Stiletto

Stiletto (pronounced sti-let-oh)

(1) A small, slender knife or dagger-like weapon intended for stabbing; usually thick in proportion to its width.

(2) An archaic name for the rapier.

(3) A pointed instrument for making eyelet holes in needlework; a sharply pointed tool used to make holes in leather; also called an awl.

(4) A very high heel on a woman's shoe, tapering to a very narrow tip, also called the spike heel or stiletto heel.

(5) A beard trimmed to a pointed form.

(6) A style used in the fashioning of decorative fingernails.

1605–1615: From the Italian stiletto, a doublet of stylet, the construct being stil(o) (dagger or needle (from the Latin stilus (stake, pens))) + -etto (-ette) and from the Latin stilus came also stelo, an inherited doublet.  The etto- suffix was used to forms nouns from nouns, denoting a diminutive.  It was from the Late Latin -ittum, accusative singular of –ittus, and was the alterative suffix used to form melioratives, diminutives, and hypocoristics and existed variously in English & French as -et, in Italian as Italian -etto and in Portuguese & Spanish as -ito.  With an animate noun, -etto references as male, the coordinate female suffix being -etta, which is also used with inanimate nouns ending in -a.  It should not be confused with the homophonous suffix -eto.  Stilus was from the primitive Indo-European (s)teyg- (related to instīgō & instigare) and was cognate with the Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō) (to mark with a pointed instrument) and the Proto-Germanic stikaną (to stick, to stab).  Despite the similarity, there’s no relationship with the Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos) (a pillar).

A quasi-technical adoption in law-enforcement and judicial reports were the verb-forms stilettoed & stilettoing, referring to a stabbing or killing with a stiletto-like blade.  It was a popular description used by police when documenting the stabbing by wives of husbands or boyfriends with scissors or kitchen knives; use faded in the mid-twentieth century.  The idea of a long, slender beard trimmed into a pointed form being "a stiletto" popular in the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries but all such forms seem now to be referred to either as "a goatee" or "a Van Dyke".  The adjectival use can also sometimes need to be understood in the context of the phrase or sentence: "a stilettoed foot" can be either "the foot of someone wearing a shoe with a stiletto heel" or "a foot which has been stabbed with a long, thin blade.  Stiletto & stilettoing are nouns & verbs, stilettoed is a verb & adjective and stilettolike (also stiletto-like) is an adjective; the noun plural is either stilettos or stilettoes.

Of blades and heels

The stiletto design for small bladed weapons pre-dates not only modern metallurgy but antiquity itself.  The essence, a short, relatively thick blade, was technologically deterministic rather than aesthetic, most metals of the time not being as sturdy as those which came later.  Daggers were for millennia an essential weapon for personal protection but, particularly after developments in ballistics; they tended to evolve more for formal or ceremonial purposes.

The Schutzstaffel (SS) dagger model M1933 (often abbreviated to M33).

The M1933 was the standard issue to all SS members, the hilt either silver or nickel-plate while the grip was black wood.  Produced in large numbers, collectors are most attracted to the low-volume variations such as those without the manufacturer’s trade-mark or RZM control markings.  Most prized are the rare handful with a complete "Ernst Röhm inscription" which read In herzlicher freundschaft, Ernst Röhm (In heartfelt friendship, Ernst Röhm).  Given his his habits, enjoying Röhm's "friendship" would for a few have proved a double-edged sword.   Some 136,000 of the engraved SA daggers were produced, a further 9900-odd distributed to the SS.  After Röhm (1887–1934; chief of the Nazi Sturmabteilung (the stormtroopers (the SA)) was executed during the Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives), also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird) in 1934, all holders of the Röhm Honour Dagger were ordered to have the inscription removed and most complied, the unmodified survivors thus highly collectable although in some countries, the very idea of trading Nazi memorabilia is becoming controversial.  As ceremonial devices, bladed weapons were a feature of the uniforms worn during the Third Reich (1933-1945) and they were issued to all branches of the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces) the police, the various paramilitaries, the diplomatic service as well as organizations as diverse as the railways, the fire services, the forestry service and the postal office.  In this they were continuing a long German tradition but the Nazis vision of a homogenous, obedient population included the notion that uniforms should be worn wherever possible and there is something in the cliché that (at least at the time), no German was ever as happy as when they were in uniform.

