Neophyte

Neophyte (pronounced nee-uh-fahyt)

(1) A beginner or novice at something;  person who is new to a subject, skill, or belief.

(2) In the Roman Catholic Church, a novice in a religious order; a new convert or proselyte; a new monk.

(3) A person newly converted to a belief, as a heathen, heretic, or nonbeliever; proselyte.

(4) In Christianity, a name given by the early Christians (and still by the Roman Catholics), to those who have recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, especially those converts from heathenism or Judaism (in most of the primitive Church, a person newly baptized).

(5) In botany, a plant species recently introduced to an area (in contrast to archaeophyte, a long-established introduced species).

1550-1460:  From the Ecclesiastical Latin neophytus (newly planted), from the Ancient Greek νεόφυτος (neóphutos) (newly planted), the construct of which was νέος (néos) (new) + φυτόν (phutón) (plant, child), the origin of which was a verbal adjective of phyein (cause to grow, beget, plant).  In the Greek used in the New Testament, the spelling was neophutos.  Neophyte is a noun & adjective, neophytic & neophytish are adjectives and neophytism is a noun; the noun plural is neophytes.

Churches and cults

In both the biblical sense of "a young scholar" and the general sense of "someone new to something", Cady Heron in Mean Girls (2004) was a neophyte.

Despite the lineage, use in English was rare prior to the nineteenth century.  The technical sense of ecclesiastical use is from I Timothy iii:6 and the general sense of "one who is new to any subject" was first recorded in the 1590s.  In early translations of the Bible, the neophyte was “a young scholar”, the implication being an “old scholar” could not be a neophyte by deferring his baptism or by long delaying his conversion to God which he had long before learned to be necessary.  As Christianity became increasingly corporatized in the search for bums on pews, view became less rigorous.  The word is also a favorite among cults.  In the symbolism of Freemasonry, the north refers to the outer or profane world and the east the inner world of Masonry; hence the cornerstones of Masonic Lodges are laid always in the south-east corner and the initiations of neophytes is always undertaken with them facing the north-east, symbolic of the position of neophytes, partly in the darkness of the former, partly in the light of the latter.

Cornerstone of a Masonic Lodge.

One of history's better known Masonic plots involves the White House's missing its cornerstone.  In October 1792, a group of freemasons assembled at a Georgetown tavern and paraded to the proposed site of the president’s mansion where they conducted certain rituals.  In one ceremony, they placed an inscribed cornerstone and then repaired to the inn to toast the event.  According to Masonic legend, some sixteen toasts were made, one consequence of which was they neglected to document the cornerstone's location.  Subsequent searches never located the stone and even when the White House underwent extensive renovations between 1948-1952 (engineers in 1948 threatened to condemn the building such was the state of structural decay) it wasn't discovered.  The post popular theory is it sits embedded between two stone walls near the Rose Garden.

Tachyon

Tachyon (pronounced tak-ee-on)

In theoretical physics, a hypothetical elementary particle capable of travelling faster than the speed of light

1967: The construct was tachy + on, a hypothetical Ancient Greek etymon derived from ταχυόν (takhuón) (a quick thing), from ταχύς (takhús) (swift, rapid).  The on suffix is used in physics to form nouns denoting subatomic particles (eg proton), quanta (eg photon), molecular units (eg codon), or substances (eg interferon). Tachyon is a noun and tachyonic is an adjective (the more attractive adjectival form in French is tachyonique); the noun plural is tachyons.

The universe’s universal speed limit

In the literature, the earliest reference to speculative discussions about faster-than-light particles appears to be work published in 1904 by German theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld (1868–1951), others suggesting the possibility in 1962 used the term meta-particle.  In 1967, US physicist Gerald Feinberg (1933–1992) coined the word tachyon in a paper titled Possibility of Faster-Than-Light Particles, based on his study of how such particles would behave according to special relativity.

Tachyons probably can’t exist because they would conflict with many known laws of physics and speculative experiments have been designed to demonstrate the logical paradoxes their existence would create.  Despite this theoretical proof of their impossibility, experiments have been performed to look for them, but no evidence has been found.  They can be imagined because it’s a variation of the visual effect of watching an airplane travelling faster than the speed of sound.  There, the airplane is seen before being heard.  Because a tachyon must always be faster than light, it wouldn’t be possible to see it coming and after it passed, the observer would see two images of it, appearing and departing.  The meta-implication, were faster-than-light travel possible for some things or layers, is the universe being a space in which, at least in part, everything is happening at the same time.

