Fun with "R's"

The previous several essays on "R-words" have been serious and, I hope, instructive. I think, however, that I need a "break" from all the seriousness so that I can introduce some "r" terms that are amusing, arresting or just plain interesting.

Rhipidate

Let's begin with a word I love to say, but doesn't appear often: rhipidate. The word isn't in the OED or Collegiate, but is present in the Unabridged and Century. It is defined as "fan-shaped." I love going "beneath the surface" with the Century, however, because the second definition of rhipidate is flabelliform. This list of 370 terms to describe shapes also defines them similarly. Flabellate is a synonym of flabelliform. Well, the Flabellaria are the "fan-corals" from the family Gorgoniidae. Here is a picture of a fan-coral. Life is enriched because we have both rhipidate (derived from the Greek--rhipis--fan) and flabelliform. I learned also as I was studying this word that there is, or was, in the Coptic and Greek Churches something called the "eucharistic fan." Here is a word on that item.

"A fan made of ostrich or peacock feathers, linen cloth, thin sheets, or fine threads of metal is sometimes used in the church during the divine Liturgy to drive flies and other insects away from the chalice. It usually carries a drawing of the six-winged cherubim or is made in the shape of the cherubim, but is rarely used in modern churches."

There are many other interesting garments and practices of the Eastern Churches that I would love to describe, but not now.

Rasorial, Risorial, Rosorial

I would dare say that none of these three is used regularly in conversation or writing by almost anyone. But that is no reason to ignore them. They mean far different things. Rasorial is a term from ornithology and means "scratching the ground for food." The Rasores were named by Illiger in 1811 as his Fourth Order of birds, comprising those which obtain their food by scratching the ground. These are also known as the gallinaceous or columbaceous birds. The latter are pigeons or doves. In the 1830s William Swainson, the English ornithologist, malacologist (mollusks), conchologist (shells), entomologist and artist, wrote his first volume of On the Natural History and Classification of Birds. Some of his classifications from that volume stayed with us for a long time. Various types about which he wrote were: the fissirostral type, grallatorial type, scansorial structure...rasorial type, natatorial type, osculant groups, annulose animals,...." A veritable Latin-fest is here for the serious learner. If we accuse someone of having "rasorial tendencies," we might think of them as "scraping by" or "scraping and scratching" in order to make a living. A good word.

However, the word risorial takes us into a completely different world. It derives from the Latin verb ridere, to laugh, and means "risible." The Century is more complete: "Of or relating to laughter; causing laughter;..exciting risibility." I noted that there is a word risorius in the OED, which is sometimes defined as the "laughing muscle," but is rendered by the somber OED as "a muscle of facial expression running from the parotid fascia to the corner of the mouth." It is also called the risorius Santorini. Why? I love asking questions about things I didn't know existed even a moment previously. Well, this web page, which illustrates where the risorious is in the cheek, tells us the following. Giovanni Santorini (1681-1737) was an Italian anatomist, considered by many to be one of the most exact anatomists of his day. The muscle, highlighted in his book Anatomici Summi Septemdecim Tabulae Quas Nunc Primum Edit Atque Explicat (1775--first published 38 years after his death), is named after him. Some consider this book to be the best anatomical text of the 18th century. The OED adds an interesting final few words to its definition. After describing this facial muscle, it says it is "variable in form and sometimes lacking." Ah, I bet the class which lacks the laughing muscle is the class we call law professors.

Finally we have rosorial. There are "no results" under this word in the OED, but the Century tells us that it means "belonging to the Rosores or Rosoria." Neither of these terms is used in modern nomenclature, as far as I can discover, but the 19th century taxonomists referred to the "gnawing mammals" as Rosores. Rodere, the Latin verb, means to "gnaw," and we derive our word "rodent" from that Latin stem. We also get our words "corrode" and "erode" from this Latin root. Something, therefore, that has corroded has been "gnawed away." Don't you love the pictorial roots of some of our words? While a rasorial individual scratches, a rosorial person gnaws. Can't you just see all kinds of creative avenues for words you have learned?

Conclusion

Because you have been so good in following me, I will close with three "rh" bonus words. Rhexis, from the Greek rhegnumi, means to break or rupture. Rhexis is primarily used as a medical term to describe the rupture of a blood vessel or an organ. Rhexia is a genus of plants which we call deer grass or meadow beauty. I don't know what "bursts" to give its name to this plant--I suppose that will have to be something I seek out.

Then there is rhigosis, a word meaning an ability to feel cold or the perception of cold. Its opposite is thalposis, an ability to feel heat. Both of these words are in the Unabridged, so they are fair game in many spelling bees. Finally, there is rhysimeter, which is an instrument for measuring the velocity of a moving current or the speed of a ship. One dictionary's definition says that acts "on the principle of Pitot's tube." Well, what is Pitot's tube? Named after the French physicist Henri Pitot (1695-1771), it is a tube set parallel to the direction of fluid-stream movement and attached to a manometer, used to measure the total pressure of the fluid system." Don't knock it. If they named something after you, you certainly would want someone to make note of that object..

Let's return to our "serious r's," after one or two more fun words.

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