Hegemony

Hegemony (pronounced hi-jem-uh-nee or hej-uh-moh-nee)

(1) Leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation.

(2) Aggression or expansionism by large nations in an effort to achieve world domination (especially among smaller nations).

(3) As cultural hegemony, ascendancy or domination of one (class, ethnic, linguistic etc) group over others.

1560–1570: From the Ancient Greek ἡγεμονία (hēgemonía) (leadership, authority, supremacy), the construct being ἡγεμών (hēgemon-) (stem of hēgemṓn) (leader) + -ia (the suffix forming abstract nouns of feminine gender, from the New Latin, from the Classical Latin -ia and the Ancient Greek -ία (-ía) & -εια (-eia)); the rarer form was ἡγέομαι (hēgeisthai) (to lead).  The root of hēgeisthai is unknown but a link has been suggested to "to track down," from the primitive Indo-European sag-eyo- from the root sag- (to seek out, track down, trace).  The forms antihegemonic & counterhegemonic were creations in political science to describe the tactics and strategies adopted to oppose a hegemon.  Hegemony, hegemon, hegemonization & hegemonist are nouns, hegemonized, hegemonizing & hegemonize are verbs, hegemonic is an adjective and hegemonically is an adverb; the noun plural is hegemonies.

The noun hegemonism dates from 1965 and refers to a policy of political domination, based to some extent on the model of imperialism.  The noun hegemonist was first used in 1898 in a discussion of the particular role of Prussia in the German (con)federation (the joke of the time being that while there were many states with an army, Prussia was an army with a state).  The noun hegemon had been used a year earlier, describing the unique position of Great Britain in the world as a maritime power with a far-flung world-wide empire, quite distinct historically from the models of the previous two millennia which had tended to be continental or at least contiguous.  The adjective hegemonic had emerged as early as the 1650s and was older still, noted in oral use in the 1610s.

Gramsci's legacy

Hegemons at lunch.

Mean Girls (2004) has been analysed as a series of case-studies deconstructing the ways an individual or group can asset a cultural hegemony but it's also been subject to the critique that as a piece of cinema, it's emblematic of the way the industry reinforces white supremacy and white privilege.  The original sense of hegemony, dating from the 1560s, was in reference to the predominance of one city state over another in Ancient Greece and was used also to mean the literal authority or sovereignty of one city-state over a number of others, as Athens in Attica or Thebes in Boeotia and generally to the Hellenic League (338 BC), a federation of Greek city–states created by Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC; king (basileus) of Macedonia 359-336) to facilitate his access to and use of Greek armies against the Persian empire.  It was first used in a modern sense in geo-politics during the 1850s to describe the position of Prussia in relation to other German states and came to be applied, sometime misleadingly, to the European colonialism imposed upon the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia.  In the twentieth century, political scientists (not only those from the left although the idea was most developed by neo-Marxists) extended the denotation of hegemony to include cultural imperialism, the domination, by a ruling class (or culture), in a socially stratified society.  The core of the theory was that by manipulating cultural values and mores, thereby constructing a dominant ideology, the ruling class intellectually can dominate the other classes by imposing a worldview (Weltanschauung) that, ideologically and structurally, justifies the social, political, and economic status quo to the point where it’s viewed as normal, inevitable and perpetual, with no possible alternative.

Antonio Gramsci

It was Italian politician and Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s (1891–1937) discussions in the 1920s of the nature of hegemony which provided the framework upon which others built their theories.  Gramsci was interested in the survival, indeed the flourishing of the capitalist state in the most advanced Western countries, despite the social and economic convulsions which earlier theorists had suggested should have threatened the system’s survival.  Gramsci understood the supremacy of a class and that the reproduction of its associated mode of production could be obtained by brute domination or coercion but his key observation was that in advanced capitalist societies, the perpetuation of class rule was achieved largely through consensual means.  A hegemonic class is thus one able to attain the consent of other social forces, and the retention of this consent is an ongoing project.  His work continues to underpin most critical analysis of apparently disparate systems such as The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the US, systems in which tiny ruling classes (the Communist Party (CCP) in the former and the (somewhat misleadingly named) one percent in the latter), maintain and enhance a system entirely in their own interest with support from the masses ranging mostly from resigned acquiescence to actual enthusiasm.  In the CCP, this manifests as most of the population supporting the suppression of their political rights; in the US, they’re convinced to act against their own economic interests.  Under capitalism (ie the system used by both PRC and the US), Gramsci observed the relentless contribution of the institutions of civil society to the shaping of mass cognitions.

Gramsci wasn’t a theorist only of structures but was interested also in revolutionary strategy.  He noted the acquisition of consent prior to gaining power as an obvious implication but this he refined by offering a distinction a war of manoeuvre (the full frontal assault on the bourgeois state) and one of position (engagement with and subversion of the mechanisms of bourgeois ideological domination).  Others were taken with the concept, notably German-American political theorist Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979) of the Frankfurt School of critical theory and German Marxist sociologist Rudi Dutschke (1940–1979), best remembered for the idea, inspired by Gramsci, of a “long march through the institutions”.  The strategy was inspired, the tactics flawed.  The institutions through which the revolutionaries were allowed (some say encouraged) to march turned out to be art galleries, theatre trusts and other structures on the margins.  The institutions which controlled the economy and the security of the state remained under the control of the hegemon.