The speed limit ultimately is always C.

However, just because tachyons can't exist hasn't stopped physicists pondering the possibilities offered by tachyonic devices.  The concept of the tachyonic antitelephone was in 1969 proposed by US physicist Gregory Benford (b 1941), his idea being that if a tachyon could be sent back in time, it could be used to transmit information faster than the speed of light, the hypothetical device thus able to send information back in time.  That of course would have the potential for both good and evil but would anyway violate the law of causality, as effect would occur before cause.

Procreate

Procreate (pronounced proh-kree-yet)

(1) To beget, engender or generate (offspring).

(2) To produce; bring into being.

1530–1540: From the Latin prōcreātus, past participle of prōcreāre (to breed), the construct being pro- + creāre (to create), prōcreāte being the second-person plural present active imperative of prōcreō (present infinitive prōcreāre, perfect active prōcreāvī, supine prōcreātum; first conjugation).  Root form was pro- +‎ creo, the pro- prefix being the combining form of prō (preposition); creo was from the Proto-Italic krēāō (to make grow) from the primitive Indo-European ḱer- (to grow; become bigger”), the same root of crēscō (I increase, rise, grow, thrive; multiply, augment).  The synonyms and related terms include spawn, proliferate, originate, impregnate, parent, engender, sire, create, breed, father, generate, mother, produce, propagate, conceive, hatch, multiply, get, beget & make.  Procreate, procreated & procreating are verbs, procreation, procreativeness & procreator are nouns and procreant & procreative are adjectives; the noun plural is procreators.

The consequences of procreation: Lindsay Lohan’s family tree.

Procreation was a theme in the Bible.  In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number”, a point reinforced in Psalm 127:3–5 and Matthew 28:18-20.  In an early example of a social contract, in the Covenant of the Rainbow (Genesis 6:13-22 (KJV)), having told man to go forth and multiply, God granted humanity dominion over all earth and “…every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”  Most anxious to do the Lord’s work was Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022).  Having gone forth and multiplied with his wife who gave him four dsughters, after pausing to condemn same-sex marriage because it threatened the sanctity of traditional marriage, he deserted his wife to go forth and multiply with his mistress... twice.  The two children were later able to attend their parents' marriage which was a nice touch.

Photon

Photon (pronounced foh-ton)

The subatomic particle that carries the electromagnetic force and is the quantum of electromagnetic radiation; has a rest mass of zero, but has measurable momentum, exhibits deflection by a gravitational field, and can exert a force.  It has no electric charge, has an indefinitely long lifetime, and is its own antiparticle.  It is the quantum (a bundle of energy) in which light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation are emitted.

1916: A compound word phot(o)- +‎ -on.  Photo is from the Ancient Greek combining form φωτω- (phōtō-) from φῶς (phôs) (light).  The –on suffix is used often in science, in physics (eg electron) and in chemistry (eg carbon) and is from the Ancient Greek -ον (-on), used when ending neuter nouns and adjectives.  In physics, mathematics and biology, it forms nouns denoting subatomic particles (proton), quanta (photon), molecular units (codon), or substances (interferon).  In biology and genetics, it’s applied to form names of stuff considered basic or fundamental units such as codon.  In chemistry, it’s used to form names of noble gases and certain nonmetal elements such as boron or silicon.  Photon was coined in 1916 by US physicist Leonard Troland (1889-1932) as a unit of light hitting the retina but the word was little used until the 1920s when a number of scientific papers were published.  Although the findings of some of the early experiments were later disproved, the word was soon adopted by most physicists.  Photon is a noun and photonic an adjective; the noun plural is photons.  

The light quantum

The photon is also called the light quantum.  The Latin word quanta (how much; the singular form is quantum) was used in the nineteenth century to mean particles or as a measure of quantity, the latter meaning persisting in general use.  What light was actually made from was, until the early twentieth century, one of the fundamental arguments in physics; the dispute essentially whether light was a wave or a particle.  Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published his theory in a 1905 paper which described electromagnetic waves as “…spatially localized, discrete wave-packets” which he labeled das lichtquant (the light quantum).  Light has special characteristics: apart from being creation’s universal speed limit, photons have a unique property in that they are both a particle and a wave, almost certainly have no mass and carry no charge.

JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) used the properties of the photon to illustrate the weird world of quantum theory.

Photons underlie Einstein’s theory of relativity.  Travelling at the speed of light (and light can be slowed-down or stopped), if a photon could visualize, the entire universe would appear as a two-dimensional timeless plane which is completely still.  However, a photon can’t visualize or even experience anything because, for a proton, time doesn't pass, physicists labeling such things null geodesics.  A photon moves from its start to its end: An interaction creates (or emits) it until another interaction destroys (or absorbs) it.  These two things, creation and destruction, are all that can happen to a photon and neither can be experienced because there’s no time; what photons do can be measured but the frame of reference is wholly external.  In an inertial reference frame, there are physical laws which don't depend on the motion of anything external to the system yet for a photon, the physical rules it obeys depend exclusively on everything which happens external to it.

Weirder still, because protons lack mass, a photon cannot visualize the rest of the universe because seeing requires interacting with other particles, antiparticles, or photons, and, once such an interaction occurs, that photon's journey is over, its destruction as instantaneous as its creation.  Thus the fundamental importance of time to the existence of three-dimensional space; were there no time, everything would happen at once.

Neutrino

Neutrino (pronounced noo-tree-noh, nyoo-tree-noh)

In physics, a stable elementary particle, classified as a lepton which has an extremely small (but nonzero) mass and no electric charge. Travelling at the speed of light, it interacts with the surroundings only via the weak force or gravitation, making it very difficult to detect.  Three types exist, associated with the electron, the muon, and the tau particle.  The neutrino symbol is a V.

1932: Coined by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), the construct being neutr(on) + -ino.  Neutron was a formation of neutral +‎ -on (the suffix forming nouns denoting subatomic particles (proton), quanta (photon), molecular units (codon), or substances (interferon).  It was coined by Scottish-Australian physicist William Sutherland in 1899 in a paper in the Philosophical Magazine. Subsequent usage was sporadic and theoretical, sometimes referring to neutrinos rather than neutrons, and the modern sense was reintroduced by New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) in 1920.  The Italian diminutive suffix –ino (plural -ini, feminine -ina) is from the Latin -īnus, from the primitive Indo-European –iHnos (and is most comparable with the English suffix –ine).  It’s (1) an alterative suffix used to form diminutives, (2) a derivational suffix used to form adjectives or nouns, (3) used to indicate an ethnic or geographical origin, (4) used to indicate tools or instruments and (5) used to derive adjectives denoting composition, colour or other qualities.  In Italian, neutrino means “little neutron”.  Neutrino is a noun; the noun plural is neutrinos 

They're everywhere

Although not observed until 1955, Austrian-Swiss physicist Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (1900-1958) created a theoretical model in 1930 of what he called the neutron, the word modelled on electron.  He speculated his new particle was emitted from the nucleus together with the electron or beta particle in the process of decay.  The word neutrino entered the scientific lexicon after Italian–American physicist Enrico Fermi used it at a Paris conference in 1932.  Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, billions of which produced by nuclear reactions in the sun pass through every human body on earth every second without disturbing any atoms.  An incalculable number were created fractions of a second after the Big Bang and new ones are constantly being generated, in the nuclear hearts of stars, in particle accelerators and atomic reactors on Earth, during the explosive collapse of supernovas and when radioactive elements decay. Physicists estimate, at any given point in time or space, there are a billion times more neutrinos than protons in the universe.

A perfect gift for nerds, neutrino T-shirts are available in designer colors. 

Despite their ubiquity, neutrinos remain mysterious, streaming through most matter as if they were light rays going through a transparent window, scarcely interacting with everything else in existence.  They made the headlines in 2011 when researchers in Italy suggested they had detected neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light, hitherto thought impossible.  Technical faults in the measurement were later detected and neutrinos resumed their place as cosmically law-abiding particles.  Later reports from the US indicate the possibility a fourth type (the so-called sterile neutrino) might exist; if detected, known laws of physics would have to be amended because sterile neutrinos don't fit into what's known as the Standard Model, a framework that explains almost all known particles and forces except gravity.  A new analytical framework would be required.

