Etymology of words with examples of use illustrated by Lindsay Lohan, cars of the Cold War era, comrade Stalin, crooked Hillary Clinton et al.
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Enosis & Anschluss
Enosis (pronounced ih-noh-sis, ee-noh-sis or e-naw-sees (Greek))
(1) A movement for securing the political union of Greece and Cyprus.
(2) A genus of grass skippers (Hesperiinae) butterflies. It is in the tribe Moncini.
1935–1940:
From the Modern Greek énōsis from the
Classical Greek hénōsis (union),
equivalent to henō-, variant stem of henoûn to unify (derivative of hén, neuter of heîs (one) + -sis. The suffix –sis (ultimately from Ancient Greek –σις) appeared in loanwords from
Greek and was used to form from verbs, abstract nouns of action, process,
state, condition etc. It’s identical in
meaning with the Latin –entia and the
English -ing. Etymologists note it’s not
very productive, used only for borrowed terms from Ancient Greek, though there
are also modern coinages based on Ancient Greek roots.
Anschluss (pronounced ahn-shloos)
Union
(strongly associated with the 1938 political union of Austria with Germany).
1920-1925:
From the German anschluss (variously
translated as annexation; consolidation; joining together) and derived from the
German anschliessen (to join). The original German form was anschluß from anschließen (to join, unite).
The compound translated is on-to-a-schluss
(closing).
Difference
Technically, enosis is the historic movement of various Greek communities living outside Greece to be incorporated (including the land they inhabit) into a unitary Greek state. Enosis is related to the Megali, a concept of a Greek nation which dominated Greek politics after the creation of the modern Greek state in 1830. For military and political reasons, the Megali project was never realised and enosis is now associated almost exclusively with the movement within the Greek-Cypriot community for a union of Cyprus into Greece. The historic moment for that probably passed in 1960 with the creation of the Republic of Cyprus which was not incorporated into Greece. The 1974 Turkish resulted in geographic partition with Turkey (now the Republic of Türkiye) occupying northern Cyprus and the enosis movement faded to oblivion.
Anschluss is now used almost exclusively to refer to the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The word's German spelling, until the German orthography reform of 1996, was Anschluß and it was also known as the Anschluss Österreichs. Anschluss translates as "joinder", "connection", "unification" or "political union" whereas annektierung means “military annexation”. Although the latter was (technically) an accurate description of what happened in 1938, it has never been widely adopted to describe the events. The use of anschluss by the Nazis suited their propaganda, suggesting as it did the union was marriage rather than rape and many modern historians have been inclined to agree. Two generations would pass before Austrians began seriously to dissect the post-war consensus that their country had been a victim.
Lindsay Lohan in Austria in Grecian-inspired gown, The White Party, Linz, Austria, July 2014.
The Anschluss was dissolved when the Third Reich (and thus the German state) ceased to exist at the end of World War II (1939-1945). On the model of Germany & Berlin, Austria was divided into American, British, French and Soviet zones of occupation and governed on a quasi-federal basis by the administrators in the zones and, for certain matters, a joint Commission for Austria. In 1955, after years of difficult talks, the Soviet Union agreed to Austrian independence and withdrawal of its troops on the condition the Western powers did likewise. Officially, Austrian neutrality was not a condition imposed by Moscow but it's long been speculated their acquiescence was gained by an informal understanding (secret protocols were by then out of fashion) Vienna would do exactly that. In October 1955, after all occupying forces had withdrawn, Austria's full independence was recognized and, by an act of parliament, Austria declared its "permanent neutrality" which endures to this day, a legacy of which is that the country is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) although it has since 1995 been part of the non-military "Partnership for Peace" programme with which NATO maintains contacts with certain non-members (some of which have subsequently joined the military alliance).