Jagwah

Jagwah (pronounced jag-whar)

A slang term in western Africa; a colloquialism for a smart man-about-town.

From early 1960s post-colonial Nigeria.  A phoneticism based on the admiration locals felt for the large green and white Jaguars run by the newly-independent Nigerian Government on their executive car fleet.  An example of aspirational association; desired life-style linked to status-symbols.  In west-Africa, Jagwah to this day remains a  colloquialism for "a smart man-about-town".

Under British colonial rule since the early nineteenth century, Nigeria gained independence in 1960.  Within a few weeks, the new government had bought forty Jaguar Mark IXs, all painted in the Nigerian state colours of green and white.  The big Jags, much admired by the local citizens, were ideal for African conditions, being robustly built and supplied with a low-compression engine suitable for the octane-rating of the petrol then available in the continent.  The economics were also compelling with their price being less than half that of a visually similar Rolls-Royce or Bentley.

The big post-war Jaguars

1947 Jaguar Mark IV 3.5 Saloon.

Jaguar Mark IV, 1945-1949:  Like many of the cars produced immediately after WWII, the Jaguar Mark IV range was essentially the same at that made in the pre-war years.  The nomenclature however changed in 1945 and would later again change retrospectively, the Mark IV tag adopted only when the Mark V was introduced in 1948.   At that time there had never been a Mark I, II & II but Jaguar’s strange relationship with numerical progression, Arabic & Latin, would continue in the 1950s, the Mark VI skipped in deference to Bentley which already had one on sale although whether this was an attempt to push brand-perception up-market or on legal advice isn’t known.  Later, structurally unrelated to the earlier cars there would be a Mark 2 and (retrospectively) a Mark 1 but after the Mark X & Mark 2 were in 1967 re-named, both Roman numerals and the use of "Mark" were abandoned in favor of an alpha-numeric mix.  The other change was the dropping of the SS label, the association with the Nazi Party’s SS (Schutzstaffel (security section or squad)) too unsavoury in those times although the moment would soon pass, Jaguar in 1957 reviving the name for the XKSS, the road-going version of the D-Type race car.  Jaguar’s pre-war use of SS was apparently derived from the company’s origin as the Swallow Sidecar Company but, after the association with the Standard Motor Company as an engine supplier, the factory began to prefer Standard Swallow, the cars sold under the badge Jaguar SS.

1945 Jaguar Mark IV 3.5 DHC.

Between 1945-1949 therefore, what came to be called the Mark IV was sold as the Jaguar 1½ litre, 2½ litre & 3½ litre; most were saloons but a small number of drophead coupés (DHC or convertible) were built.  Still using Standard’s engines (although manufactured by Jaguar after 1946), the larger units were overhead valve (OHV) straight sixes, the smaller one an OHV four.  Quite old-fashioned even then, the cars still used mechanical brakes and were built on a separate chassis frame with semi-elliptic leaf suspension on rigid axles front and rear.

1950 Jaguar Mark V 3.5.

Jaguar Mark V, 1948-1951:  Unlike the first genuinely new post-war American cars which were stylistically a generation advanced, in appearance the Mark V was clearly an evolution from the pre-war lines, the flowing curves more integrated into the coachwork and the once separate headlamps now in nacelles flared into the bodywork.  Bigger and heavier than its predecessors, the Mark V, again offered as a saloon or DHC, was fitted only with the six-cylinder engines; it would be decades before the next four-cylinder Jaguar would be sold, the XK-four prototypes tested for a couple of years thought unsuitable for the market segment Jaguar played a part in creating.  The OHV six was carried over from the Mark IV, the new double overhead camshaft (DOHC) XK-six remaining exclusive to the XK-120 sports car until the debut of the Mark VII in 1951 but under the skin, it was rather more modern, now with independent front suspension and hydraulic brakes though the separate chassis would remain until the end of the Mark IX in 1961.  There would be no Jaguar Mark VI, apparently because the visually similar Bentley Mark VI was already on sale and the story (which has been repeated over the years) that the abortive Jaguar Mark VI was a Mark V fitted with the XK-six is apparently a myth although several such cars certainly were built as testbeds for the drivetrain which would be used in the Mark VII.     

The Jaguar Mark VII M which won the 1956 Monte Carlo Rally.

Jaguar Mark VII, 1951-1956:  Reluctant still entirely to abandon the pre-war lines, the Mark VII was again evolutionary in appearance, something of a streamlined Mark V, but under the bonnet (hood) now sat the XK-120’s 3.4 litre (210 cubic inch) XK-Six which enabled the big saloon (there were no more DHCs) to top 100 mph (160 km/h) with acceleration to match all but the most powerful of the competition from Detroit.  The lusty performance made the Mark VII a somewhat improbable competition vehicle and it enjoyed success both on the track and as a rally car, a career enhanced when the Mark VII M was introduced in 1954, the 3.4 XK engine now with more aggressive camshafts and a higher compression ratio made possible by the wider availability of high-octane petrol.  The lift in performance was sufficient for victory in the 1956 Monte-Carlo Rally and while success continued on the track, a win in a 1956 NASCAR event was enough to convince the ruling body to ban foreign-built cars.  In a sign of the times, the automatic gearbox, previously available only on export models, was offered as an option on the home market.   

