Enigma

Enigma (pronounced uh-nig-muh)

(1) A puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation; mysterious.

(2) A person of puzzling or contradictory character.

(3) A saying, question, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.

(4) A German-built enciphering machine developed for commercial use in the early 1920s and later adapted and appropriated by German and other Axis powers for military use through World War II (initial capital letter).

(5) In music, an orchestral work in fourteen parts, Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 (popularly known as the Enigma Variations) by Edward Elgar.

1530–1540: From the Late aenigmaticus, from aenigmat-, stem of aenigma (riddle), from the Ancient Greek verbal noun αἴνιγμα (aínigma) (dark saying; speaking in riddles), the construct being ainik- (stem of ainíssesthai (to speak in riddles), derivative of aînos (fable) + -ma, the noun suffix of result.  The sense of a "statement which conceals a hidden meaning or known thing under obscure words or forms" emerged in the 1530s although enigmate had been in use since the mid 1400s, under the influence of the Latin aenigma (riddle), the ultimate root of all being the ainos (tale, story; saying, proverb), a poetic and Ionic word, of unknown origin.  The modern sense of "anything inexplicable to an observer" is from circa 1600, the meaning also absorbing the earlier (1570s) enigmatical & enigmatically.  The derived forms are the adjectives enigmatic & enigmatical, adjective and the adverb enigmatically; enigmatic the most frequently used.  In modern English, the plural is almost always enigmas although some writing in technical publications continue to use enigmata although the once common alternative spelling ænigma is now so rare as to be probably archaic.  An enigma is something or someone puzzling, mysterious or inexplicable although use with the older meaning (a riddle) is still seen, indeed in some contexts the words are used interchangeably.  In idiomatic use in Spain, the character of an enigmatic soul is illustrated by by suggesting he’s the sort of fellow who “were one to meet him on a staircase, one wouldn’t be sure if he was going up or coming down”.  Enigma is a noun, enigmatic is an adjective and enigmatically is an adverb; the noun plural is enigmas.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations

English composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) wrote Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 36 during 1898-1899.  An orchestral work in fourteen parts, it’s referred almost always as the Enigma Variations, the enigma being the linkage to a certain piece of music is the theme.  Elgar famously wrote a dedication for the work "to my friends pictured within", each of the variations a sketch in musical form of some friend or acquaintance, including himself.  An enigma it remained, Elgar always secretive about the mysterious theme and the work has always defied the attempts of musicologists and other composers to deconstruct things to the point where a thematic agreement ensued although there have been theories and suggestions.

Lindsay Lohan in Enigma magazine.

Mozart’s ‘Prague’ Symphony was one, the idea attractive because the slow movement fluctuates between G minor and G major, as does Enigma’s theme.  There were those who thought it might reference Auld Lang Syne as a veiled reference to a farewell to the nineteenth century, the variations completed in 1899.  The list went on, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; God Save The Queen; Martin Luther’s hymn tune Ein Feste Burg; Home, Sweet Home; Rule Britannia; the theme of the slow movement of Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’ Sonata; various passages of scripture, Pop Goes The Weasel; a Shakespeare sonnet and, most recently added, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.  To add more mystery, the title "Enigma" didn’t appear on Elgar’s original score, added only after the papers had been delivered to the publisher and despite enquiries, the nature of the enigma he declined to discuss, saying only it was a "dark saying" which “must be left un-guessed”.  His reticence didn’t discourage further questions but his answers, if not cryptic, added little and the conclusion remained the theme was a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is never heard.

A fine recording is by the London Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult (1889-1983), (1970; Warner Classics 764 0152).

For over a century, just which tune has drawn the interest of musicians,  mathematicians & madmen for Elgar died without revealing the truth.  It’s been suggested artificial intelligence might be used to find the answer but there’s also the suspicion Elgar preferred the enigma to remain one and even if someone during his lifetime had cracked the code, he may have be disinclined to kill the mystique attached to the piece.  He had good reason to be fond of the fourteen variations.  It was the work which cemented his reputation internationally as a first rate composer and even today, some of the popularity probably lies in the impenetrability of the riddle.

Posh

Posh (pronounced posch)

(1) Sumptuously furnished or appointed; luxurious.

(2) Elegant or fashionable; exclusive.

(3) A more expensive version of something mass-produced.

(4) Non-U term for the upper-class or genteel.