Although the term is used widely, in the narrow technical sense, not all slim, high heels are stilettos.  The classic stilettos were the extremely slender Italian originals produced between the 1930s and 1960s, the heels of which were no more than 5 mm (0.2 inch) in diameter for much of their length, flaring at the top only to the extent structurally required successfully to attach to the sole; the construction of solid steel or an alloy.  Many modern, mass-produced shoes sold as "stilettos" are made with a heel cast in a rigid plastic with an internal metal tube for reinforcement, a design not having the structural integrity to sustain the true stiletto shape.  However, English is democratic and in the context of footwear, "stiletto" now describes the visual style, regardless of the materials.

The lines of the classic black stiletto (top left) were long ago made perfect and can't be improved upon; such is the allure that many women are prepared to endure inconvenience, instability, discomfort and actual pain just to wear them.  They appeal too to designers and the style, the quintessential feminine footwear, has been mashed-up with sneakers, Crocs, work-boots, sandals and even a scuba-diver's flippers (though they really were at home only on the catwalk).  Military camouflage is often seen, designers attracted by the ultimate juxtaposition of fashion and function.  The Giuseppe Zanotti Harmony Sandals (bottom row, second from right) were worn by Lindsay Lohan on The Masked Singer (2019).    

In the world of fingernail fashioning, there are stilettos and stilettos square.  A statement shape, something of a triumph of style over functionally, the stiletto gains its dramatic effect from long and slender lines and can be shaped with either fully-tapered or partially square sides.  They’re vulnerable to damage, breaking when subjected to even slight impacts and almost never possible with natural growth and realistically, pointed nails, certainly in their more extreme iterations (the stilettos, lipstick, mountain peaks, edges, arrow-heads, claws or talons), are more for short-term effect than anything permanent.  Best used with acrylics, the knife-like style can be a danger to the nail itself and any nearby skin or stockings.  Those contemplating intimacy with a women packing these should first ponder the implications.  True obsessives insist the stiletto styles should be worn only with matching heels and then only if the colors exactly match.

1964 Hillman Imp.

The Hillman Imp was a small economy car introduced in 1964.  It was the product of the Rootes Group which needed an entry in a market segment which had been re-defined by the British Motor Corporation’s (BMC) Mini and although similar in size, the engineering was radically different: rather than the Mini's front-engine / front wheel drive (FWD) arrangement which became (and to this day remains) the template for the industry, the Imp was configured with a rear-engine and rear wheel drive (RWD), something which had for decades been a feature of small Europeans cars but was in the throes of being abandoned.  It never achieved the commercial success of the BMC product although it continued in production after 1967 when the Rootes group was absorbed by Chrysler and, perhaps remarkably, it remained on the books until 1976.  In that time, it sold in not even 10% of the volume achieved by the Mini between 1959-2000.

Hillman Imp V8, Oran Park, Sydney, Australia, 1971.

The Hillman Imp did enjoy some success in competition, winning three successive British Saloon Car Championships between 1970-1972 (competing in Class A (under 1000 cm³)) but years earlier, its light-weight and diminutive dimensions had appealed to Australian earth-moving contractor Harry Lefoe (1936-2000) who had a spare 302 cubic inch (4.9 litre) Ford (Windsor) V8 sitting in his workshop.  By then, the Imp was a Chrysler product but because the published guidelines of the Australian Sports Sedan Association (ASSA) restricted engines to those from cars built by the manufacturer of the body-shell, the small-block Ford V8 could be put in an Imp because it had been used in the earlier Sunbeam Tiger.  So the big lump of an iron V8 replaced the Imp's 875 cm³ (53 cubic inch) aluminium four and such was the difference in size that Lefoe insisted his Imp had become "mid-engined" although it seems not to have imparted the handling characteristics associated with the configuration, the stubby hybrid infamous for its tendency to travel sideways.  It was never especially successful but it was loud, fast, spectacular and always a crowd favourite.