1958 Jaguar Mark VIII.

Jaguar Mark VIII, 1956-1958:  Externally distinguishable from its predecessor only by the new, one-piece curved windscreen and other detail changes, the Mark VIII gained another useful increase in performance by the adoption of a variation of the XK-140’s higher performance 3.4 XK-Six, tuned to deliver low and mid-range torque rather than the top-end power needed in sports-car trim.  Now trimmed more elaborately, weight increased so the lift in performance was a little blunted but Jaguar’s choice as a performance saloon had anyway switched to (what came retrospectively to be known as) the smaller Mark 1 which in 1957 gained the 3.4 litre engine, becoming something of the BMW M5 of its day.  Additionally, the 1956 Suez crisis had made the smaller car much more attractive to customers and from its introduction the smaller saloon would out-sell the big Marks.

1959 Jaguar Mark IX.

Jaguar Mark IX, 1958-1961:  With the success of the smaller Mark I & 2, they became the mainstream Jaguar saloons and the Mark IX was upgraded further, the interior appointments now more luxurious, some previously optional features such as the sun-roof fitted as standard.  Power was again increased, the XK-six now bored out to 3.8 litres (231 cubic inches) and rated at 220 bhp (164 kW), the same unit which would power the smaller Mark 2 to such success in competition; only the triple carburetor versions in the XK-150S, Mark X & E-Type (XKE) would be more powerful.  Befitting the market at which it was aimed, power steering was now standard as were four-wheel disc brakes which were typical of the early versions of the type, often noisy and with quite high pedal pressures but very effective, so good in fact that in conjunction with the power of the new 3.8 engine, on the track the big Jaguar was again remarkably competitive in it its class.  Even by 1958 however, the Mark IX was stylistically, a bit of a relic and in 1961 it was replaced by the longer, lower, wider Mark X.

1967 Jaguar 420G.

Jaguar Mark X, 1961-1966 & 420G, 1966-1970:  A transformative vehicle, the Mark X in so many ways set the template for Jaguar saloons, one which would serve the line for decades.  While in engineering terms, a considerable advance over its baroque predecessor; its low-slung lines made it less suitable as a state vehicle, a market-gap not adequately filled by the visually antiquated limousines Jaguar had inherited when it absorbed Daimler in 1960 and this would not be resolved until late in the decade.  The Mark X represented Jaguar’s particular take on modernity.  Introduced in 1961, while it didn’t create anything like the splash the sensational E-Type managed that same year, it shared much of the mechanical specification including the very clever rear suspension with its inboard disc brakes, another long-lived design which wouldn’t be retired until 2006.  Also shared with the E-Type was the triple carburetor 3.8 XK-six, rated at up to (a perhaps optimistic) 265 horsepower although in 1965, that would be replaced by the 4.2 litre iteration, installed in the quest for more torque.

1965 Jaguar Mark X 4.2.

The long-stroke 4.2 did improve drivability, as did the improved, all-synchromesh four-speed manual gearbox which, while shared with and much welcomed in the E-Type, was anyway becoming increasingly less relevant in cars in this market segment.  That was certainly true in the United States which was the market at which the Mark X was intended to succeed but there it never did.  It was always understood by the factory that because of its sheer size, appeal in the home market would be limited but there were high hopes for success across the Atlantic and indeed, the Mark X was is so many ways perfect niche competition for the big Buicks, Cadillacs, Lincolns and Imperials.  However, by the early 1960s those manufacturers were building the finest engine-transmission combinations in the world with V8 engines up to 430 cubic inches (7.0 litres) and gearboxes which didn’t so much change gear as slur effortlessly from one ratio to the next.  It was a driving experience the XK-six couldn’t match under the conditions in which most American driving took place and the joys offered by the brakes and suspension (two generations ahead of anything from Detroit), didn’t compensate for the lack of effortlessness or amenities like air-conditioning which actually worked.  The obvious solution would have been to install the superb 4.6 litre (278 cubic inch) V8 acquired with the purchase in 1960 of Daimler and the V8 was tested in a Mark X with most satisfactory results and if more was wanted, enlargement well beyond five litres (305 cubic inches) was possible.  Unfortunately, Jaguar at the time was convinced engines should have either six or twelve cylinders and it’s true their V12 with its turbine-like smoothness would have suited the Mark X perfectly but it took so long to develop that the big car was out of production by the time it arrived.

1967 Jaguar 420G.

So, selling is much lower volumes than had been hoped, the 4.2 litre Mark X continued until 1970 by which time production had slowed to a trickle.  To mark some detail changes in trim and a few additions to conform with new safety regulations, it was in 1966 renamed 420G (rather than Mark XI as tradition suggested) but even the option of air-conditioning and a central partition to make it a more suitable vehicle for those with chauffeurs didn’t arouse much interest.  When the Mark X’s fine underpinnings were instead offered in the much more manageably sized XJ6 in 1968, it was the death knell, the 420G, its tooling long amortized remaining on the books to fulfil the small demand which still existed for a car, which whatever its design failures, still offered a unique combination of virtues for those who appreciated such things.