(5) Non-U term for speaking English with received pronunciation.

1890s: The source is obscure but it’s thought probably derived from the Gypsy (Romani; Roma) posh & pash (“half”), from the Old Armenian փոշի (pʿoši), the preferred theories accounting for it being associated with wealth and its implications being either because (1) a posh-kooroona (half a crown), once a fair sum, was used metaphorically for anything pricey or (2) because posh-houri (a half-penny) became a general term for money.  A period dictionary of slang defined "posh" as a term for “money” used by the criminal class and notes this was used sometimes specifically to refer to a halfpenny or other small coin and the connection seems soon to have been extended to wealth in general: a slang use documented from the early 1890s meant "dandy" (someone well dressed and apt to "splash cash").  There was also the early-twentieth-century Cambridge University slang poosh (stylish) which may have been a (deliberate) mispronunciation of polish but it’s thought un-related.  A popular folk etymology, dating from 1915, holds it’s an acronym for "port (left) out, starboard (right) home", describing the cooler, north-facing cabins taken by rich passengers travelling from Britain to India under the Raj and back.  However, despite much repetition of the story, there’s no direct evidence for this claim.

Posh and Smart: U and Non-U

A selection of U & non-U words by Professor Alan Ross.

A fun linguistic irony is that posh folk aren’t supposed to use the word, their preference supposedly being “smart”.  In 1954, Alan Ross (1907-1980), Professor of Linguistics at the University of Birmingham, coined "U" (upper-class) and "non-U" (non-Upper-Class) to describe the differences social class makes in their use of English.  While his article included differences in pronunciation and writing styles, it was his list of variations in vocabulary which attracted most interest.  Professor Ross published his illustrative glossary of "U" and "non-U", differentiating the speech patterns in English social classes in a Finnish academic journal and used extracts from Nancy Mitford’s (1904–1973 and the oldest of the Mitford sisters) novel The Pursuit of Love (1945) to provide examples of the patterns of speech of the upper class.  Greatly this pleased Nancy Mitford who interpolated the professor’s work into an article about the English gentry she was writing for Stephen Spender's (1909-1995) literary magazine Encounter (1953-1990).  Although not best-pleased her discussion of the Ross thesis was the only part of her piece to attract attention, more amusing was the subsequent re-publication in her slim volume Noblesse Oblige: an Enquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy (1956) which, augmented with contributions from John Betjeman (1906–1984) and Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966), meant that for decades she was the acknowledged authority on upper-class speech, manners and ways.  Her class-conscious readers had taken it all more seriously than she had intended.

As a footnote, it was only after details were published of Professor Ross's role in Britain's World War II (1939-1945) code-breaking project which produced the "Ultra" transcripts from the messages sent through the German Enigma machine that details of his unusual child-care practices were revealed.  It transpired his way of ensuring he had a quiet, interruption-free train journey in which to read his book was to tranquilize his young son Padmint with a dose of laudanum, placing him on the luggage rack for the duration of the trip.  Laudanum was the opioid said to be responsible for the 300-odd lines of verse which came in a dream to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) but he’d written down only the first 50 when interrupted by “a person on business” from the nearby village of Porlock.  Once the person had departed, memories of the rest vanished, never to return.  Given the poet’s history in using the excuse for what has been judged “writer’s block”, critics have long doubted the tale but Kubla Khan (composed in 1797 but not published until 1816) remains one of the most beloved fragments of English verse.

In some circles, interest in "U" & "non-'U" has never gone away and, as differences in the English speaking world gradually diminish from country-to-country, works on the theme often appear in popular journalism.  Helpfully for the status-obsessed English middle-class, magazines like Country Life now and then print guides to help those concerned with such things and, sometimes controversially, there’s the occasional attempt to update the canon.  Right-wing English weekly The Spectator some years ago suggested the (non-U) "toilet" was now entirely classless and could be used, as it was by the rich Americans, instead of the (U) "loo" or (U) "lavatory".  Country Life ignored them and later retaliated by claiming the aristocracy's preferred term for their most frequent brush with the plumbing was "lavatory" and that "loo" was "now lower-middle class", apparently a slight worse than "peasant".