1967 Sunbeam Stiletto.

Introduced in 1967, the Sunbeam Stiletto was a “badge-engineered” variant of the Imp (there were also Singers), the name an allusion to the larger Sunbeam Rapier (a stiletto a short blade, a rapier longer).  Badge engineering (a speciality of the British industry during the post-war years) was attractive for corporations because while it might increase unit production costs by 5-10%, the retail price could be up to 40% higher.  Very much a “parts-bin special” (although there was the odd unique touch such as the quad-headlamps and the much-admired dashboard), mostly it was a mash-up, the fastback bodywork already seen on the Imp Californian and some interior fittings and the more powerful twin carburettor engine shared with the Singer Chamois.  Curiously, some sites report the fastback lines proved less aerodynamically efficient than the Imp’s more upright original, the opposite of what was found by Ford in the US when the “formal roof” Galaxies proved too slow on the NASCAR ovals, a “semi-fastback” at essentially the same angle as the Stiletto proving the solution; the physics of aerodynamics can be counter-intuitive.  Stiletto production ceased in 1972 with the Sunbeam brand-name retired in 1976 although Chrysler used it as a model name until 1981.

Lindsay Lohan in Christian Louboutin Madame Butterfly black bow platform booties with six-inch (150 mm) stiletto heel.

Terrible

Terrible (pronounced ter-uh-buhl)

(1) Distressing; severe.

(2) Extremely bad; horrible; of poor quality.

(3) Exciting terror, awe, or great fear; dreadful; awful.

(4) Formidably great; awesome.

1400–1450: From the late Middle English, from the Latin terribilis, from terrēre (to terrify), the construct being terr(ēre) (to frighten) + -ibilis (-ible).  The suffix –ible was from the Middle English, from the Old French, from the Latin –ibilis (the alternative forms were –bilis & -abilis.  An adjectival suffix, now usually in a passive sense, it was used to form adjectives meaning "able to be", "relevant or suitable to, in accordance with", or expressing capacity or worthiness in a passive sense.  The suffix -able is used in the same sense and is pronounced the same and –ible is generally not productive in English, most words ending in -ible being those borrowed from Latin, or Old & Middle French; -able much more productive although examples like collectible do exist.  

Because the earlier meanings (formidable; great; awesome) have faded from use, the synonyms now deployed tend to be: cruel, atrocious, ghastly, horrendous, disturbing, dreadful, horrid, abhorrent, unpleasant, unfortunate, hideous, disastrous, dire, harrowing, awful, gruesome, extreme, dangerous, appalling, frightful, horrible, horrifying & terrifying.  Terrible is a noun & adverb, terribly is an adverb, terribility & terribleness are nouns and terribler & terriblest are adjectives; use of the noun plurals is rare, the same applying to the alternative comparative (terribler) & supurlative (terriblest), "more terrible & "most terrible" both more elegant and preferred.  The adjective unterrible apparently exists. 

Technically, terrible can also mean “causing terror” but the related word terrifying is much more commonly used to mean this and now, to use “terrible” in this sense would probably be thought an error.  Terrible also once was a somewhat formal way of describing something as having great power or being worthy of awe, a sense present when used to describe supernatural power and, especially in Christianity, God and all his works.  In the Bible, the number varies according to the translation (some modern editions omit completely describing God as in any way “terrible” because of the confusion it’s likely to cause but in older translations, the word in its various senses appears dozens of times, a few examples from the 1611 King James Version (KJV) being:

Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God [is] among you, a mighty God and terrible. Deuteronomy 7:21

And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou [art] shall see the work of the LORD: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Exodus 34:10

And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. Deuteronomy 1:19

And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Exodus 34:10

And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Nehemiah 1:5

And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness [and] righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Psalms 45:4