1986 Daimler DS40, Buckingham Palace.

Daimler DS 420, 1968-1992:  British Leyland, which had absorbed Jaguar, had continued production of both the Daimler Majestic Major with its old-fashioned body and modern V8 engine and the truly antiquated Vanden Plas Princess, replacing them (and in a sense the old Jaguar Mark IX) with the new Daimler DS420.  The DS420 needs to be considered when assessing the Mark X/420G as a failure because it was around the Mark X’s frame the DS420 was designed.  Suddenly the sheer bulk of the Mark X, which had proved such an impediment to market acceptance, was an invaluable asset, the stately DS420 long & tall, ideal for presidents and potentates.  Most were configured as conventional limousines but coachbuilders built also hearses and the odd landaulet; they were for decades a fixture at state events, weddings and funerals.  The last was made in 1992 and was noted also for being the final car to use the old XK-six, introduced more than forty years earlier in the XK120.

Snug

Snug (pronounced snuhg)

(1) Warmly comfortable or cozy, as a place, accommodations, clothing etc.

(2) Fitting closely (often as “snug fit”), applied usually to clothes, shoes etc but also to the internal space in buildings, the interaction of components etc.  In clothing, the nuances of the use of “snug” depend on context and can suggest either or both “warm & cozy” and “figure-hugging; form-fitting”.

(3) Compact or limited in size, and sheltered or warm.

(4) Something trim, neat or compactly arranged.

(5) Pleasant or agreeable, especially if in a small, exclusive way.

(6) A financial state enabling one to live in comfort.

(7) A secret, concealed or well-hidden place (as in a hideout).

(8) In nautical use, to prepare for a storm by taking in sail, lashing deck gear etc (usually in the phrase “snug down”); as “a sung harbor” or “a snug anchorage”, a sheltered and secure place to anchor or dock.

(9) In bars and pubs, a small room or enclosure, offering intimate seating for only a few persons (historically used Britain and Ireland but often seen in the “Irish Pubs” or “British Pubs” built in many countries and a similar concept to the “lounge bars” which were once distinct places from “public bars”).

(10) In engineering, a small peg under the head of a bolt engaging with a slot in the bolted component to prevent the bolt turning when the nut is tightened; a lug.

(11) A minor character in William Shakespeare's (1564–1616) play A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596).

(12) For two (or more) people lie closely or comfortably together; to nestle.

(13) To make something snug.

1575–1585: From dialectal English snug (tight, handsome) and in the sense of “prepared for storms” or “protected from the weather” (as used by sailors at sea), it may be from the Old Icelandic snöggr & Old Norse snøggr (short-haired), from the Proto-Germanic snawwuz (short, quick, fast) and cognate with the Swedish snygg (handsome, nice-looking; neat, tidy) and the Low German snögger (smart), the Icelandic snöggur (smooth) and the Danish snög (neat, tidy).  Although it’s uncertain, the ultimately source may have been the primitive Indo-European root kes- (to scratch).  The sense of "in a state of ease or comfort" was first documented in the 1620s while the sense of “fit closely” seems to have emerged in 1838.  The phrase “snug as a bug in a rug” was in use by at least 1769, the meaning the same was the earlier snug as a bee in a box, documented since 1706; rhyme seems to have prevailed over alliteration.  The verb snuggle in the sense of “move this way and that to get close to something or someone” (for purposes of warmth or affection) was in use by the 1680s, a frequentative of the verb snug (move so as to lie close to), dating from the 1580s.  Snuggled & snuggling were the related form and snuggle was used as noun from 1901.  Given the spread in meaning, the synonyms can include comfortable, comfy, cushy, neat, tight, close, compact, intimate, trim, homely, restful, sheltered, tidy, ordered, orderly, cozy, cuddle.  Snug is a noun, verb & adjective, snuggish, snugger & snuggest are adjectives, snugness is a noun, snugly is an adverb and snugged & snugging are verbs; the noun plural is snugs.

Lindsay Lohan in snug-fitting dresses.

Because of the “UG” element in snug, there have been many SNUG acronyms which have come and gone over the years, Acronym Finder listing a couple of dozen including:

Synopsys Users Group
Space Network Users' Guide
Stanford Newton User Group (Palo Alto, California)
Storage Networking User Group
Sydney Novell Users Group
Siemens International Users Group
Startel National Users Group
Stanford Newton Users Group
Storage Network Users Group
Storage Network User Group
Stichting Notes User Group
Seniors Networking User Group
Storage Networking User Groups
Select Noble Users Group
Southwest Notes User Group
Sebastopol Nix User Group
SolidWorks National User Group
Special Needs User Group
Sinclair Northamerican User Groups
Spanish NonStop User Group
Space Network Users Guide
SMS National User Group
Southern National Users Group
Sydney NetWare Users Group
Startel National User Group
Strategic Network User Group

Thanks to Urban Dictionary, it can be revealed snug is a word which describes a number of sexual practices ranging from the charming to the depraved.  It’s also a part of drug slang, a snug being either (1) an intricately small, but very dank nug of weed or (2) a small nug of weed that becomes lodged in the hole of a pipe, constricting the airflow.  A Snug is also a girl apparently native to university campuses and defined by her clothing choice: Spandex pants, North Face jacket, UGG boots.

