butut and dalasi and byss and byssinosis and buxom and callipygian

Today I want to be back "on track," and so will exposit a few words and then list several from these pages that repay study. Along the way there will be the occasional word not in the OED which is in the Collegiate, and vice versa. Let's begin with something on butut. Certainly I had never heard the word before I studied it for the Bee. It is not in the OED but is in the Collegiate. I was directed to the "money" chart on p. 802 and told to seek my fortune under dalasi, the monetary unit of, drum roll, The Gambia. A dalasi consists of 100 bututs. I have never really studied the world of The Gambia for very long, and today will be no different. Suffice it to say that after an abortive experiment federating with Senegal (to form Senegambia) from 1982-89, The Gambia, which originally gained independence in 1965, is on its own. Few resources. Small area (about twice the size of DE). About 1,500,000 people. No world-wide clout. Sounds like a country that potentially could threaten the stability of the US, don't you think?

Buxom

I am stopping on buxom for a moment, not because I don't know it and like it, but because it is a great example of what I call "definitional collapse" in words. We think of it today solely in the last definition in the Collegiate--"full-bosomed." What most don't know is that it has had a range of meaning, including pliant, gracious, bright, lively, humble, and meek and has historically usually been a trait praised in men. Only in the last century or so has it become focused on women, so to speak, and only in the last 50 or so years has it taken on, in our sex-obsessed culture, the "full-bosomed" meaning of the Collegiate. But a few quotations might illustrate its historic use. From 1684, "Your Lordship was pleased to give us...your oath to become a buxome and beneficial member of this corporation." A 1460 pamphlet on the Annunciation has the Angel speaking to Joseph, "Meek and buxom looke thou be, And with her dwelle." Shakespeare, in Henry V, speaks of "A Souldier firme and sound of heart, and of buxome valor." Finally, in Book II of Paradise Lost, John Milton could speak of the fate of the rejected angels who must "Wing silently the buxom air." Enough said, even though I don't think that this alone will rescue the word from teen-age fantasy publications.*

[*There are a few words build off the "bux" root but are not related to buxom. The Collegiate doesn't mention these at all, but the most frequent are words related to the box tree--buxeous, buxiferous and even buxine]

Byssinosis

This word is to be distinguished from what might at first seem to relate to "depths," such as the "abyss." Byssinosis is a chronic disease of the lungs caused by the inhalation of fine particles of textile fibers. The Greek word for such a fine fiber is byssos or byssinos. The former term is used as early as Empedocles in the 5th century BCE to mean flax and the linen made from it. The first use of the word in English came through John Wycliffe's translation of the Bible in the 14th century, where he rendered the Greek word bussos in Rev. 19:8 ["to her (the heavenly bride of Christ) it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure"] as "white bijce." Wycliffe also translated Luke 16:19, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, as "clothid in purpur, and biys." Thus, the word byss is attested in English to mean "fine linen." The OED also has such words as byssaceous, composed of fine entangled threads, byssine, made of byssus, and byssogenous, that normally produces a byssus.

An interesting alternative meaning of byss comes from the 17th century German mystic, Jacob Boehme. He wanted byss to mean the opposite of abyss and so it signified fulness or the plenum or the ground of all being. The OED attests the following translated quotation, "I saw...the Being of all Beings, the Byss (the ground or original foundation), and Abyss." Now, wouldn't you just want to follow Jacob if he can use the language so creatively?

To the List

Let's get serious for a moment. There are tons of great words in this section that call for comment, but some will just have to wait for another time. There is cabaletta, an operatic song, and cabochon, a gem cut in convex form. In addition we have a cachalot, sperm whale, and a cachepot, an ornamental receptacle. Cachou is breath freshener and cacique a native Indian chief. A cacomistle is a ringtail and a cade is a pet. A cadastral survey is something done for a real estate register, while a person suffering from caducity is senile. A cahier (ka YA) is a report of a parliamentary body, while a cahow is a dark-colored petal. A caipirinha is a cocktail, while a caique (ka EEK) is a Levantine vessel. Lest you think we forgot the Scots, a caird is a tramp. Something calcaneal relates to the heel while caliche is a Chilean gravel. A caliginous night is a misty and dark one in which a Scottish callant, or lad, probably shouldn't be gadding about. A calotte, also known as a zucchetto, is a Cardinal's skull cap. Don't forget how to spell camellia and camorra. A canaille is a rabble, but cannelloni is an Italian dish, as is cannoli. Remember your double and single "l's" with various Italian words. Finally, something that is candent is glowing. I knew the word, and it is easy to spell, but I didn't want to lose it. You can almost feel the glow when you say it.

Conclusion

I will close with a word not in the Collegiate, but which appears in the OED. Callipygian comes from two Greek words meaning "beautiful" and "buttocks." Originally referring to a statue of Venus, called the Callipygian, it now can be applied to other things that "have well-shaped or finely developed buttocks," as the OED so tastefully says. So, let's bring buxom back, in its non-sexual connotation, but, as a "payment" for losing that word to our sex-oriented culture, let's resurrect callipygian. It is a buttiful word.

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