Reaumur and Rebato and Others

As I move along in my study of "visual" words or words that suggest a picture, I come to the following "re's": Reaumur, rebato, rectus, redear, redia, reduviid, reglet, remora, remuda, rendzina, renvat, reseau, reseda, resorcinal, resveratrol, retable and retinaculum. Some of these I would no doubt have been able to spell correctly without further study, but I wanted to "enter the world" suggested to me by the word, and so I study it with you. Oh, I decided to eliminate resh--the Hebrew letter "r"-- from the list because once you know it, you don't need to "study" it. It is like the Hebrew pe; you just learn it. Let's begin.

Reaumur

Even though we might not use this word because it is capitalized, we ought to know something about the amazing polymath, Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur (1683-1757) who stands behind our entry. Very little information on Reaumur is online. His contributions ranged through several areas, including early memoirs on mathematics as a student; classical work in six volumes on entomology and plants (a genus of polypetalous shrubs, as well as dipterous insects, was named after him); significant contributions to metallurgical theory (his 1722 study Memoirs on Steel and Iron was translated into English in 1956); and development of the first thermometric scale to depend for its definition on the physical properties of a standard substance. He even wrote a work, translated into English in 1748, which advanced the science of taxidermy. It was entitled: "Divers Means for preserving from Corruption dead Birds, intended to be sent to remote Countries, so that they may arrive there in good Condition. Some of the same Means may be employed for preserving Quadrupeds, Reptiles, Fishes, and Insects." With titles like these, why do you even need an article?

If we just looked at the dictionary we would think his only contribution was in the last area, for "Reaumur" is defined as "thermometric scale on which the boiling point of water is at 80 degres above the zero of the scale and the freezing point is at zero." Thus, it is an 80-degree scale. We don't know so much about this man called by some the "18th century Pliny." For example, it would be interesting to know if his style is clear, if his contributions were "correct" for his time; how he shaped the development of various fields; whether his work was helpful for the Encyclopedists which were slightly younger than he was, etc. All of this is in a word--and much more. Let's move on.

Rebato

This ought to be able to be covered much more quickly, for a rebato is nothing other than a ruff (ruffled collar), or a ruff support, in 17th century clothing. The OED says that the word is "obsolete," which means nothing, and defines it as "a kind of stiff collar worn by both sexes from about 1590-1630." But it has a secondary meaning of the frame or wiring used to support this kind of collar. Wikipedia has a good article on ruffs, and brings out the significant point that the discovery of starch allowed ruffs around the neck to be made ever wider (some as much as a foot wide) without losing their shape. It calls the wire support frame a supportasse or underpropper (it doesn't list the word rebato), which held them at the fashionable angle. An early opponent of this practice had this to say about the supportasse:

"A certain device made of wyers...whipped over either with gold, thred, silver or silk, and this he (sc. the Devil) calleth a supportasse, or underpropper. This is to be applyed round about their necks under the ruffe..to bear up the whole frame and body of the ruffe from falling and hanging down."

There is more to say about the rebato. It was definitely a fashion statement. I think the "coolness" or fashionability of it rested on two issues--its width and its "angle" on the neck. This web site speaks of its composition out of "archal" thread, and also mentions (without documenting) efforts (in which countries?) to outlaw or limit the size of the rebato. The Unabridged lists it as "rabato," with a separate listing, but no definition, for "rebato," and so this throws our spelling of the word into a cocked hat. If we use the Collegiate, it is rebato; the Unabridged, it is rabato. Oh, and to make matters worse, the OED spells supportasse with two "p's." Lots of sources spell it with "one p." Why don't I just give up on spelling bees or until the English language gets its spelling act together? It is a little bit like the way I feel in expositing biblical passages from the Revised Common Lectionary four days a week. The lectionary may be "common," but it isn't the one used by the Catholics and (until Advent 2007) the Episcopalians. Isn't this all making life a little too difficult? End of complaint--on to other words.

Redear

The OED tells us that there are two "redear" creatures, which it calls a "red-ear sunfish" and a "red-ear turtle." Hypenated words aren't permitted in spelling bees so if it appears, it will have to be "redear." The Collegiate just gives us the former: "a common sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) of the S and E US that resembles the bluegill but has the back part of the operculum bright orange red, and feeds esp. on snails." Two web sites, at least, give good information about this fish. One explains the origin of the term Lepomis (Greek for "scaled gill cover") and microlophus (Greek for "small nape"). The picture on this page shows the red operculum, though the female's operculum is orange. Its spinous dorsal fin normally has 10 spines, and its anal fin has three. Redear sunfish eat snails, as mentioned, and hence we have the common name for them: "shellcracker." They normally live in the bottom of lakes and rivers but they and their bluegill cousins are relatively easy to catch (I have read). They are also known as the bream or yellow bream. Though the species is native to the Southeast, it was introduced into the lower Colorado River in the 1950s and Southern California about the same time. Here is a page telling you how to fish for them if you are inclined. I guess, upon further reflection, that I shouldn't even have written on redear because it is spelled just like it sounds; but it does take you to piscatorial pleasures by thinking about it for a bit.

Redia

I just realized I skipped "rectus," so I will have to get to that in the next essay or so, but let's conclude with the redia, named after the Italian naturalist, Francesco Redi, who died in 1698. It is defined as a "larva produced within the sporocyst of many trematodes that produces another generation of redias or develops into a cercaria." Wow, can't you just hear the door of another world creaking open for us? Trematodes are an 18,000-24,000 species class within the phylum Platyhelminthes. They are also known as flukes, which derives its name from the flattened, rhomboidal shape of the worms. Tremadotes are parasites of molluscs and vertebrates. This website shows a picture of a redia larva of a trematode parasite. Here is what it says of the larva:

"This larval stage normally develop in the tissues of an aquatic snail. The redia contains groups of cells called "germ balls" that eventually develop into the tailed cercaria, which will emerge from the snail and penetrate a second intermediate host or encyst on vegetation to become a metacercaria."

The life of a trematode is more complex than you might think--if you even thought about it. The primary thing we should learn is that it involves first and second-stage larvae as well as adults that are dependent upon multiple hosts for survival. After the egg hatches, the first stage larva is called a miracidium (Gk. for "youth"). It seeks a first intermediate host, though biologists have discovered patterns of what they consider both purposive and random coming upon their hosts. Once in the first intermediate host, the miracidium sheds its ciliated (hairy) cells used to navigate in the water and then develops a saclike sporocyst and/or redia before developing into the cercaria. The cercaria is the larva that finally exists from the mollusk and begins seeking a second intermediate host. Phew, doesn't all this seeking and trial and error tire you out? It does me, and so I will leave the trematode with its redia/larva right here.

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