In the Snug.

Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant; 1897-1988, left), Ena Sharples (Violet Carson; 1898-1983, centre) and Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol; 1914-1990, right) gossiping in the Rovers Return snug which was one of the sets of the Granada Television soap opera Coronation Street (1960-).  The three characters were usually depicted drinking milk stout but in 1964, Martha Longhurst dropped dead in the snug, shortly after ordering a sherry.  The story-line may have been an early public service health warning about the dangers of mixing drinks.

The origin of the snug, a small room in a secluded part of a pub, was to provide a private room where ladies could enjoy a drink at a time when it was not proper for a woman to be seen in a pub.  The tradition began in Ireland at a time when women weren’t even allowed to enter pubs, the drink trade in the country being vibrant but public consumption was exclusively a male domain.  There was social pressure but probably economics was just as compelling a reason for their introduction and in the late nineteenth century they began to appear and they were patronized not only by women but by those who simply might not wish to be seen, a list which was reputed to extend to police officers and priests as well as those transacting business.  As time went by, snugs proved to be what the hospitality business calls a “revenue centre” and they became places where higher prices could be charged and so menus were added, lunch and dinner “in the snug” becoming a thing.

Flanagan’s Outback Sports Bar, Emporium Building, 69 Front Street, Hamilton HM 12, Bermuda.

In pre-EU (European Union) Ireland, it wasn’t actually against the law for a woman to enter a pub, it was just one of those social conventions enforced if required by many innkeepers, always with the approval of the parish priest, the Roman Catholic Church then exercising an influence was so pervasive it’s difficult now for those who didn’t live through the era to believe it could have happened.  There is much documentary evidence that in pre-famine Ireland it was common for men and women to drink together in bars but, as is well-known, that can lead to dancing or worse and the church decided to do something about the immorality and indecency, imposing from the pulpit new and restrictive social mores.  Beginning in the 1960s however, even Ireland was exposed to the social forces which were transforming other Western cultures and women started to appear in bars.  That proved in some ways to be the end of civilization as the Catholic Church knew it but women could now enjoy a pint at the bar so there was that.  The snugs however survived for a while although in both the UK and Ireland they’re now rare but paradoxically, because so many “British” and “Irish” pubs have been built around the world, there are now more snugs outside the British Isles than within and just to remove doubts, many have a sign above the door (often in some “olde worlde” script) saying “The Snug”.

The attraction of the word in “Irish Pub” branding means around the world there are many actually called “Snug”, something which was never the practice in Ireland or the UK.

Within Ireland and the UK, the snugs began to vanish because instead of increasing revenue, they became a drag on the operation, taking up space which could be used more profitability.  Those with the space would create “lounge bars” where drinks cost more than in the public bar; it was a place to meet a better class of drunk and the idea had proved popular in Australia and New Zealand where for much of the twentieth century, women were also by various means excluded from public bars.  In the British Isles, a number of snugs remain because they’re on a register of historic architecture and must be maintained.

Wraith

Wraith (pronounced reyth)

(1) The apparition of a person living (or thought to be alive), said to appear as a portent of impending death.

(2) A visible spirit; a ghost or any apparition.

(3) In art or graphic design, a a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.

(4) Something pale, thin and lacking in substance (a column of smoke; swirling mist etc).

1510s: A word of uncertain etymology.  Some trace it back to an Old English from the Old Norse reith or reidh (twisted or angry) and in Old English it evolved into wrethe (used generally to refer to “anger, fury or vengeance”).  As Middle English emerged it shifted to wraith which came to be associated with “a ghost or spirit, especially one thought to be the spirit of one dead or about to die”.  The link between the earlier meanings of anger and the later association with spirits may reflect the origins of the modern idea of “a restless or vengeful spirit”.  Most however prefer a connection with early sixteenth century Middle Scots, some suggesting it was from a translation of the Aeneid (29-19 BC), the epic poem written by the Roman poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BC)) which recounts the legend of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy to travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans.  That view has limited support although many etymologist do seem to agree it was in Middle Scots the form was first popularized, probably as warth, word meaning something like or related to “ghost”, the word perhaps from the Old Norse vorðr (“watcher or guardian” (in the sense of “guardian angel”), source of the Icelandic vörður (guard) and which may also have been an influence on the Gaelic & Irish arrach (specter, apparition)."  Wraith & wrathfulness are nouns, wraithlike, wraithesque, wraithful & wraithish are adjectives and wrathfully is an adverb; the noun plural is wraiths.

A wraith-like Lindsay Lohan, Las Angeles, 2008.  In art or graphic design, a wraith is a deliberately insubstantial (sometimes even translucent) copy or representation of something.  It’s used also of something or someone pale and thin, especially in reaction to sudden or considerable weight-loss.