And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Isaiah 13:11

For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off. Isaiah 29:20

Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. Lamentations 5:10

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. Daniel 7:7

He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. Ezekiel 30:11

When speaking of the awesome, formidable power of God, the Hebrew word translated as "terrible" in the KJV reflects English usage that was common and well-understood in the seventeenth century.  The type of "terror" associated with the word at that time was a reverent fear of God, which even today, theologians would suggest is the appropriate response to a Being immeasurably greater and more powerful than any living thing, Jesus telling his followers to have this kind of fear of God (Luke 12:4-5).  One can understand why some modern translations express the Hebrew word as "awesome" or "to be held in reverence", the dominant modern meaning of "terrible" as "extremely bad", "appalling" or "atrocious" not helpful in spreading the Christian message.  Interestingly, some translations use "dreadful" instead of and as well as "terrible", the meaning shift there a similar linguistic phenomenon.

Terrible in the seventeen century Biblical sense also appears in the first verse of the nineteenth century Battle Hymn of the Republic, written as a patriotic anti-slavery song during the American Civil War.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

He is trapling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored

He have loosed the faiteful lightening of his terrible swift sword

His truth is marching on

 

Glory, Glory halleluhja

Glory, Glory halleluhja

Glory, Glory halleluhja

His truth is marching on

Battle Hymn of the Republic, lyrics (1861) by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), music (1856) by William Steffe (1830-1890).

Although in the hymn there are allusions to several passages of scripture, the most vivid imagery is that which recalls the wrathful God of terrible power in Revelation 14:14–19.

14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV Vasilyevich, 1530–1584), Tsar of Russia 1547-1584), oil on canvas (1897) by Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926).

Russia over the centuries has been ruled by some difficult souls, tsars and tsarinas both but only one is remembered in history as "the terrible" although, in his lifetime he was referred to also as "Ivan the Fearsome" & "Ivan the Formidable" so there appears little doubt about his character.  His rule of Russia seems to have begun rather well, a period of liberal reform and improvement by the standards of the age but, what with one thing and another, some personality disorders emerged and they didn't improve with age, his reign associated with repression, torture and gruesome forms of execution.  Some of the stories are doubtless apocryphal but there's enough documentary evidence to confirm Ivan deserved to be called terrible.  One of his noted contributions to public administration in Russia was the creation of a secret police called the Oprichnina which he used as an instrument of terror although, he came later to suspect them of disloyalty, dissolving the operation and executing many of its members.  Later Russian and Soviet leaders would however be impressed with the achievements of the Oprichnina and there were many revivals, most famously the various formations of Soviet and post-Soviet times (Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKGB, NKVD, MGB, KGB, SMERSH & FSB).  In 1584, Ivan the Terrible suffered a massive stroke while playing chess with one of his few friends, dying hours later at the age of fifty-three.  The kingdom passed to his middle son, the feeble-minded Feodor (1557-1598) who died childless, after which Russia descended into lawlessness and anarchy, a period which came to be known as the "Time of Troubles" (1598-1613), an era which ended only when the rule of the Romanovs was established, the dynasty lasting until the revolutions of 1917.

Phrases like "not terrible" belong to the class known as "damning with faint praise".

Mannerism

Mannerism (pronounced man-uh-riz-uhm)

(1) A habitual or characteristic manner, mode, or way of doing something; distinctive quality or style, as in behavior or speech; a distinctive and individual gesture or trait; idiosyncrasy.

(2) Marked or excessive adherence to an unusual or a particular manner, especially if affected; adherence to a distinctive or affected manner, especially in art or literature.

(3) A style in art, a principally Italian movement in art and architecture between the High Renaissance and Baroque periods (1520–1600) that sought to represent an ideal of beauty rather than natural images of it, characterized by a complex perspectival system, elongation of forms, strained gestures or poses of figures, and intense, often strident color (usually initial capital letter).