Posh vs smart: 2021 Lexus LS 500h (left) vs 1975 Bristol 411 Series V (right).  The essence of posh is a conjunction of shiny stuff, now expressed as "bling", "bling-bing" or "pricetaggery", the latter a word coined apparently by the writers of The Simpsons cartoon though it was used by Mr Burns (evil nuclear power-plant owner) in a different sense.  Something smart tends to express things like the price tag by being generally understated yet with one or two characteristics effortlessly recognized by smart folk while remaining invisible to most.

Poshmark is an example of the social marketplace, a site which exists to bring together buyer and seller, its revenue generated by "clipping the ticket" on each transaction.  It's thus structurally the same as a general trading site like eBay in that it facilitates B2C (business-to-consumer) and C2C (consumer-to-consumer) sales but as a niche player with a certain speciality, remains viable on less than 1% the turnover of the bigger aggregators because of the internet's global scale.

Ultra

Ultra (pronounced uhl-truh)

(1) The highest point; acme; the most intense degree of a quality or state; the extreme or perfect point or state.

(2) Going beyond what is usual or ordinary; excessive; extreme.

(3) An extremist, as in politics, religion, sporting team supporters, fashion etc, used semi-formally on many occasions in history.

(4) In the history of military espionage, the British code name for intelligence gathered by decrypting German communications enciphered on the Enigma machine during World War II (initial capital letter).

1690–1700: A New Latin adverb and preposition ultrā (uls (beyond) + -ter (the suffix used to form adverbs from adjectives) + -ā (suffixed to the roots of verbs)).  The prefix ultra- was a word-forming element denoting "beyond" (eg ultrasonic) or "extremely" (ultralight (as used in aviation)) and was in common use from the early nineteenth century, the popularity of use apparently triggered by the frequency with which it was used of political groupings in France.  As a stand-alone word (in the sense now used of the most rabid followers of Italian football teams) meaning "extremist", it dates from 1817 as a shortening of ultra-royaliste (extreme royalist (which at the time was a thing))."  The independent use of ultra (or shortening of words prefixed with it) may also have been influenced by nē plūs ultrā (may you) not (go) further beyond (this point), said to be a warning to sailors inscribed on the Pillars of Hercules at Gibraltar.  This legend comes not from Greek mythology but dates from the resurrection of interest in antiquity which began during the Renaissance, influenced by Plato having said the lost city of Atlantis “lay beyond the Pillars of Hercules” and the most useful translations of nē plūs ultrā probably something like "go no further, nothing lies beyond here".

As a prefix, ultra- has been widely appended.  The construct of ultra vires (literally "beyond powers") was ultra (beyond) + vires (strength, force, vigor, power) and is quoted usually by courts and tribunals to describe their jurisdictional limits, something ultra vires understood as "beyond the legal or constitutional power of a court".  In political science, the term ultranationalism was first used in 1845, a trend which has ebbed & flowed but certainly hasn't died.  The speed of light being what it is, ultralight refer not to optics but to very small (often home-built or constructed from a kit) aircraft, the term first used in 1979 although it was (briefly) used in experimental physics in the late 1950s.  Ultrasound in its current understanding as a detection & diagnostic technique in medicine dates from 1958 but it had been used in 1911 to mean "sound beyond the range of human hearing", this sense later replaced by ultrasonic (having frequency beyond the audible range) in 1923, used first of radio transmission; the applied technology ultrasongraphy debuted in 1960.  Ultraviolet (beyond the violet end of the visible spectrum) was first identified in 1840 and in 1870 ultra-red was coined to describe what is now known as infra-red.  First identified in the 1590s, ultramarine (blue pigment made from lapis lazuli) was from the Medieval Latin ultramarinus ("beyond the sea"), the construct being ultra +  marinus (of the sea) from mare (sea, the sea, seawater), from the primitive Indo-European root mori- (body of water), the name said to be derived from the mineral arriving by ship from mines in Asia.  Ultramontane has a varied history and was first used in the 1590s.  It was from the Middle French ultramontain (beyond the mountains (especially the Alps)), from the early fourteenth century Old French, the construct being ultra + the stem of mons (hill), from the primitive Indo-European root men- (to project) and was used particularly of papal authority, though the precise meaning bounced around depending on context.  The acronym UHF (ultra-high frequency) was coined in 1937 although the technology using radio frequencies in the range of 300-3000 megahertz (Mhz) became available in 1932.  Other forms (ultramodern, ultra-blonde etc) are coined as required and survive or fall from use in the usual way English evolves.