More speculative is the idea of any link with the Middle English wray or bewray and few are convinced any exist despite the similarity in form (something anyway hardly unusual in English).  Even the origin of wray is contested although the orthodox history contends it was from the Middle English wrayen, wraien & wreien (to show, make known, accuse), from the Old English wrēġan (to urge, incite, stir up, accuse, impeach), from the Proto-Germanic wrōgijaną (to tell; tell on; announce; accuse), from the primitive Indo-European were- or wrē- (to tell; speak; shout).  It was said to be akin to the Dutch wroegen (to blame), the German rügen (to reprove) and the Swedish röja (to betray; reveal; expose).  Beray was from the Middle English bewraien, bewreyen & biwreyen, from the Old English bewrēġan, from the Proto-Germanic biwrōgijaną (to speak about; tell on; inform of), the construct being be- +‎ wray.  It was cognate with the Old Frisian biwrōgja (to disclose, reveal), the Dutch bewroegen (to blame; accuse), the Middle Low German bewrȫgen (to accuse; complain about; punish), the Old High German biruogen (to disclose, reveal) and the Modern German berügen (to defraud).  The attraction of the idea of a relationship between wray or beray and wraith is the use of wraith to mean a “vengeful” spirit.

JRR Tolkien (1892–1973), a philologist (is the study of language in oral and written historical sources) of some note, favored a link with writhe on the basis of the sense of “writhing; bodily distorted” (as in a ghost or apparition).  Writhe was from the Middle English writhen, from the Old English wrīþan, from the Proto-West Germanic wrīþan, from the Proto-Germanic wrīþaną (to weave, twist, turn), from the primitive Indo-European wreyt- (to twist, writhe).  It was cognate with the Middle Dutch writen (to turn, twist), the dialectal German reiden (to turn; twist around), the Danish vride (to twist), the Swedish vrida (to turn, twist, wind) and the French rider (to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle).

Not quite what she meant: Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert (b 1982)) in Mean Girls (2004).

In late eighteenth century English, the noun “fetch” could mean “apparition of a living person, specter, a double”, from fetch-life (a deity, spirit, etc who guides the soul of a dead person to the afterlife (a psychopomp)) the source an English dialect word of unknown origin but which may have been from the Old English fæcce (evil spirit formerly thought to sit on the chest of a sleeping person; a mare) and may have been related to or even from the Old Irish fáith (seer, soothsayer).  The (now archaic) "fetch candle" was a mysterious light, which, when seen at night, was believed to foretell a person's death.  The Irish idea of the fetch and the fetch light describes the apparition associated with impending death (commonly in English now called a wraith).  The fetch or wraith was a doppelganger (double) of the dying who appeared when the time was approaching for them to need their spirit to guide them to the afterworld (ie act as a psychopomp).  The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) and the writer Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832) are among those who described seeing their own wraiths although most are said to have been visible only to those surrounding the dying.

1952 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith with touring limousine coachwork by Park Ward.

Rolls-Royce has for almost a century used model names which summon imagery of the silently ethereal including Ghost, Phantom, Seraph, Shadow, Spirit, Spectre & Wraith.  The first Wraiths were introduced in 1938 and although World War II (1939-1945) interrupted things, almost 500 chassis left the factory between then and 1946.  The name was revived in 1946 when the company introduced their first post-war model as the Silver Wraith and although stylistically there would be nothing like the imaginative lines of the new US cars, the underpinnings were significantly modernized and the model would remain in the catalogue until 1958 with almost 2000 chassis produced.  Unlike the smaller Silver Dawn (1949-1955), the factory would only ever supply the Wraith rolling chassis to coachbuilders who would fabricate the bodies in accordance with customer preference although, the (slightly) higher-performance Bentley version was available with what came to be known as the “standard steel body”.

1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow long-wheelbase (LWB) saloon with central division (top) and 1979 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith (bottom).

Within two years of the introduction of the Silver Shadow (1965-1980), a long-wheelbase (“LWB” which gained an additional 4 inches (100 mm) odd of rear-seat leg room) version had been produced and this configuration was introduced as a factory option in most markets between 1969-1971.  Built sometimes with an electrically operated glass division (the associated hardware absorbing most of the gained rear legroom) production continued on a small scale until 1976 when the Silver Shadow II was released at which point the LWB was re-branded as the Sliver Wraith II, incorporating not only the Shadow’s worthwhile mechanical improvements (which was good) but also carrying-over the vinyl roof (which was bad).  Rolls-Royce always used a brand of high-quality vinyl called “Everflex” and never used the word “vinyl”.  The re-naming followed the practice adopted in 1971 when the Silver Shadow two-door saloon (1966-1971) and convertible (1967-1971 and then known as a Drophead Coupé (DHC)) was renamed Corniche which, in convertible form would last until 1995, the saloon retired in 1980.