1795–1805: A compound word manner + -ism.  Manner was from the Middle English maner, a borrowing from the Anglo-Norman manere, from the Old French maniere, from the Vulgar Latin manāria (feminine form of manuarius (belonging to the hand)), from manus (hand).  In Romance languages, there was also the French manière, the Italian mannaia (ax, axe), the Portuguese maneira and maneiro (handy, portable), the Romanian mâner (handle), and the Spanish manera (way).  The –ism suffix was from the Ancient Greek ισμός (ismós) & -isma noun suffixes, often directly, sometimes through the Latin –ismus & isma (from where English picked up ize) and sometimes through the French –isme or the German –ismus, all ultimately from the Ancient Greek (where it tended more specifically to express a finished act or thing done).  It appeared in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form abstract nouns of action, state, condition or doctrine from verbs and on this model, was used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism etc).  Mannerism & Mannerist are nouns, manneristic & manneristical are adjectives and manneristically is an adverb; the most commonly use noun plural is Mannerists.

After the Renaissance

Classic Mannerism: Madonna dal Colla Lungo (The Madonna with the Long Neck (circa 1537-1540)) oil on wood by Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, 1503-1540).

Historians of art use (sometimes a little loosely) the term Mannerism to refer to a style of painting, sculpture and even architecture which developed in Florence and Rome in the first two decades of the sixteenth century, the later years of the High Renaissance and although it’s a bit of a cliché, Mannerism can be thought of as the transition between the idealized style of Renaissance art and the dramatic theatricality of the Baroque.  Early Mannerism (circa 1510-1535) tends to be known for what it was not: it was “anti-Renaissance” or “anti-classical” and a reaction against what had evolved to be a formal and prescriptive style while High Mannerism (circa 1535-1580) adopted a formalism of its own, intricate, self-referential and a visual language which focused on technique and an appeal to the sophisticated critics and patrons of the age.  A deliberate retreat or advance depending on one’s view) from the naturalistic traditions of Renaissance painting the artificiality became the an exaggerated idiom associated with the era and was applied to the strained poses, elongated human figures, distortions of scale, tricks of lighting or perspective which were often depicted in vivid, contrasting colors.  More than anything, it was an attempt to find a way in which the attributes of the emotions could be depicted by technique alone.  Because Mannerism is now so associated with its distinctive markers such as the wan-like necks and facial expressions suggesting something between bemusement and constipation, it’s often forgotten artists as diverse as Correggio (1489-1534), noted for his sentimental narrative paintings, Federico Barocci (1526-1612) the devoutly religious painter of sacred images and Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) known for his monumentally bizarre portraits which were collages of fruit and vegetable (still popular as posters) were all significant figures in the Mannerist tradition.  The best remembered of course remains Michelangelo (1475-1564) who influenced for centuries the portrayal of the Christ child by showing light radiating from the infant, his Sistine Chapel frescoes such as The Last Judgement (1536-1541) a landmark of the movement.

High Mannerism: El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586) oil on canvas by El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, 1541-1614) 

Mannerism did not develop merely as an artistic novelty.  The idealized works of the High Renaissance were an expression of stability in society which had by the sixteenth century evolved into what at the time seemed to many not only the highest level of civilization ever achieved but the highest that was possible to achieve.  That didn’t last and the turmoil which followed in the wake of the religious war of the Reformation against the Catholic Church shattered the certainties of centuries, something exacerbated by what was discovered and uncovered by science; not only was it clear that Europe was not the centre of a flat Earth, but the Earth itself was not something around which all the universe revolved.  The ordered harmony of the world explained by the church was crumbling and the adventurism of Mannerism was there to reflects the new uncertainties.

Vista de Toledo (View of Toledo, circa 1599), oil on canvas by El Greco.  Although most associated with depictions of the human form, Mannerism also spawned a school of landscape painting.  Vista de Toledo is the best known of El Greco's surviving landscapes, a portrayal of the city in which he lived and worked in for most of his life.  Mannerist depictions of the built environment actually belonged to the long tradition of emblematic rather than faithful documentary descriptions of city views and here, there's also a bit of artistic licence; viewed looking north-east, the artist has shifted the cathedral to the left of the Alcázar (the royal palace), just to provide the desired compositional balance.  The ancient Alcántara Bridge and the Castle of San Servando are both faithfully represented.