Tampion

Tampion (pronounced tam-pee-uhn)

(1) In ordnance, a wooden plug, or a metal or canvas cover for the muzzle of a gun, a cannon or other piece of ordnance when not in use; a stopper; a bung.

(2) In music, a plug for the upper end of an organ pipe.

(3) An obsolete form of tampon (a plug of absorbent material inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid).

1425-1475: From the Late Middle English tampyon, a variant of the fourteenth century Middle French tampon & tampion (piece of folded cloth used to stop a hole), a nasalized variant of Old French tapon (tape plug), a diminutive or augmented form of the Old French tape (plug, bung, tap), from the Frankish tappo (stopper, plug), from the Proto-Germanic tappô (plug, tap).  It was cognate with the Old High German zapfo (stopper) and the Old English tæppa (stopper).  The alternative forms were tampeon and tompion.  The use to describe a "canvas or wooden plug futted to the muzzle of a gun to prevent the intrusion of rain or seawater" entered military use in the 1620s.  Tampion is a noun and tampioned an adjective; the noun plural is tampions.

The verb tamp (to fill a hole containing an explosive with dirt or clay before blasting) dates from 1819 and appears to have begun as workmen's slang, possibly as a back-formation from tampion, that word being mistaken as a present participle (tamping).  The noun tamper emerged circa 1865 in the sense of "one who or that which tamps" and was the agent noun from the verb.  In the world of explosive blasting, tamp is still used in the sense of "to plug up a hole with clay, earth, dry sand, sod, or other material, as a prelude to detonation" and in civil engineering generally means (1) to drive in or pack down by frequent gentle strokes & (2) as "tamp the soil" so to render a smooth surface.

Royal Marines fitting tampions to the fourteen inch guns of the battleship HMS Howe.  When fitted, a gun was said to be "tampioned", the word also once common in military medicine when a plug of absorbent material had been inserted into a body cavity or wound to absorb fluid.

Parsec

Parsec (pronounced pahr-sek)

A unit of astronomical length, based on the distance from Earth at which a star would have a parallax of one second of arc which is equivalent to 206,265 times the distance from the earth to the sun or 3.26 light-years.  Its lineal equivalent is about 19.1 trillion miles (30.8 trillion km).

1913: The construct was par + sec, derived from parallax + second.  Parallax is from the Middle French parallaxe, from the Ancient Greek παράλλαξις (parállaxis) (alteration) from παραλλάσσω (parallássō) (to cause to alternate) from ἀλλάσσω (allássō) (to alter) from ἄλλος (állos) (other).  Second, in the sense of time, is from the Middle English secunde & seconde, borrowed from the Old French seconde, from the Medieval Latin secunda, short for secunda pars minuta (second diminished part (of the hour)). Parsec is a noun; the noun plural is parsecs.

Distance in space

The parsec (pc) is a unit of length used to measure large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System.  A parsec is defined as the distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arc second, which corresponds to 648000 astronomical units.  The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, is about 1.3 parsecs (4.2 light-years) from the Sun.

The parsec unit appears first to have been suggested in 1913 by the English astronomer Professor Herbert Hall Turner (1861-1930).  It was invented to permit calculations of astronomical distances using only raw observational data and is thus the default unit of measure in astronomy and astrophysics although the more-easily understood light-year is preferred by lay-persons.  While useful to describe the comparatively short distances within the Milky Way, multiples of parsecs are needed to map the wider universe including kiloparsecs (kpc) for objects immediately beyond the Milky Way and megaparsecs (Mpc) for more distant galaxies.  Gigaparsecs (Gpc) are used to measure the quasars and galaxies which exist at the extreme edge of the known universe; the particle horizon (the boundary of the observable universe) has a radius of about 14.0 Gpc (46 billion light-years).

Although in use for more than a century, the parsec wasn’t formally defined until August 2015 when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) which, as part of the definition of a standardized absolute and apparent bolometric magnitude scale, noted the existing explicit definition of the parsec as exactly 648000 astronomical units, or approximately 3.08567758149137×10¹⁶ metres.