1938 Mercedes-Benz G4 (W31), Wehrmacht command vehicle during the Anschluss.
Although Mercedes-Benz prefers not much to dwell on the details of its activities between 1933-1945, one of the remarkable vehicles it built during the era was the G4 (W31). The factory developed three-axle cross-country vehicles for military use during the 1920s but after testing a number of the prototype G1s, the army declined to place an order, finding them too big, too expensive and too heavy for their intended purpose. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) however, as drawn to big, impressive machines as he was to grandiose, representational architecture, ordered them adopted as parade vehicles and the army soon acquired a fleet of the updated G4, used eventually not only on ceremonial occasions but also as staff and command vehicles, two even specially configured, one as a baggage car and the other a communications centre, packed with radio-telephony. Eventually, between 1934-1939, fifty-seven were built, originally exclusively for the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command)) and OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High Command)) but one was gift from Hitler to Generalissimo Francisco Franco (1892-1975; Caudillo of Spain 1939-1975). The Spanish G4, one of three which still exists, was restored and remains in the royal garage in Madrid. According to factory records, all were built with 5.0 litre (306 cubic inch), 5.3 litre (326) & 5.4 litre (330) litre straight-eight engines but there is an unverified report of interview with Hitler’s long-time chauffeur, Erich Kempka (1910-1975), suggesting one for the Führer’s exclusive use was built with one of the supercharged 7.7 litre (468 cubic inch) straight-eights used in the 770K Grosser. The story is widely thought apocryphal, no evidence of such a one-off ever having be sighted and no supporting documents have ever appeared.
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Annex
Annex, Anex or Annexe (pronounced uh-neks, an-eks or an-iks)
(1) To
attach, append, or add, especially to something larger or more important.
(2) To
incorporate (territory) into the domain of a city, country, or state.
(3) To take
or appropriate, especially without permission.
(4) To attach
as an attribute, condition, or consequence.
(5) Something
annexed.
(6) In
architecture, a subsidiary building or an addition to a building.
(7) Something
added to a document; appendix; supplement.
1350-1400: From the Middle English, from the Anglo-French and Old French annexer (to join), from the Medieval
Latin annexāre, from the Classical Latin annexus (tied to), past participle of annectere (to attach to; to connect with)
from nectere (to join; to tie; bind). It now almost always means "to join in a
subordinate capacity", usually as it applies to nations or territories and
the meaning “supplementary building" is from 1861. In legal use, as it applies to documents,
it’s an alternative to "append". The alternative spellings are anex (US) and annexe (used variously in the rest of the English-speaking world). Annex is a noun & verb; annexion, annexation, annexationism, annexationist, annexer & annexure are nouns, the noun plural is annexes.
A type of theft
Annexation is the formal act by which a state proclaims sovereignty over territory once outside its domain and varies from an act of cession in which territory is given away or sold. Annexation is a unilateral act made effective by actual possession and legitimized by general recognition and historically, annexation has been preceded by conquest and military occupation although in a few cases, such as the Anschluss, the 1938 German annexation of Austria, conquest may be accomplished by the threat of force without active hostilities and military occupation does not constitute or necessarily lead to annexation. When military occupation results in annexation, an official announcement is the usual protocol, announcing the sovereign authority of the annexing state has been established and will be maintained in future. This was the usual way of doing things, such as when Burma was annexed to the British Empire in 1886 and followed by Israel in 1981 when it annexed the Golan Heights. George Orwell (1903-1950), who had spent time employed by the colonial police in Burma, when asked to explain the methods and purposes of the British Empire answered: "theft". Privately, most in the Foreign Office probably agreed but preferred "annexation" in official documents. The subsequent recognition of annexation by other states may be explicit or implied; annexation based on the illegal use of force is condemned in the Charter of the United Nations and there are effectively annexed lands which for decades have been regarded as “disputed territory”.
Lindsay Lohan, after party at the Annex following Freaky Friday (2003) premiere, Hollywood, August 2003.
The formalities of annexation are not defined by international law; whether it be done by one authority or another within a state is a matter of constitutional law and conditions may exist which obviate the necessity for conquest prior to annexation. In 1910 for example, Japan converted its protectorate of Korea into an annexed colony by means of proclamation; in a legal sense it was no more than a simple administrative act. Preceding its annexation of the Svalbard Islands in 1925, Norway eliminated its competitors by means of a treaty in which the islanders agreed to Norwegian possession. Annexation of Hawaii by the United States in the late nineteenth century was a peaceful process, based upon the willing acceptance by the Hawaiian government of US authority. The Italian annexation of Ethiopia in 1936 was accomplished by a decree issued by the Italian King and joint resolutions of Congress were the means by which the United States annexed Texas (1845) and Hawaii (1898).
