has the power?" I think, however, it is much more interesting to go into a longish explanation of the term than simply to say to someone that it means power. Agree?

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