Hubble telescope image of star-forming region in the Carina Nebula.  As photographed, the gas and dust cluster is about .889 of a parsec (2.9 light-years) tall.

Franchise

Franchise (pronounced fran-chahyz)

(1) A privilege of a public nature conferred on an individual, group, or company by a government.

(2) In commerce, the right or license granted by a company to an individual or group to market its products or services in a specific territory.

(3) A store, restaurant, or other business operating under such a license.

(4) The territory over which such a license extends.

(5) The right to vote (usually regarded as concurrent with the full rights of citizenship.

(6) A privilege arising from the grant of a sovereign or government, or from prescription, which presupposes a grant.

(7) In professional sport, the right to own or operate a team as a member of a league.

(8) In modern commercial cinema, a film that is or has the potential to be part of a series and lends itself to merchandising.

(9) In the marine insurance division of Admiralty law, a sum or percentage stated in a policy, below which the insurer disclaims all liability.

(10) An obsolete word for enfranchise.

1250-1300: From the Middle English, from Old French, derivative of franc (free) and franchir & franchiss (to set free).  In Old French, the twelfth century word franchise meant “freedom, exemption; right, privilege” but by early eighteenth century meaning had narrowed to "particular legal privilege," then, the post-revolutionary "right to vote" by 1790.  The meaning in the sense of commercial licencing is cited variously between 1959-1966, though actual word franchising was first noted in the 1570s.  Use in the film industry is most modern, emerging in the late twentieth century (although the concept pre-dated the use of the descriptor) and in law and commerce, forms have been coined as required including: overfranchised, disfranchisement, subfranchise, subfranchised & subfranchising.  Franchise & franchising are nouns & verbs, franchiser, franchisor, franchisement, franchisability & franchisee are nouns and franchised is a verb; the most common noun plurals are franchises and franchisers.

Jim's Mowing began in Australia literally as a one-man, part-time lawn-mowing created by a student to generate income while pursuing a history Ph.D.  It has since expanded into a franchise business which has been adapted to over 50 service industries in four countries (Australia, Canada, the UK & US) with some 4,000 franchises.

In popular culture, the most common use of franchise is in film and television where it's used to describe productions of media content that in some way share a common fictional universe (the characters or the theme).  The typical franchise is two or more films or television shows connected by shared elements, such as recurring characters, settings, storylines, or themes.  Although some are now planned according to a well-understood formula, historically franchises emerged from a films or TV show which generated a sufficient level of fan interest and revenue and the revenue generation streams extend beyond the original format(s) to include merchandizing opportunities as video games, books, comics and clothing.  Dating from 2006, The Real Housewives is an US "reality television" franchise which has thus far yielded 11 geographically different series (The Real Housewives of Dubai including the novelty of being set overseas), more than 20 international adaptations and some two-dozen "spin-offs", some successful, some not.  The Real Housewives of Dubai (RHODubai to the cognoscenti) debuted in mid-2022 but, unfortunately, does not feature noted Dubai resident Lindsay Lohan.  Perhaps it's only a matter of time.

Rusticate

Rusticate (pronounced ruhs-ti-keyt)

(1) To go to the country; to stay or sojourn in the country; to banish or retire to the country

(2) To make rustic, as persons or manners; to make or become rustic in style, behaviour etc.

(3) In architecture, to finish an exterior wall with large blocks of masonry that are separated by deep joints and decorated with a bold, usually textured, design.

(4) Temporarily to send down a student from a university as punishment (historic UK use).

(5) By extension, to sack a politician from office because of misbehavior or some scandal.

1650–1660: From the Latin rūsticātus, past participle of rūsticārī (to live in the country), the construct being rūstic(us) (rustic + -ātus); ultimate root was rūs (the country) which, like rūsticus was derived from the Proto-Italic rowestikos. The Classical Latin suffix –ātus (feminine -āta, neuter -ātum) is from the Proto-Italic -ātos, from the primitive Indo-European -eh₂tos and is listed by scholars as a "pseudo-participle" possibly related to -tus, though similar formations in other Indo-European languages indicate it was distinct from it by Indo-European times.  The suffix –ate was used to form adjectives from nouns indicating the possession of a thing or a quality and was one of Latin’s perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs (-ātus, -āta & -ātum) which, in Middle English was written -at.  Rusticate is a verb, rusticator & rustication are nouns and rusticated & rusticating are adjectives & verbs; the usual noun plural is rusticators.

