sejant and seidel and sedelia and seiche and segno

I decided to leap ahead in this essay because the pace of my study of the dictionary is easily outstripping my ability to keep up with my study in these essays. I looked at the following five words today, and will illustrate them for you: sedilia, segno, seiche, seidel and sejant. You may already know one or two, but let's let them teach us.

Sedilia

This term implicates the study of church architecture, and it specifically refers to the (usually three) seats arranged on the south side of the altar and reserved for the priest, deacon and sub-deacon--the ones who administer the eucharist. Though the history of church interiors is fascinating, you ought to know that the form finally adopted by the church had the congregation, in the nave, facing East (the direction of Jerusalem from the perspective of Europe). Thus, the people would be looking through the altar, the symbol of the temporary sustenance with the bread and wine, toward Jerusalem, the symbol of the heavenly destiny of the faithful. What I didn't know was that even when a church in fact "faces" a different direction, the apse or section of the church faced by the congregation is always referred to as the East wall. It might in fact be the South wall; the eye of faith sees it as the East wall.

The seats themselves were not folding chairs or inelegant sediles. As the OED says, they either are recessed in the wall or crowned with canopies, pinnacles or other enrichments. Thus, the honor of those seated is enhanced by the intricacy of the designs. By the way, the OED lists the word under sedile (the singular), as does the Century. But, because we use the Collegiate for the Bee, sedilia it is. I wonder if Amelia Bedelia sat down a lot, whether she would be called Amelia Bedelia Sedelia. Very weak humor, indeed.

Segno

Though the Collegiate has the word as segno, the more careful OED doesn't have it, and the Century lists it both at segno and at the more correct "dal segno." If it were so listed in the Collegiate, I woudn't have to learn it because it would be a double word. Ah, the vagaries of dictionaries. This is a term found in musical notation and literally means "to the sign."

When a person is singing along and runs into the "D.S." (dal segno), that person, if s/he knows what s/he is doing, will return to the "segno sign" earlier in the piece and start singing there. I could describe this sign to which you return, but maybe it would be better to give it as a picture--to the left. This is where you pick up singing.

Seiche

One reason I love the dictionary is that successive words usually have no connection with each other--a perfect way to read in our postmodernist era. A seiche (pronounced SAY sh and meaning "to sway back and forth") was a name given in the 19th century especially in Lake Geneva to certain irregular waves or fluctuations of the level of the water. If you wanted to sashay over to this article, you would learn all about the mathematical or scientific facts of the seiche. The term is now applied to lakes all over the world and is a phenomenon almost always present on larger lakes.

Seidel

A seidel is, quite simply, the German word for "mug" and is a beer mug. One might think that the basic sign of German identity is not the Luther Bible or a Hohenzollern Castle but a "Bierstein." And you wouldn't be far wrong. Each town of any size in Germany has its own "Biergarten," where you can stop and refresh yourself on a warm summer day. They welcome you with a seidel of Pilsener. I found a picture online of one; you know what they are, but it still gives me pleasure nevertheless to show you one.

Kind of makes you want to have a cold one about now, doesn't it? Well, first we have to do one more word.

Sejant

This term gets us into the fascinating world of medieval heraldry. Usually associated with a lion, sejant means "in a sitting posture; esp. of a quadruped: Sitting with the fore-legs upright." The Century gives us a nice picture of the lion sitting on its haunches and facing straight ahead (or to the left, as we look at the lion). I think I have used up my allotted photo space in this essay (maybe you think I should get rid of the beer mug, but I think you'll agree upon further reflection that it is very good to be thinking of beer about now). But there are other terms, which I will only mention in passing. Sejant adorsed means "sitting back to back" and is said of two animals. Sejant affronte means sitting and facing outward toward the viewer. A lion sejant affronte is the royal crest of Scotland. The sejant gardant is sitting and with the body seen sidewise, with head looking our direction from the field. I always liked these depictions best, because the lions gave the impression of looking at me. Finally, for this brief introduction, we have the sejant rampant, where the lion has both forelegs elevated, the "dexter" uppermost, with the "dexter" hind leg also higher than the "sinister" hind leg. It is facing straight ahead, which means to our left.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey tonight. Now to your seidels!

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