2015 Rolls-Royce Wraith.  The “Starlight headliner” was fabricated by weaving some 1300 strands of fibre-optic cable into the ceiling’s leather lining.  In the US market the option listed at US$14,700, a cost which reflected the high labor component in the production process and it should be compared with the bespoke audio system option which cost US$8,625 (the bulk of the input costs of the audio system was in mass-produced solid-state components).  Rolls-Royce has confirmed the 2023 Wraiths will be their last V12 coupés, the replacement (electric) Spectre going on sale in 2024. 

When introduced in 2013, it was the first time since 1946 the word “Wraith” had been used by the factory as a stand-alone model name.  Only ever available as a two door hardtop (no central pillar) coupé, the Wraith used the highly regarded 6.6 litre (402 cubic inch), twin-turbocharged BMW V12 used in their flagship 7 Series (G11 2015-2022) in happier times.  As is the modern practice at Rolls-Royce, a number of limited production runs of special models were available in the decade the Wraith was made but the platform also attracted the tuners, some emphasizing addition power, some additional stuff, all with high-price tags.

Mansory’s original version of the Rolls-Royce Wraith (top) was almost restrained, something later abandoned when the “Palm Edition 999” (bottom) was released.

German-based Mansory modifies high-priced cars, boosting both power and bling.  A particular specialty is carbon-fibre fabrication, the standard of their work acknowledged as world class and their approach to engineering is also sound, something not always achieved by those who make already highly tuned engines more powerful still.  The appearance (inside & out) of the machinery they modify doesn’t suit all tastes but their success proves a market exists for such things and their sales in markets like the Middle East and India proves that east of Suez there’s a receptive (and rich) audience.  Things from Rolls-Royce, Ferrari et al are anyway expensive but for Mansory (an others) the target market is not millionaires but billionaires, some of the latter needing accessories to prove they’re not merely one of the former.  Just to make sure the message was getting through however, when Rolls-Royce released their SUV (sports utility vehicle), Mansory badged their take as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Mansory Billionaire (the project a co-development with the German fashion house Billionaire).  Disappointingly perhaps, it was advertised with a list price well under US$1 million.  In the long-running cartoon show The Simpsons, nuclear power-plant co-owner C Montgomery Burns used the phrase “price taggery” in one sense but it's applied also when discussing Veblen goods produced for the "conspicuous consumption" market; there, the purpose of the product is to advertise one's disposable income and a well-publicized (high) price-tag is essential.  

The electric Rolls-Royce Spectre.  Instead of an internal combustion engine, the Spectre is powered by two electric motors producing a combined net 577 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque.  There was a time when Rolls-Royce would never have painted their cars purple but the catchment of those with the resources to buy or lease (rent) such things has expanded to include many whose tastes come from different traditions.  It's not the difference between good and bad taste; it's just a difference.

Rolls-Royce has announced its intention by 2030 to offer a range of vehicles powered exclusively by electric propulsion.  For Rolls-Royce, the engineering and financial challenges aside, the obstacles are few because, unlike an operation like Ferrari which for decades has based part of its mystique on the noise its engines make at full-cry, it has always put a premium of silence and smoothness.  Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988) said it was the howl of the V12 Packard engines (which he dubbed “the song of 12”) he heard on the race tracks which convinced him to make the V12 the signature configuration for the cars which would bear his name but for Charles Rolls (1877–1910), the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, the most influential sound was its absence.  In 1904, he had the opportunity to ride in Columbia Electric car and, knowing what so many of his customers craved, was most impressed, noting: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration. They should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged.”  So, in 120-odd years not much has changed.  Ferrari are doubtlessly hoping the hydrogen re-fueling infrastructure develops at a similarly helpful rate, the exhaust note from exploding hydrogen able to be as intoxicating as that of burning hydrocarbons.

Wedge

Wedge (pronounced wej)

(1) A piece of hard material with two principal faces meeting in a sharply acute angle, for raising, holding, or splitting objects by applying a pounding or driving force, as from a hammer.

(2) A piece of anything of like shape.

(3) A cuneiform character or stroke of this shape.

(4) In historic meteorology, a wedge-shaped extension of the high pressure area of an anticyclone, narrower than a ridge.

(5) Figuratively, something that serves to part, split, divide etc.

(6) In military use, a tactical cavalry formation generally in the form of a V with the point toward the enemy.

(7) In golf, a club with an iron head the face of which is nearly horizontal, for lofting the ball, especially out of sand traps and high grass.  Also, as “Texas wedge” a slang term for using the putter to play a shot while ball is not on the green; origin lies in the historically hard, dry fairways on Texan golf courses.

(8) In optics, a prism of this shape.

(9) In the design of the internal combustion engine, a once popular shape of combustion chamber.

(10) In shoe design, a wedge shaped heel, tapering to the ball of the foot. 

(11) In observational ornithology, describes geese, swans or other birds when they are in flight in a V formation.

(12) In phonetics, the IPA character ⟨ʌ⟩, which denotes an open-mid back unrounded vowel.

(13) In typography, háček quotations ▼.

(14) In mathematics, the symbol ∧, denoting a meet (infimum) operation or logical conjunction.

(15) In geometry, a five-sided polyhedron with a rectangular base, two rectangular or trapezoidal sides meeting in an edge, and two triangular ends.

