The Indo-European root UER was not the only one that connoted twisting and turning. Others were PLEK, STREB, TERQ or TORQ, TERK, and UEI. Let’s start with PLEK, which in Greek gave πλεκ- and πλο(κ)-, in Latin plec- and plic-. It implied not only to twist, but other twisty actions as well—to braid or weave, […]
Category: Jeff Aronson’s Words
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . A full bladder
Although we don’t nowadays call bile gall, we still call the sac in which it is stored the gallbladder. “Bladder” is one of the early medical words listed in the Epinal glossary, in which “uessica” (classical Latin uesica, a bladder, blister, cyst, or vesicle) was glossed as “bledrae”. The relevant Indo-European root was BEU, BHEL, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . A twist on the Nobel Prize
As I was saying, bile and gall, from the same linguistic roots, mean the same things. At least, “bile” means a secretion of the liver, anger, ill temper, and bitterness, and so does “gall”, although there are meanings of “gall” (impudence, for example) that do not belong to “bile”. The King James’ Bible, does not […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . All gall
The Old English dictionary called the Epinal glossary, glossed the Latin word “bile”, a form of bilis, as “átr”, later spelt atter, meaning gall or bitterness. However, “atter” and “bile” or “gall” are not etymologically connected. The Indo-European root ATR meant fire, and by association blackening caused by fire; bile and gall came from GHEL, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Red fire
The Indo-European root ATR, which gave the Old English word atter, listed in the dictionary called the Epinal glossary, was not the only one that connoted fire. The word fire itself comes from PEUOR, from which we also get pyre, a pile of wood or any other combustible material on which to incinerate a dead body. […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Black fire, spiders, and dogs
Most of the dozen words with medical connections that I found in the Old English dictionary called the Epinal glossary are obsolete, with modern equivalents. For example, átr or atter. “Atter”, meaning poison, gall, or, figuratively, bitterness, is not documented later than the 16th century, although it lived on, at least until the late 19th […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Adam’s navel
Zeus one day, having nothing better to do, released two eagles from the easternmost and westernmost edges of the world. Flying at the same speed, they met over Delphi, where the god dropped a stone and proclaimed it the centre of the earth or omphalos. Some have suggested that the stone was hollow and that […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Adam’s apple
The Hebrew name of the first man, Adam (אדם), was also used to mean “man” itself, although the more usual word is “ish” (איש). The origin of the name is unknown, but the punning author of Genesis juxtaposes the name Adam with the word for the dust of the earth, in Hebrew adamah (אדםה), from which […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Adam’s throat-bowl
Of the dozen early medical words I found in the Old English dictionary called the Epinal glossary, five were anatomical: átr (atter, gall, or bitterness; Latin Bile); bledrae (bladder; Latin Vessica); næsgristlae (gristle, cartilage; Latin Cartilaga); throtbolla (throat-boll, the Adam’s apple; Latin Gurgulio); thuma (thumb; Latin Pollux) Three of these are still with us: bladder, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Gargantuan gargoyles
Although I found only one onomatopoeic word (iesca, a sob, hiccup, or belch), among early medical words in the Old English dictionary called the Epinal glossary, another, throtbolla (throat-boll, the Adam’s apple), of which more next time, was a translation of an onomatopoeic Latin word, gurgulio. The Indo-European root GARG was an echoic representation of […]