The Ultras

The prefix ultra- occurred originally in loanwords from Latin, meaning essentially “on the far side of, beyond.”  In relation to the base to which it is prefixed, ultra- has the senses “located beyond, on the far side of” (eg ultraviolet), “carrying to the furthest degree possible, on the fringe of” (eg ultramodern) or “extremely” (eg ultralight); nouns to which it is added denote, in general, objects, properties, phenomena etc that surpass customary norms, or instruments designed to produce or deal with such things (eg ultrasound).  The more recent use as a noun (usually in the collective as “the ultras”) applied to members of an extreme faction dates from early nineteenth-century English parliamentary politics and is associated also with the most extreme supporters of certain Italian football (soccer) teams.

Although never formally a faction in the modern sense of the word, the ultra Tories (the ultras) operated from 1827 (some political scientists insists the aggregation coalesced only in 1828) as a formal as a loose and unstructured grouping of politicians, intellectuals, and journalists who constituted, in embryonic form, the “extreme right wing” of British and Irish politics.  Essentially reactionary conservatives unhappy with changes associated with the Enlightenment, the industrial revolution and urbanization, they regarded the 1689 protestant constitution as the unchangeable basis of British social, economic and political life and treated all their opponents with a rare obsessional hatred.  In another echo of recent right-wing politics, the ultras showed some scepticism of economic liberalism and supported measures designed to ameliorate the hardships suffered by the poor during the early industrial age.  Like a number of modern, nominally right-wing populist movements, the ultras were suspicious of “free trade” and the destructive consequences these policies had on industries vulnerable to competition from foreign producers.

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) by Francisco Goya (1746–1828), circa 1812–14, oil on mahogany panel, National Gallery, London.

The previously inchoate ultras coalesced into a recognizable force in the period of instability which followed the death in 1827 of a long-serving prime-minister.  Their first flexing of political muscle, which proved unsuccessful, was an attempt to deny the premiership to a supporter of Catholic emancipation but the ultras emerged as a powerful influence in Tory politics although many claimed to belong to the Whig tradition.  Their annus mirabilis (a remarkable or auspicious year) came in 1830 when the ultras brought down the Duke of Wellington’s government (1828-1830) but the need for reform was unstoppable and while the label was for decades to be applied to the far-right of the Conservative Party, the latter iterations never matched the political ferocity of the early adherents.

Ultra Blonde product.

Although there are packaged products labeled as such and the phrase "ultra-blonde" is far from uncommon, there's no precise definition of such a thing and while some blondes are blonder than others, on the spectrum, there is a point at which going further means the color ceases to anymore to be blonde and becomes some shade which tends to grey, white or the dreaded yellow.  For that reason, some hairdressers prefer to describe platinum as a stand-alone color rather than the usual "platinum blonde", noting that the end result will anyway usually to some degree differ, depending on the shade and physiology of the hair to be treated.  They also caution the idea of ultra blonde isn't suitable for everyone and base their recommendations of whether a client's skin is warm or cool toned, the practical test being to assess the veins visible in the wrist; if they're mostly blue and purple (source of the word "blue-blooded" which was based on the notion of those with obviously blue veins being rich enough not to have to work in the fields), then the undertone is cool, if mostly green then it's warm and if a mix of both, the undertone is neutral.

Lindsay Lohan had an ultra-blonde phase but for her Playboy photo shoot in 2012, wore a blonde wig; many would call this "ultra blonde" but to a professional hairdresser it's a "pale".

The undertone interacts with skin tone, paler, pinky skin tones suit cool, delicate blondes like ash, beige or baby-blonde whereas darker or more golden-toned skins suit honey hues described often as butter, golden or caramel.  For perfectionists, there's also eye color to consider and here the trick is to achieve the desired degree of contrast; soft, multi-tonal shades better complementing lighter colours whereas deeper, richer blondes flatter the darker eye.  Those especially obsessive can use non-optically corrective contact lens, eye color often easier to change than hair.  So, while hairdressers think of ultra blonde as shifting concept rather than a specific color, most agree (whatever the sometimes extraordinary proliferation of imaginatively named products on manufacturers' color charts), there are essentially four stages of blondness and they’re usually described as something like: medium, light, pale & platinum.  In each of those categories, it's possible to be an "ultra" though hairdressers will readily admit their technical distinctions resonate little with customers whose expectation of "ultra" is simply the limit of what's physically possible.