Rusticated by nature (and sometimes by circumstances): Barnaby Joyce (b 1967; thrice (between local difficulties) deputy prime minister of Australia 2016-2022).

Stratosphere

Stratosphere (pronounced strat-uh-sfeer)

(1) The region of the upper atmosphere extending between the tropopause and mesosphere to about 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the earth, characterized by little vertical change in temperature.

(2) In historic documents, all of the earth's atmosphere lying outside the troposphere (obsolete).

(3) Any great height or degree of anything, as the highest point of a graded scale.

(4) In geology, collectively, those layers of the Earth’s crust which primarily comprise stratified deposits (obsolete).

1908: From the French stratosphère, the construct being strato + sphère (literally "sphere of layers").  It was coined by French meteorologist Léon-Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (1855-1913).  Strato was an inflected form of strātus (a spreading out), the perfect passive participle of sternō (spread) and past participle stem of sternere (to spread out) from the primitive Indo-European root stere- (to spread).  Sphere was from the Middle English spere, from the Old French sphere, from the Medieval Latin sphēra, from the Classical Latin sphaera (ball, globe, celestial sphere), from the Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra) (ball, globe) of unknown origin and despite the apparent similarity, not related to the Persian سپهر‎ (sepehr) (sky).  The earlier use of the word, attested in English 1908 and coined in German 1901, was a geological term for part of the Earth's crust and has long been wholly obsolete.  The second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, the stratosphere sits above the troposphere and below the mesosphere.  Itself stratified, the stratosphere’s cooler layers are closest to the Earth’s surface, the higher layers warmed by the absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation in the ozone layer, a reversal of the process in the troposphere where temperature decreases with altitude.  Stratosphere is a noun, and stratospheric & stratospherical are adjectives; the noun plural is stratospheres.

Layers

It was once thought the first living things to enter the stratosphere were some fruit flies, sent there by the US Air Force aboard one of the V-2 rockets seized from the German's wartime missile programme.  Launched in February 1947 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the purpose of the flight was to explore the effects of radiation exposure at these then novel high altitudes; the V2 attained a height of 68 miles (109 kilometres) and all fruit flies survived the trip.  It was soon appreciated however that some bacteria or viruses must have been present in or on the V2s launched by the Germans between 1944-1945 and many of these would, at least briefly, have entered the stratosphere but even these appear not to have been the first living (and viruses are in some sense “alive”) things there.

Although the tropopause (the uppermost layer of the troposphere) is thought a barrier to the upward movement of particles, volcanoes are an obvious means by which this could occur although such eruptions are rare.  Bacterial life does however survive in the stratosphere, making it technically, part of the biosphere and, in 2001, dust was collected at a height of 25 miles (41 kilometres) which, upon analysis, was found to contain bacteria of surprisingly large size.  The discovery excited speculation that such large bacterial masses may be incoming to Earth, the suggestion being that (1) the bacteria may have arrived in the stratosphere from space and (2) the possibility that the transfer of bacteria from the Earth to the highly mutagenic stratosphere may have played a role in bacterial evolution.  Among the scientific community, enthusiasm for these theories was restrained.

Fissiparous

Fissiparous (pronounced fi-sip-er-uhs)

(1) In biology, reproducing or propagating by fission; propagated by spontaneous fission or self-division (that form of asexual generation in which the parent divides; each part becoming a new individual).

(2) Having a tendency to divide into groups or factions; factious, tending to break into pieces

1825-1835: An adaptation of the New Latin fissiparus, the construct being fissi, from fissus (split, cleft) + parous, from pariō (I bring forth) by mistaken analogy with vīviparus.  Vīviparus was a 1640s adoption from the Late Latin viviparus (bringing forth alive), the construct being vivus (alive, living), from the primitive Indo-European root gwei- (to live) + parire (bring forth, bear) from the primitive Indo-European root pere- (to produce, bring forth).  Outside of physics and biology, fissiparous is rare, the preferred synonyms in general use being  divisive, fractious, fragmenting & unstable; when used it’s often as the collocation "fissiparous tendencies".  Fissiparous & fissipalmate are adjectives, fissiparousness, fissiparity & fissiparism are nouns and fissiparously is an adverb; the most common noun plural is fissiparism.