Some historians have argued that although Mannerism wasn’t at any time inevitable, something was because the artistic forms of the Renaissance had been perfected by Old Masters like Raphael and Leonardo who had refined their techniques to the point where their ability to render the natural and realistic transcended the two-dimensional space in which they often worked; at what they did, they couldn’t be improved upon.  This wasn’t an attractive thing for younger artists who wished to be more than just imitative and foreshadowing the iconoclastic movements which centuries later would remake what art could be thought to be, the mannerists formed a new pictorial language, one which was individualistic and mapped symbolism onto a visual structure in which the symmetry and balance so prized by the Old Masters were replaced by a dynamism so challenging that a viewer might be uncertain where their gaze should be focused.  It was a confident and exaggerated artificiality.

Nozze di Cana (The Wedding Feast at Cana, 1562–1563), oil on canvas by Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari, 1528–1588).  Nozze di Cana is sometime used in fine art studies, lecturers asking students to identify the elements associated with the High Renaissance and those then exclusive to Mannerism.

From Mannerism can be traced the path which led via almost a dozen different movements to the art of post-modernism in which the real & unreal, the spiritual world and the perceptible world, can not necessarily be distinguished, a notion which the masters of the High Renaissance would have thought absurd but just as Mannerism was once a disrupter, it became an orthodoxy so of course there were those who wanted to create their own unique things and the school begat “High Mannerism” which in the seventeenth century became “the Baroque” and, in a nice twist, the style (which at its core was illusionist) was with alacrity embraced by the Church which understood what needed to be done to make faith attractive.  It was at the Council of Trent (1562) when the framework for the strategy of the Counter-Reformation was first thrashed out that it was decided the mystical and supernatural would become a prominent part of the religious experience: Baroque art could do that like none other.  

A distinctive feature of Mannerism was the use of figurative serpentinata (serpentine figure) in the depiction of the human body with extended limbs and the elongation of forms, the figures presented an otherworldliness that departed from classical renditions and many Mannerist works presented individuals or scenes in non-naturalistic settings, oftentimes without any contextual basis, inviting the viewer to regard the work as something beyond the literal renditions of the Renaissance.  Elements of the Mannerist style are often seen in modern art.  Although he describes himself as a “modern Impressionist artist” Lucas Bufi (b 1987) allows motifs from other traditions to flavor his work and for Lindsay Lohan Playboy Painting (oil on canvas, 2012), which followed her photo-shoot for the January–February 2012 issue of Playboy magazine, he used a Mannerist technique.

Chivalry

Chivalry (pronounced shiv-uhl-ree)

(1) The sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms; the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honour, justice and a readiness to help the weak.

(2) The rules and customs of medieval knighthood; Courtesy, respect and honourable conduct between opponents in wartime (often as a historical re-construction).

(3) The medieval system or institution of knighthood.

(4) Cavalry; horsemen armed for battle (historic use only).

(5) Collectively, knights, gallant warriors or gentlemen, fair ladies and noble chivalry (archaic).

(6) The ethical code(s) of the knight prevalent in Medieval Europe, having such primary virtues as mercy towards the poor and oppressed, humility, honour, sacrifice, fear of God, faithfulness, courage and courtesy to ladies.

(7) Courteous behaviour, especially of men towards women.

(8) In historic English law, a tenure of land granted by virtue of knightly service.

Circa 1300: From the Middle English chivalrie and the eleventh century Old French chevalerie (knighthood, chivalry, nobility, cavalry).  The early form was chevaler (knight) from the Medieval Latin caballarius (horseman), from the Latin caballus (nag, pack-horse).  The Medieval Latin caballaria (knighthood, status or fief of a knight) was the most familiar form by the twelfth century, the term chevaler long in use to describe "a knight or horseman".  The meaning (related to cavalier) "the nobility as one of the estates of the realm", dates from the fourteenth century whereas the more modern use "social and moral code of medieval feudalism" appears to be an eighteenth century historical revival.  Chivalry is a noun and chivalrous is an adjective; the noun plural is chivalries.