Monday, May 8, 2023
Dimensionality
Dimensionality (pronounced dih-men-shuhn-nal-i-tee or dahy-men-shuhn-nal-i-tee).
(1) The state or characteristic of possessing dimensions.
(2) In mathematics, engineering, computing, physics etc, the number of dimensions possessed or attributed to an object, space or concept; the nature of the dimensions, considered, in relation to each other or the external world.
(3) In architecture (usually in criticism or theory), as super-dimensionality, micro-dimensionality, complimentary-dimensionality et al, an expression used to critique the scale of designs.
Circa 1910: A coining of mathematicians said to date from the early twentieth century (though actual use may pre-date this), the construct was dimension + -ality. Dimension was from late fourteenth century late Middle English dimensioun, from the Anglo-French, from the Latin dīmēnsiōn-, from dīmēnsiō & dīmēnsiōnem, from dīmensus (measuring, measurement, dimension), perfect active participle of dīmētior (measured, regular), the construct being dis- (part’ separate; render asunder) + mētior (measure or estimate; distribute or mete out; traverse), from the Proto-Italic mētis, from the primitive Indo-European meh- (to measure). The suffix –ality was a compound affix, the construct being -al + -ity and equivalent to the French -alité and the Latin -ālitās. The -al suffix was from the Middle English -al, from the Latin adjectival suffix -ālis, or the French, Middle French and Old French –el & -al. It was use to denote the sense "of or pertaining to", an adjectival suffix appended (most often to nouns) originally most frequently to words of Latin origin, but since used variously and also was used to form nouns, especially of verbal action. The alternative form in English remains -ual (-all being obsolete). The –ity suffix was from the French -ité, from the Middle French -ité, from the Old French –ete & -eteit (-ity), from the Latin -itātem, from -itās, from the primitive Indo-European suffix –it. It was cognate with the Gothic –iþa (-th), the Old High German -ida (-th) and the Old English -þo, -þu & -þ (-th). It was used to form nouns from adjectives (especially abstract nouns), thus most often associated with nouns referring to the state, property, or quality of conforming to the adjective's description. The derived forms from mathematics and other disciplines (extradimentionality et al) are sometimes hyphenated (extra-dimentionality et al). Dimensionality is a noun; the noun plural is dimensionalities.
Being inherently a thing of numbers, in both pure and applied mathematics, dimensionality matters. There is equidimensionality which, strictly speaking in the quality enjoyed by two (or more) dimensions exactly the same but the term has also been used in architecture as (1) a fancy way to say that things are (by mathematical standards) “roughly the same” and (2) a synonym for symmetrical. Nobody seems to have come up with “hetrodimensionality” or something like that, asymmetrical apparently adequate. In psychiatry, unidimensionality is the quality of measuring a single construct, trait, or other attribute; it's a clinical tool, an example of which is a unidimensional personality scale which would contain items related only to the respective concept of interest. It's not the same as the pop-psychology term "one-dimensional" which is an allusion to functional, intellectual, emotional etc limitations in individuals or institutions. A particular use of that appeared in the book One-Dimensional Man (1964) by German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979). Marcuse argued modern capitalism had reduced culture to a technological rationality and individuals to mere economic units, their value measured only by their industrial productivity. Moreover, the genius of this system was that the false consciousness of the victims was manipulated to the point they became defenders of their own oppression.