Cipher

Cipher (pronounced sahy-fer)

(1) Zero (archaic).

(2) Any of the Arabic numerals or figures (historic use only).

(3) To use figures or numerals arithmetically (historic use only).

(4) To write in or as in cipher.

(5) To calculate numerically; figure (historic use only).

(6) To convert into cipher.

(7) A numeric character (historic use only).

(8) Any text character (historic use only).

(9) A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name; a device; a monogram.

(10) A method of transforming a text in order to conceal its meaning.

(11) In cryptography, a system using an algorithm that converts letters or sequences of bits into cipher-text.

(12) A grouping of three digits in a number, especially when delimited by commas or periods.

(13) In music, a fault in an organ valve which causes a pipe to sound continuously without the key having been pressed.

(14) In music, slang for a hip-hop jam session (although some etymologists thing this is wholly unrelated to cipher’s accepted lineage.

(15) The path (usually vaguely circular) shared cannabis takes through a group.

(16) Someone or something of no importance.

(17) As cipher.exe, an external filter command in some versions of Microsoft operating systems, used to encrypt and decrypt data on drives using HPFS (High-Performance File System & NTFS (New Technology File System).

Late 1300s: From the Middle English siphre & cifre, from the Old French cyfre & cyffre (nought, zero) (which endures in Modern French as chiffre) from the Medieval Latin cifra & ciphra, (like the Spanish and Italian cifra), ultimately from the Arabic صِفْر‎ (ṣifr) (zero, empty), from صَفَرَ‎ (ṣafara) (to be empty), a loan-translation of the Sanskrit śūnyā-s (empty) The alternative spelling is cypher.  The word came to Europe in the twelfth century with the arrival of Arabic numerals.  Meaning first "zero", by the fifteenth century it had come to mean "any numeral" and then, following the use in French & Italian, "secret way of writing; coded message", a sense which in English emerged by the 1520s, the origin of the shift being the early diplomatic codes, often creations which substituted numbers for letters.  The meaning "the key to a cipher or secret writing" was by 1885 short for “cipher key”, a phrase in use since 1835.  Drawing from the sense of “zero”, the figurative sense of "something or someone of no value, consequence, or power" dates from the 1570s.

The verb in the sense of “doing arithmetic" (with Arabic numerals) emerged in the 1520s and was derived from the noun while the transitive sense (reckon in figures, cast up) was first noted in 1860 and the specific sense of a cipher code being something which might be associated with the occult characters was first attested in 1563.  The verb decipher (an obviously essential companion to cipher) in the 1520s had a now obsolete meaning in mathematics (find out, discover) but by the 1540s it meant "interpret” in the sense of rendering a coded message (a cipher) back into the language or origin by use of a cipher-key.  It may, at least in part, be a loan-translation from the French déchiffrer.  From circa 1600, it moved beyond the literal to the transferred sense of "discover or explain the meaning of what is difficult to understand", the sense of "succeed in reading what is written in obscure or partially obliterated characters" used by 1710.  Cipher is a noun & verb; ciphering is a noun; the noun plural is ciphers.

German Enigma M4 encryption machine.  Introduced for commercial purposes in 1923, it was used by the German Navy from 1926, all branches of the service adopting it by 1935.  Built initially with three rotors, a fourth was added in 1941.

Although used by the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces) throughout the war, work by Polish mathematicians, aided by French intelligence, had enabled Polish cryptographers to break the codes and thus read German military traffic between 1932-1938, at which point additional layers of complexity were added.  In 1939, as war approached, the Poles passed their work to the allies where the code-breaking continued, culminating in the “Ultra” decrypts which would be of such value during the war.