Outside of the technical use (mostly in physics and biology), fissiparous is used in political science or the study or organizational behavior when discussing the institutions which either inherently posses or are prone to developing factions.  While it’s true that not very helpful in that any institution with more than one member could presumably be vulnerable, the view is that the institutions most at risk are those where ideological differences exist either in objective or the means by which it may be achieved.  However, even if no disputes of this kind may exist, of achieving fissiparousness may manifest simply because of a pursuit for organizational power or authority.  The risk to therefore thought to be greatest in the institutions which (1) exist to pursue some ideological purpose, the parameters of which are variable and (2) the rewards of power are greatest.  That’s why fissiparousness is often displayed in political parties and religions.

Fissiparousness is much associated with the modern Church of England, factions of which some time ago mostly abandoned any interest in God or the message of Christ for the more important matters of championing or decrying gay clergy, getting women into or keeping them out of the priesthood, and talking to or ignoring Rome.  Among those resistant to anything beyond the medieval, there's even an institutional forum, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) which holds meetings at which there is much intrigue and plotting; it's sort of an anti-Lambeth Conference though the cucumber sandwiches are said to be much the same.  Under the stresses inherent in the late twentieth-century, fissiparousness saw the Anglicans coalesce into three factions, the low & lazy, the broad & hazy and the high & crazy.

The Low & Lazy

Like the high churchers, the low lot still believe in God but, their time not absorbed plotting and scheming or running campaigns to stamp out gay clergy and opposing the ordination of women, they actually have time to pray, which they do, often.  The evangelical types come from among the low and don’t approve of fancy rituals, Romish ways or anything smelling of popery.  Instead, they like services where there’s clapping, dancing and what sounds like country & western music with sermons telling them it’s Godly to buy things like big TVs and surf-skis.

The Broad & Hazy

The broad church is more a club than a church, something like the Tory Party at prayer.  The parishioners will choose the church they (occasionally) attend on the same basis as their golf club, driving miles if need be to find a congregation acceptably free of racial and cultural DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).  They’re interested not at all in theology or anything too abstract so sermons need to be brief and sufficiently vague to please the bourgeoisie.  The broad church stands for most things in general and nothing in particular; finding most disputes in Anglicanism baffling, they just can't see what all the fuss is about.

The High & Crazy

The high church has clergy who love dressing up like the Spice Girls, burning incense and chanting the medieval liturgy in Latin.  They disapprove of about everything that’s happened since the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer and believe there’d be less sin were there still burnings at the stake.  Most high church clergy wish Pius IX (1792–1878; pope 1846-1878) still sat on the throne of Saint Peter and some act as though he does.

Of human nature

Cady's Map by Janis Ian.

The human race does seem inherently fissiparousness and wherever cultures have formed, history suggests divisions will form and folk will tend to coalesce (or be allocated or otherwise forced) into factions.  Usually, this is attributed to some defined or discernible difference (ethnicity, skin color, language, tribal affiliation, religion et al) but even among homogeneous groups, it's rare to identify one without sub-groups.  It does seem human nature and has long since become institutionalized and labelling theory practitioners can probably now build minor academic careers just by tracking the segregation as it evolves (boomers, gen-X, millennials etc).  The faction names of the cliques at North Shore High School (Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures 2004)) were Actual Human Beings, Anti-Plastics, The Art Freaks, Asexual Band Geeks, Asian Nerds, Burnouts, Cheerleaders, Cool Asians, Desperate Wannabes, Freshmen, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, J.V. Cheerleaders, J.V. Jocks, Junior Plastics, Preps, ROTC Guys, Sexually Active Band Geeks, The Plastics, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Unnamed Girls Who Don't Eat Anything, and Varsity Jocks.  Given the way sensitivities have evolved, it’s predictable some of those names wouldn’t today be used; the factions' membership rosters would be much the same but some terms are now proscribed in this context, the threshold test for racism now its mere mention, racialism banished to places like epidemiological research papers tracking the distribution of morbidity. 