Nondimensionality refers to quantity or measurement with no physical units attached, often represented as a ratio of two quantities that have the same units, such as the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference (which is represented by the nondimensional quantity π, or pi). It’s not quite a revenge on the physicists who have identified certain particles with dimensions yet no mass, nondimensionality being useful in that relationships between different physical quantities can be expressed without the need to have specific units of measure. Unidimensionality (the opposite of multidimensionality) refers to a measurement or quantity involving only one dimension or aspect; it is used not to imply there is only one dimension but in situations where the critical quality can be described using a single variable or dimension. The classic examples of unidimensionality are the three dimensions length, width & breadth. Multidimensionality involves two or more dimensions. The companion terms “curse of dimensionality” and “blessing of dimensionality” are both commentaries of the volume of data available but reference not the data but the processes applied to the information. The curse of dimensionality is that in some cases there can be an unmanageable amount of data; there is simply too much information even to assess what should be discarded. However, for other purposes, the same data set could be invaluable, the volume making possible what once was not, thus the blessing of dimensionality.
String theory: Lindsay Lohan in string bikini, Mykonos, Greece, 2014.
Extradimensionality underlies string theory, a (highly) theoretical construct which has provided a number of speculative frameworks in an attempt to unify what are still considered the fundamental forces at work in the universe (gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces). The essence of string theory in that the fabric of the universe is composed not of point-like particles in space but very small, one-dimensional forms (the nature of which varies according to the version of the theory) which act like “strings”, vibrating at different frequencies. The strings are said to exist in another dimensional space-time than the four with which we are familiar (length, width, depth & time) and some string theorists have suggested there may be ten or more dimensions. The most significant aspect of the behavior of the strings is said to be their interaction with both the space in which they exist and other strings in other spaces (although on the latter point some theorists differ). The intricate equations describing the strings and their dimensions has allowed very complex models to be built and from these, the handful of people of the planet who understand both the mathematics and their implications have drawn a number of inferences about the universe said variously to be “fascinating”, “speculative” and “nonsensical” and one of the delights of string theory is that it can be neither proved nor disproved. Word nerds however can be grateful to the stringers because they adopted “compactified”, the word describing the way the dimensions beyond the verifiable four are curled up (or scrunched) at scales so small they remain unobservable with current technology.
Superdimentionality
Model of Germania, built to scale.
Superdimentionality is the application of exaggerated dimensions to designs, some of which actually get built. It a popular motif for the kitsch structures favored by tourist attractions of which Australia has many (the big pineapple, big prawn, big golfball, big lobster, big gumboot et al) but for Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945), superdimentionality was the dominant concept for the entire Nazi empire; reichism writ large. The idea was well documented in the plans for Germania, the re-building of Berlin designed by a team under Albert Speer (1905–1981; Nazi court architect 1934-1942; Nazi minister of armaments and war production 1942-1945), the centerpiece of which was the monumental Volkshalle (People's Hall), sometimes referred to as the Große Halle (Great Hall). The hall would have seated 180,000 under a dome 16 times larger than that of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and in its vastness was a classic example of the representational architecture of the Third Reich. Although it’s obvious the structure as a whole was intended to inspire awe, the details also conveyed the subliminal messaging of much fascist propaganda, fixtures like doorways sometimes four times the usual height, the disconnection from human scale emphasizing the supremacy of the state.
German conceptual H-45 battleship.
Hitler also thought the materiel supplied to his military machine should be big. After being disappointed by proposals for the successors to the Bismarck-class ships to have the armament increased only from eight 15-inch (380 mm) to eight 16 inch (406 mm) canons, he ordered OKM (Oberkommando der Marine; Naval High Command) to design bigger ships. Although none were ever built, Germany lacking the facilities even to lay down the keels, the largest (the H-44) would have had eight 20-inch (508 mm) cannons. Even more to the Führer’s liking was the concept of the H-45, equipped with eight 31.5 inch (800 mm) Gustav siege guns but the experience of surface warfare at sea convinced Hitler the days of the big ships were over and he would even try to persuade the navy to retire all their capital ships and devote more resources to the submarines which, as late as 1945, he hoped might still prolong the war. However, he never lost faith in the promise of bigger and bigger tanks, an opinion share by none of the tank commanders who were appalled at the designs of some of the monstrosities he ordered prepared.