The text "Lindsay Lohan" encrypted using different ciphers:

Standard Vigenère cipher: Nzlslig Nffpg
Beaufort cipher: Rjlmbik Rdrpg
Variant Beaufort cipher: Jrpozsq Jxjlu
Trithemius cipher: Ljpgwfe Swqky

In the decryption process, the British made some of the first use at scale of electronic computers and so secret was the project regarded that the protocols of the existing highest level of secrecy in the machinery of government, “Most Secret”, was thought inadequate and “Ultra Secret” was thus created with a tiny distribution list.  Also deployed was the coat-and-dagger trick of the misleading code-name Boniface, used in a way to convey the impression the British had a master spy they called “Boniface” controlling a network of spies throughout the political, military and industrial structures of the Reich.  The ruse proved successful, the OKM (Oberkommando der Marine; the German naval high command) never taking seriously the suggestion their codes had been broken, instead repeatedly combing their organisation for spies.  The existence of the British code-breaking project and the volume and importance of the Ultra decrypts to the war effort wasn’t widely known until an (at times misleading) account was published  in 1974 in The Ultra Secret by a former RAF (Royal Air Force) officer, FW Winterbotham (1897-1990).  Although criticised in detail, what was revealed did compel a re-evaluation of some of the conclusions drawn by historians about political and military matters during the war.

Pravda

Pravda (pronounced prahv-duh)

(1) Formerly an official newspaper of the Communist Party of the USSR.

(2) A newspaper now run by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (the digital presence (Russian, English & Portuguese) maintained by a nominally privately-controlled entity.

(3) In slang (in the West), a derisive term applied to any form of news media thought to be biased or distributing fake news or misinformation (often on the basis of them being a mouthpiece of the state or the corporate interests of the owners).

Pre 1600: From the Russian правда (pravda) (literally “the truth”), from the Proto-Slavic правъ (pravŭ) (used variously to denote concepts related to law, order, and correctness), the source also of other Slavic words such as the Bulgarian, Czech and Slovak право (pravo) which was formed in Polish as prawo, all of which variously conveyed “law”, “justice”, “right” or “righteousness”.  Over time, the word shifted in meaning, assuming the modern general sense of “truth” by the mid-nineteenth century. Pravda is a noun; the noun plural is pravdas.

Pravda mini pencil-skirt with hammer & sickle.

Officially, Pravda was first published in 1912 but it had actually existed in Moscow since 1903 although originally it showed no overt political orientation, something which changed after the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905 and editorial direction became contested before a leftist faction gained control.  In the manner in which the control of institutions passed between the factions in the years prior to the 1917 revolution, Pravda was for a while edited by Comrade Leon Trotsky (1879-1940; founder of the Fourth International) who moved the operation to Vienna to protect it from the attention of the Tsar’s police before it was taken over by Comrade Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924; head of government of Russia or Soviet Union 1917-1924).  Lenin was a lawyer who understood how a carefully designed corporate structure could take advantage of Russian law and moved the paper to Saint Petersburg (known as Leningrad in the days of the USSR).  His tactics substantially ensured ongoing publication until the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918) when the government (like many including some in the West) either suspended or changed any laws which looked inconvenient and wartime regulations were used to censor the press to the extent Pravda was closed and in a game of cat-and-mouse was forced to change both its name and the premises from which it operated on a number of occasions (officially eight but some editions never actually reached the printing stage and it may have been as many as eleven).  Despite it all, between 1912-1991, Pravda survived to operate as the organ of the Communist Party and after 1917 it was the voice of the state.  Pravda always enjoyed wide circulation but under an arrangement which must make modern editors and proprietors envious, there was never much interest in stimulating sales, it being compulsory for all the many parts of state institutions and the military to each day buy multiple copies.  Whenever additional funds were needed, department heads were ordered to order more.

Special Edition of Izvestia published in honor of Comrade Stalin’s state funeral, Moscow, 9 March 1953.  Both newspapers were integral to the manufacturing of Stalin's cult of personality.

The other Russian newspaper of note was Известия (Izvestia) which translates for most purposes as “the news”.  The Russian izvestiya means “bring news”, “tidings” or “herald” (in the medieval sense of an official messenger announcing news) and was from the verb izveshchat (to inform; to notify).  It was exclusively a creation of the party, founded in 1917 initially as a vehicle for the distribution of statements by and comment on behalf of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.  Unlike Pravda which to some extent still operated as a conventional newspaper (though without any dissenting views), Izvestia existed only to disseminate state propaganda.  Now controlled by the National Media Group, it survives to this day and is described as a “national newspaper of Russia” although, given the present-day influence the Kremlin, its original full-name Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР (Izvestiya Sovetov Narodnykh Deputatov SSSR) which translates as “Reports of Soviets of Peoples' Deputies of the USSR” hints at the source of editorial direction.  There are of course differences between the press in Russia and in the West but there are also similarities, notably in the cynicism of the readership, a favorite saying in Soviet times being there was no pravda in the Izvestia and no investia in the Pravda.  Another similarity with Western corporations is that Pravda enjoys an eponymous street address, its headquarters being at 24 Pravda Street, Moscow, emulating Apple (1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California) and Microsoft (One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington).