Lambeth

Lambeth (pronounced lam-bith)

(1) A south London suburb, the location of Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

(2) A slang term for the hierarchy of the Church of England.

The name Lambeth embodies hithe, a Middle English word for a landing on the river.  Lambeth Palace has for some eight-hundred years been the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  It sits on the south bank of the Thames, a quarter mile (400m) south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which contains the houses of parliament, on the opposite bank.

Rowan Williams (b 1950; Archbishop of Canterbury 2002-2012) and Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) chat at Lambeth Palace.

The Lambeth Conference

The Lambeth Conference is a (nominally) decennial assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  There have been fourteen Lambeth Conferences, the first in 1867.  The Anglican Communion is an international association of autonomous national and regional churches, not a governing body and the office of Archbishop of Canterbury is in no way analogous with the Roman Catholic Pope.  The conferences serve a collaborative and consultative function and are said to express “…the mind of the communion" on issues of the day. Resolutions passed at a Lambeth Conference are without legal effect, but can be influential.

Conferences were never the pure and high-minded discussions of ethics, morality and theology some now appear to believe characterized the pre-modern (in this context those held prior to 1968) events.  Agenda and communiqués from all conferences have always included the procedural, administrative and jurisdictional although in recent years, they’ve certainly reflected an increasingly factionalized communion rent with cross-cutting cleavages, first over the ordination of women and of late, homosexual clergy.  During the 1998 conference, Bishop Chukwuma (b 1954) of Nigeria attempted to exorcise "homosexual demons" from the soul of Nigerian-born Richard Kirker (b 1951), a British priest and general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.  Recalling probably Ephesians 4:32 or perhaps the more cautionary Matthew 6:15, Kirker forgave him.

The spirit of Kirker notwithstanding, at this point, the disagreements seem insoluble.  The poisonous atmosphere at, and in the aftermath of, the last conference in 2008 did not enhance the image of the church and a typically Anglican solution to avoid a repetition in 2018 seemed to have emerged.  In 2014, in answer to the suggestion he had cancelled the 2018 conference, Archbishop Justin Welby (b 1956; 105th Archbishop of Canterbury 2013-), in a statement worthy of any of his predecessors, responded by stating, "As it hasn’t been called, it can’t have been cancelled."

A communiqué issued after the primates' meeting in January 2016, noted the bishops had accepted the archbishop’s proposal the fifteenth conference should be held in 2020.  However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was in March 2020 decided to postpone the conference to the summer of 2021 but the virus proved elusive and by July, the delay had been extended to 2022.  The first epistle of Peter has been chosen as the biblical focus for the conference, the theme of which is said to be what it means to be “God’s Church for God’s World”.  The apostle Peter wrote this epistle to give comfort to Christians suffering persecution from non-believers, hoping to encourage them to live pure lives despite their vicissitudes.

#lambeth got tagged in Lindsay Lohan's political commentaries on the dramatic night of the Brexit referendum in 2016.  She was a part of Team %remain.  

Peter didn’t sugar-coat the message (1 Peter 4:12-19), making it clear that for Christians, suffering is actually a participation in the sufferings of Christ and is an occasion for rejoicing, helpfully adding that in the midst of the suffering, the Holy Spirit rests upon those who are suffering, this being a great consolation.  He further explains that God uses suffering to purify the Christian community, God's household.  God uses the abuse that pagans unjustly heap on Christians to prepare his people for the return of Christ and warns people not to be surprised at the fiery ordeal that will come upon them as followers of Jesus.  Actually, they should be both grateful and happy and thus glorify God, for if they share in Christ’s sufferings it means they will also share in his glory.

In a world beset by fire, flood, pestilence and plague, 1 Peter seems a good theme to loom over a Lambeth Conference.  Whether or not Christians beyond the Kent conference rooms will long note the message, it probably will resonate with Archbishop Welby’s predecessor, Rowan Williams (Baron Williams of Oystermouth, b 1950; 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, 2002-2012).  During his tenure at Lambeth, Dr Williams probably felt more ignored than persecuted by non-believers, finding the internecine squabbles of the believers in the Anglican factions rather more tiresome.  Declaring the problems in the church “insoluble” he seemed not unhappy to be leaving Lambeth to return to his study and write about Dostoevsky.  A generous spirit, he will have wished his successor well.