Hitler’s study in the Reich Chancellery (1939) (left) and his (rarely used) big desk in the corner, the big doors behind (right)
Perhaps surprisingly, there’s no record Hitler ever complained the Mercedes-Benz built for his use were too small but then they were by even by the standards to which popes, presidents and potentates were accustomed, big. Certainly, there’s no record of him asking Daimler-Benz for anything larger as Charles De Gaulle (1890–1970; President of France 1958-1969), in 1965 aghast at the notion the state car of France might be bought from Germany or the US (it’s not known which idea he thought most appalling and apparently nobody bothered to suggest buying British) requested of coachbuilder Henri Chapron (1886-1978). Le General’s only stipulations about his Citroën DS Presidential were (1) it had to be longer than the extended Lincoln Continentals then used by the White House for Lyndon Johnson (LBJ, 1908–1973; US president 1969-1969) and (2) the turning circle had to be tight enough to enter the Elysée Palace’s courtyard from the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré and then pull up at the steps in a single maneuver. Chapron managed to fulfill both requirements although the contrast between the Citroën’s rather agricultural 2.3 litre (140 cubic inch) four-cylinder engine and the Lincoln’s 7.0 (430) V8 was remarkable, De Gaulle probably regarding the Lincoln’s additional displacement as typical American vulgarity.
Mercedes-Benz 770K (W150), Berlin 1939.
Hitler though would have been impressed by
the big V8 although he would doubtless have pointed out the 7.7 litre (468
cubic inch) straight-8 in his Mercedes-Benz 770K was not only bigger but also
supercharged and he’d have found nothing vulgar in any of the American machine’s
dimensions. The 770Ks used by the Führer
were produced in two series (W07 (1930-1939) & W150 (1939-1943)) of what
the factory called the Grosser Mercedes (the Grand Mercedes) and while the earlier
cars were available to anyone with the money (seven between 1932-1935 purchased
by the Japanese Imperial household for the emperor’s fleet and adorned with the
family’s gold chrysanthemum), the W150s were made exclusively for the upper echelons of the Nazi Party although to smooth the path of foreign policy, some did end
up in foreign hands such as António Salazar (1889–1970) dictator of Portugal
1932-1968), Generalissimo Francisco Franco (1892-1975; Caudillo of Spain
1939-1975) & Field Marshal Mannerheim (commander-in-chief of Finnish defense
force 1939–1945 and president of Finland (1944–1946). Though large and impressive, by 1938 the
W07 was something of a engineering relic and although the demands of the military
were paramount in the economy, resources were found to update the Grosser to
the technical level of the more modern 540K by adopting a lower tubular chassis
with revised suspension (the de Dion axle at the rear something which should
have appeared on the post-war cars) and a new, five-speed, all synchromesh gearbox. Making the selection of first gear effortless was of
some significance because so much of the 770K’s time was spent at crawling
speed on parade duty but, despite the bulk (and the weight of the armored
versions with 1¾ inch (45 mm) glass could exceed 5500 kg (12,000
lb), speeds in excess of 160 km/h (100 mph) could be achieved provided one had
enough autobahn ahead although at that pace, even the 195 litre (52 US gallon,
43 Imperial gallon) fuel tank would soon have been drained. Some sources also claim five were built with
two superchargers, raising the top speed to 190 km/h (118 mph) but the tale may
be apocryphal.
Mercedes-Benz G4 during Hitler’s entry in Vienna following the Anschluss (the absorption of Austral into the Reich), 14 March 1938. The statue in the background is of the Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (1771–1847) and often referred to as “Archduke Karl”, mounted on the Heldenplatz.