Pravda, 6 March 1953.  On the day the death of Comrade Joseph Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) was announced, the first indication to Muscovites the news might be ominous was that Pravda and Izvestia, rather than appearing shortly after midnight, didn’t show up in the kiosks until after nine.  Pravda noted the event with an appropriately mournful black border around its front page which was devoted wholly to Stalin and included an editorial calling for “monolithic unity” and “vigilance”.  Presumably, Mr Putin (b 1952; president or prime minister of Russia since 1999) still feels much the same.

Lindsay Lohan attending the Just Sing It App Launch at Pravda, New York City, December 2013.

For over seventy years, the two newspapers existed as documents, if not of news and truth in the conventional sense of the words, a uniquely accurate record of the official Soviet world-view and the way it wish to be represented.  It was influential too in that many of its stock phrases and modes of expression were picked up by political scientists in the West and, given the paucity of information from other sources, analyzing Pravda and Izvestia became a staple of the diet of the Kremlinologists who inhabited university departments and later think tanks, parsing and deconstructing the text in search of the hidden meanings of what Winston Churchill (1975-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) described as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.

Banister, Baluster & Balustrade

Banister (pronounced ban-uh-ster)

(1) The handrail on the side of a staircase.

(2) One of the vertical supports of a handrail; a baluster (often in the plural as banisters).

(3) The balustrade of a staircase (usually in the plural as banisters).

(4) To construct a banister.

(5) To act as a banister (only in the literal sense).

1660–1670: Of uncertain origin but thought most likely by dissimilation from the earlier ballester & the seventeenth century barrester, both corruptions of baluster.  As late a 1848 it was listed as “a vulgar term” but by the early twentieth century was an accepted part of the language of architecture and in the building trades. The surname Bannister was unrelated to the use in architecture and entered English from the Anglo-Norman Bannister, from the Old French banastre (basket); it was thus occupational and described a “basket-maker”.  Like many surnames, it also became a locality name.  The verb use in the sense of “to construct a banister” is a metal worker’s or carpenter’s term to describe “fabricating a banister” while the idea of “to act as a banister” is an allusion to some use of static uprights to support something.  There’s is no evidence it has been used figuratively in the way “pillar” or “buttress” are used metaphorically.  Minnie Bannister (voiced by Spike Milligan (1918–2002) & Henry Crun (voiced by Peter Sellers (1925–1980)) were two elderly characters in the BBC’s radio comedy series The Goon Show (1951-1960) which was, by the standards of the time, somewhat anarchic and a precursor to later ventures into surrealist television like Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974).  The gags involving Henry Crun & “Modern Min” Bannister usually involved placing the two into roles wholly improbably for such a decrepit pair.  The spelling bannister (influenced presumably by the surname Bannister) is listed by most dictionaries as an alternative but it seems rare.  Banister is a noun & verb and banistering & banistered are verbs; the noun plural is banisters.

Baluster (pronounced bal-uh-ster)

(1) In architecture, any of a number of closely spaced uprights supporting a railing.

(2) Any of various symmetrical supports, as furniture legs or spindles, tending to swell toward the bottom or top (rare in US use).

1595–1605: From the French baluster, from the Middle French balustre, from the Italian balaustro (pillar shaped like the calyx of the pomegranate flower), from balausta (wild pomegranate flower), ultimately from the Latin balaustium, from the Ancient Greek βαλαύστιον (balaústion), probably from a Semitic language.  Iin Aramaic (the language of Christ), a balatz was “a wild pomegranate flower” and in Classical Syriac ܒܠܳܨܳܐ (blāṣā) was “a pomegranate shoot”.  In Roman architecture, uprights with lyre-like double curves (resembling the swelling form of the half-opened pomegranate flower) were most fashionable.  The spellings ballister & balluster are both (obsolete) while balustre is listed as an alternative (though not used in the US).  Baluster is a noun and balustered & balusterlike are adjectives; the noun plural is balusters.

Balustrade (pronounced bal-uh-streyd)

A railing with supporting balusters.