The Song of Roland

In Medieval Europe, there never was one universal code of chivalry.  The code was a moral construct which several authorities reduced to writing and, despite this disparate history, the concept was well understood in medieval times.  Although only parts of the codes were concerned with warfare, the texts formed the basis of the early rules of war and from here, can be traced the origins of much international law.  The epic-length poem The Song of Roland (written between 1098-1100) is a recount of the eighth century "Knights of the Dark Ages" and the wars fought by Charlemagne; it's essentially Charlemagne's Code of Chivalry but it is a literary work, a tale of betrayal and a normative text of what ought to be rather than a historical document of chivalrous warfare.  In summary, Charlemagne’s code can be reduced to:

To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valor and faith
To protect the weak and defenseless
To give succor to widows and orphans
To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
To live by honour and for glory
To despise pecuniary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honour of fellow knights
To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
To keep faith
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
To respect the honour of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe

The Duke of Burgundy’s Code

In the fourteenth century, the Duke of Burgundy reduced Charlemagne’s code to a list (printed on pigskin), which knights could carry in their Bibles: Faith, Charity, Justice, Sagacity, Prudence, Temperance, Resolution, Truth, Liberality, Diligence, Hope & Valor.  One can credit the Duke of Burgundy with the invention of the credo card.

The High Court of Chivalry

Lindsay Lohan usurping the escutcheon of the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or (digitally altered image).

In London, in December 1954, the High Court of Chivalry was summoned for the first time in two centuries to hear the case of a city council claiming their coat of arms had been usurped by a private company displaying it on their theatre.  Before substantive matters were introduced, the judge had to rule whether the ancient court still existed and if so, if it was the appropriate body to hear the case.  The judge found the court extant and with valid jurisdiction, his reasons a succinct sketch of the UK’s unwritten constitution in operation and a tale of how law and language interacted over several centuries.  The important principle established was to confirm, even in the modern era, there existed an enforceable law of arms and the law takes as much notice of bad heraldic manners as it does of more violent discourtesies, the judge disapproving of the “prevalent” notion that something cannot be unethical if it’s lawful.  That theme has of late been noted by royal commissioners though perhaps not politicians; in the judgement, the temptation to comment on whether chivalry was dead was resisted.

In Manchester Corporation v Manchester Palace of Varieties Ltd [1955] 1 All ER 387, the Manchester Corporation was successful and the court has not since sat but in 2012,  the council of the Welsh town of Aberystwyth issued a statement that they were prepared to lodge a writ against a Facebook page they alleged was usurping its coat of arms.  Before the council made clear whether they were intending to sue facebook.com or the author(s) of the page, the offending image had been removed.  As one of the findings in 1955 had been the High Court of Chivalry could be abolished only by an act of parliament, because New Labour’s judicial reforms didn’t do this, it appears the court would have to be convened in some form to hear similar matters although it's thought the marvellously flexible British constitution would allow a judge at an appropriate level to declare that their court was "sitting as the Court of Chivalry for the purposes of this case".  Given that constitutional flexibility, it's not impossible it may have crossed the minds of either Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) or Liz Truss (b 1975; UK prime-minister Sep-Oct 2022) that a re-constituted Court of Star Chamber might be a way quickly to solve "a few local difficulties". 

Perimeter & Parameter

Perimeter (pronounced puh-rim-i-ter)

(1) A line bounding or marking off an area; any boundary around.

(2) The outermost limits.

(3) In geometry, the border or outer boundary of a two-dimensional figure (the sum of the lengths of the segments that form the sides of a polygon.

(4) The total length of such line; the total length of any such closed curve, such as the circumference of a circle.

(5) In military jargon a fortified boundary that protects a position.

(6) In clinical ophthalmology, an instrument for determining the peripheral field of vision.

(7) In basketball, a semicircular line on a basketball court surrounding the basket, outside of which field goals are worth three points rather than two (also called three-point line).