Also appealing to Hitler was the big, three-axle
G4 (W31). The factory developed six-wheel
(and ten-wheel for those with dual rear wheels) cross-country vehicles for
military use during the 1920s but after testing a number of the prototype G1s,
the army declined to place an order, finding them too big, too expensive and
too heavy for their intended purpose. Hitler
however, as drawn to big, impressive machines as he was to huge,
representational architecture, ordered them adopted as parade vehicles and the
army soon acquired a fleet of the updated G4, used eventually not only on
ceremonial occasions but also as staff and command vehicles, several known to have been specially
configured, some as baggage cars and at least one as a mobile communications centre,
packed with radio-telephony. Eventually,
between 1934-1939, fifty-seven were built, originally exclusively for the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces
High Command)) and OKH (Oberkommando des
Heeres (Army High Command)) but one was gift from Hitler to Franco and the Spanish
G4, one of few which still exists, was restored and remains in the royal garage
in Madrid. According to factory records,
all were built with 5.0, 5.3 & 5.4 litre straight-eight engines but there
is an unverified report of interview with Hitler’s long-time chauffeur, Erich
Kempka (1910-1975), suggesting one for the Führer’s exclusive use was built
with the 7.7 litre straight-eight used in the 770K Grosser. Most of the 770s were supercharged so, if
true, it's a tantalizing prospect but this story is widely thought apocryphal,
no evidence of such a one-off ever having been sighted.
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Baumkuchen
Baumkuchen (pronounced baun-kooch-en)
A kind
of layered cake, traditionally baked on a spit, in which the layers resemble
concentric tree rings.
Circa
mid-1800s: From the Modern German baumkuchen
(literally “tree cake”). The construct was Baum (tree) + kuchen
(cake), so-named because the concentric-ring layers resemble tree rings. The genitive was saumkuchens, the plural baumkuchen.
The tree cake
Although the word baumkuchen appears not to have been used before being noted in Bavarian menus and newspapers in the mid-nineteenth century, similar cakes were documented as early as 1581. Both Germans and Hungarians have long claimed to have created the baumkuchen, the latter suggesting it a variation of a traditional Hungarian wedding cake, the pastry kürtőskalács (chimney cake). In retaliation, the Germans cite the recipe in Max Rumpolt’s Ein new Kochbuch (A New Cookbook) (1581). However, it may be a moot point because the method was already known in Antiquity, records for similar constructions found in the texts from both Ancient Greece and Rome.
Baumkuche, Horcher, Madrid.
Apart
from the visual impact, a baumkuchen is an experience of intense taste and texture. As bakers know, it’s the thin caramelized
layer sticking to the bottom of the pan that is the best tasting part of a cake
because that’s where the fats and sugars accumulate and a baumkuchen is a cake
made wholly of layer upon layer of this richly flavored delicacy. While it’s true a conventionally shaped cake can
somewhat emulate this if baked in layers, the finer product is the cylindrical baumkuchen
which can be made only on the rotating spit used usually for broiling roasts. However, that very intensity of taste is because
of density and for that reason, should be served in smaller slices than most
cakes. Famously, it's a signature offering at Horcher in Madrid.
Horcher was opened in Berlin in 1904 by wine merchant Gustav Horcher (1873-1931), ownership passing to his son Otto after his death. It began as a small, intimate restaurant offering simple, traditional dishes (notably game) but later evolved to cater to the upper end of the market. Otto Horcher offered a good table and maintained connections with the Nazi hierarchy, the Horcher a favourite of Hermann Göring (1893-1946) and many Luftwaffe generals. Those connections paid off. After the Anschluss (the annexing of Austria by the German Reich in 1938), Otto Horcher acquired The Three Hussars in Vienna and, after the occupation of France in 1940, he took over Maxim's in Paris.
Horcher, Madrid.
Closure was forced on Horcher and many other restaurants in 1943 after the Nazi's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) attempted to shock the economy into total-war production. Typically, this was opposed by Göring who retaliated by threatening to have Horcher re-opened as a Luftwaffe club but his star within the regime had long been waning and Goebbels ultimately prevailed. Instead, he assisted Horcher to move to Madrid where it remains to this day, still in family ownership. During the war, allied intelligence agencies identified as Horcher as a meeting point for German spies and overseas agents but it was one of many in both Madrid and Lisbon, both sides maintaining espionage operations in neutral nations. After the war, the linkage continued, sometimes openly as Horcher remained popular with many former notables of the Third Reich but reports indicated it was also a place with at least passive involvement in activities such as arranging the escape of those wanted for war crimes and other matters, usually to more sympathetic régimes in South America.