1635-1645: An unadapted borrowing from the French balustrade, from the Middle French balustre, from the Italian balaustro (pillar shaped like the calyx of the pomegranate flower), from balausta (wild pomegranate flower).  Balustrade is a noun and balustraded & balustrading are verbs; the noun plural is plural balustrades.

Of staircases and such

Lindsay Lohan in glomesh, on staircase.

The terms “banister”, “baluster” & “balustrade” are all used in the language of architecture and design, usually in the context of staircases or railing systems but all refer to different elements.  Banister is now used more loosely than in earlier times.  Mostly, banister refers to the handrail of a staircase, the part one is supposed to hold to stabilize one’s self when ascending or descending (or slide down if one is a child or drunken under-graduate) but it’s also sometimes use of the uprights attached to the rail.  Banister and “handrail” can thus be interchangeable but the former is almost universal in the US while in other parts of the English-speaking world (even Canada, usually a part of the US sphere of linguistic influence), handrail has become common.  Interestingly, one piece of global linguistic standardization seems to be the WH&S (workplace health & safety) signage: It’s always something like “use the handrail when using stairs”, never “use the banister”.

Joe Biden (b 1942; US president since 2021) tripping up (for the second time that assent) while climbing the stairs of Air Force One (despite following the WH&S warning and gripping the handrail).  Since the motor manifestations of his descent into senility have become more obvious, Mr Biden is no longer allowed to use the “big stairs” and is directed to the “baby stairs” in the plane’s nose.  Whether the small, angled brackets (some might call them flanges) which affix the handrail to the structure can be called balusters is debatable but that’s certainly their function.

President Biden should have taken one step at a time.

“Baluster” is the correct technical term for the uprights (the vertical posts or spindles supporting the handrail (a few of which are actually decorative with no structural function).  Whether decorative or structural, balusters are almost always arrayed in a series, either a cluster of identical units or with some variations as an architectural flourish.  In style, balusters can simple or ornate and constructed from just about any materials including wood, metal, stone or composites.  In some cases, balusters and banisters (handrails) will be of the same material and in others they will differ.  Some materials have fallen from favor because of the maintenance factor.  Brass was once widely used but keeping it polished proved a labor intensive business and in the hotels which once dripped with the stuff, there's now much more aluminium and stainless steel visible.

She would blame the (missing) balustrades because there is always someone or something to blame: Crooked Hillary Clinton, slipping (twice) in India, March 2018.

Although often much admired for their intricacy, banisters, balustrades and such are an important safety feature of staircases.  In March 2018, while visiting (for some reason) the Jahaj Maha (Ship Palace) in Mandu, crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013), despite holding the arm of an aide, slipped while descending stone stairs.  Another aide quickly took the other arm to stabilize things and the descent resumed but she slipped again, illustrating the importance of handrails which weren’t so much of a thing in the sixteenth century when the palace was built.  Crooked Hillary might be used (at least when not slipping) as an example of the way Spaniards explain the meaning of the word “enigma”: “Were one to meet her on the stairs, one couldn’t be sure if she was going up, or coming down”.

Components of a staircase.

To an architect, a “balustrade” is the name for the whole apparatus (the handrail (banister) and the balusters assembled), added to which might be as base-rail below (although some balusters are mounted directly to the floor or the tread of the stairs.  So, the balustrade is the collective term for the whole railing system on a staircase, balcony, terrace, walkway, or other structure but a convention (by no means universal) seems to have evolved to use balustrade to describe structures other than those used on staircases (unless they’re outdoors).  A railing separating pedestrians from road traffic or a river would certainly be a balustrade and that might also be the term of choice for the apparatus on the staircase leading from the river.  Once inside however, it’s all banisters and handrails.

A glass "balustrade" is really a type of wall with the top-edge serving as a handrail.

"Glass balustrades" are a favorite of interior decorators and can be applied to both indoor and outdoor use.  In domestic use, there's sometimes some resistance because many people, understandably, associate glass with fragility but the glass used is a specialized tempered safety glass, rated at some 400% the strength of that typically used in windows.  An additional benefit is that other than cleaning, glass is an essentially zero-maintenance material and not susceptible to rot, rust or other forms of corrosion.  Depending on the desired effect, a hybrid approach can also be used in which there's a traditional banister (handrail) and base-rail with a small number of uprights (balusters), a glass panel taking the place of the rest.  This is essentially using the components as a window frame.