(8) The area outside this line (often used attributively).

1585–1595: From the French périmètre (circumference, outer boundary, or border of a figure or surface), from the feminine Latin form perimetros, from the neuter Greek perímetron (circumference), the construct being peri- (around; about) + -meter from metron (measure), from the primitive Indo-European root me- (to measure).  The military sense of “boundary of a defended position” is said by some sources to have come into use only by 1943 despite the tactic being probably the second oldest military procedure still in use (the attack presumably the first).  Whether coincidental or not, the ultimate failure of perimeter defense was what finally led to the success of the Soviet offensive against the Nazi Sixth Army in Stalingrad (now Volgagrad) in 1943.  The technical terms created by the use of perimeter as a modifier include perimeter check (a patrol which checks to ensure a defensive perimeter remains in place) & perimeter fence.  Perimeter & perimetry are nouns, perimetral, perimetric & perimetrical are adjectives and perimetrically is an adverb; the noun plural is perimeters.

Parameter (pronounced puh-ram-uh-tuhr (U) or puh-ram-i-ter (non-U)

(1) In mathematics, a constant or variable term in a function that determines the specific form of the function but not its general nature, as a in f(x) = ax, where a determines only the slope of the line described by f(x).  (A value kept constant during an experiment, equation, calculation or similar, but varied over other versions of the experiment, equation, calculation etc).

(2) In mathematics, one of the independent variables in a set of parametric equations.

(3) In geometry, in the ellipse and hyperbola, a third proportional to any diameter and its conjugate, or in the parabola, to any abscissa and the corresponding ordinate.

(4) In crystallography, the ratio of the three crystallographic axes which determines the position of any plane; the fundamental axial ratio for a given species.

(5) In statistics, a variable entering into the mathematical form of any distribution such that the possible values of the variable correspond to different distributions (any measured quantity of a statistical population that summarizes or describes an aspect of the population).

(6) In computing, a variable that must be given a specific value during the execution of a program or of a procedure within a program.

(7) Limits or boundaries; guidelines; specifications; any constant, definitional or limiting factor (usually in the plural parameters).

(8) Characteristic or a factor; an aspect or element.

(9) In computing syntax for various purposes, an input variable of a function definition, that become an actual value (argument) at execution time (an actual value given to such a formal parameter).

1650-1660: From the French paramètre, from the New Latin parametrum (parameter), the construct being the Ancient Greek παρα- (para-) (beside, subsidiary) + μέτρον (métron) (meter) (measure), from the primitive Indo-European root me- (to measure).  The words was almost exclusive to mathematics & geometry until the late 1920s when it came to be extended to “measurable factor(s) which help to define a particular system", hence the now common alternative meaning “boundary, limit, characteristic factor” (under the influence of perimeter which used a similar spelling and (at least conceptually) could be understood to enjoy some overlap of meaning.  Although the wider definition has been in use since the 1950s, purists have never approved.  Parameter is a noun and parametric & parametrical are adjectives; the noun plural is parameters.

Parameters and perimeters

The more modern ways “parameter” has been used since the early twentieth century does offend the linguistically more fastidious but it seems clear the innovations are here to stay.  Some do however just get it wrong and university lecturers in the social sciences seem to be those who bear the heaviest burden of training a certain number of their institution’s first year students in the correct use of “parameter” & “perimeter”.  That they are sometimes confused is understandable because the spellings are so close and there is some sense of overlap in the meanings, both able to be used in a way which defines limits.  The definitions can be reduced to: (1) perimeter refers to either something physical (a national border; a fence etc) or a representation of something physical (lines on a map; the four sides of a square etc) whereas (2) a parameter is an element of specification, a constant or variable value which can be either an absolute value or a range.  So, a perimeter may be drawn on the basis of certain parameters while the values of parameters will in some cases exist within certain perimeters.  Definitions such as that are vague enough for those so inclined to find contradictions but for the way most people, most of the time (correctly) use parameter & perimeter, it seems serviceable.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.