(16) In political science, a strategy or pattern of behaviour by a politician, political party, or advocacy group intended to have a divisive effect on one's political opponents or on the electorate, by emphasizing an issue which polarizes opinion along racial, class, regional, or other demographic lines.

(17) In mountaineering a wedge-shaped device, formerly of wood, now usually of hollow steel, for hammering into a crack to provide an anchor point

Pre 900: From the Middle English wegge, from the Old English wecg (a wedge), from the Proto-Germanic wagjaz (source also of the Old Norse veggr, the Middle Dutch wegge, the Dutch wig, the Old High German weggi (wedge) and the dialectal German Weck (a wedge-shaped bread roll) and related to the Old Saxon weggi.  It was cognate with the dialectal German weck derived from the Old High German wecki and Old Norse veggr (wall).  The Proto-Germanic wagjaz is of uncertain origin but may be related to the Latin vomer (plowshare).

From the early fifteenth century, the verb form emerged in the sense of "jam in place with a wedge; tighten with a wedge", the figurative sense "drive or pack (into)" dating from 1720.  The meaning "split (something) apart with a wedge" is attested from 1853.  The general use to describe things shaped like a wedge began in the 1610s and use of the phrase "thin edge of the wedge" meaning a minor change that leads to a major change, especially one thought undesirable, dates from the mid nineteenth century.  Although the style had been produced earlier, the type of women’s shoe called “wedge” was advertised in 1939, a spike in the popularity of the style in the early 1970s cause a brief, world-wide shortage of cork because demand suddenly exceeded the supply which relied substantially on the Portuguese crop.

Wedge Politics

Wedge politics is the art of identifying an issue of importance to one’s own political base but which polarises opinion in that of one’s political opponents.  A wedge issue is of a controversial or divisive nature (guns, abortion, refugees et al) which splits apart a demographic or population group which tends to be clustered in the voting base of an opposing political party.  Wedge issues can be advertised or publicly aired in an attempt to weaken the unity of a population, with the goal of enticing polarized individuals to give support to an opponent or to withdraw their support entirely out of disillusionment.

Some dictionaries cite 1999 as the origin of wedge issue as a phrase but it dates from 1990, in the run-up to that year’s mid-term US congressional elections.  A official under Jimmy Carter (b 1924; US President 1977-1981), Stuart Eizenstst (b 1943; Chief Domestic Policy Adviser and Executive Director, White House Domestic Policy Staff 1977-1981) coined the term to describe the tactics being deployed under George HW Bush (George XLI, 1924-2018; US president 1989-1993) to use affirmative action guidelines and quotas as issues “…to split the coalition of working-class whites and blacks, the two constituencies Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR, 1882–1945, US president 1933-1945) unified on economic grounds.  The image came to mind of a wedge being driven."  It was a refinement of what emerged during the Reagan presidency, the use of social issues to persuade the working-class to vote against their own economic interests.  In the jargon of political science, they’re also called third rail issues.  It filled a political-linguistic need for fresh labels.  As a phrase, wedge issue had a certain earthy appeal, a wedge being a familiar and vivid metaphor, more memorable than the earlier usage hot-button issue, which was too vague to summon the mental imagery and more widely used and understood than the Latinate polarization so beloved by political scientists.  Generational change means wedge issues can return to haunt the authors.  In the 1990s, gay marriage was used successfully by the Republicans to drive a wedge between the liberal and conservative wings of the Democratic Party but within a quarter-century, the universe had shifted and it was the Republicans fractured by the issue.  The hunter had been captured by the game.

The Wedge Combustion Chamber

So-named because the inside top of the cylinder head is shaped like an inclined basin, with the valves sitting at an angle so that the space between the piston and cylinder head looks like a wedge, wedge-shaped combustion chambers have been used by almost every mainstream manufacturer of internal combustion engines.  A relatively simple design, the chamber resembles an inclined basin recessed into the deck of the head, the fuel/air mix supplied (usually) by inline valves, often tilted to accommodate the sloping roof.  The spark plug tends to be located on the thick side of the wedge, positioned most often midway between the valves.

Lindsay Lohan fastening Louis Vuitton patent leather cork wedges.

Designed to exploit the nature of fluid dynamics, the chamber’s steep walls deflect the air/fuel flow path, forcing it to move in a downward spiral around the cylinder axis.  During the compression stroke, the compressed air/fuel area reduces to such an extent that the trapped mixture is violently thrust from the thin to the thick end of the chamber, building up significant kinetic energy, which, when ignited, improves the burn rate and thus the extraction of energy: the power.  Another advantage, refined particularly from the mid 1970s, is that the wedge-shaped combustion chamber tends to have a smaller surface area than other designs and so there is less space on which droplets can condense, assisting in reducing the volume of fuel remaining unburnt after the combustion cycle, thus reducing hydrocarbon emissions.  Ultimately, the wedge-shaped combustion chamber is not as efficient or able to produce as much power as other designs but is well-suited to engines which need to deliver a compromise between torque, power and economy over a wide operating range.  It has the additional benefit of being inherently cheaper to build than others because of the simplicity of the casting and machining processes required and the structure of its valve train tends to require fewer moving parts.