Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Kosher

Kosher (pronounced koh-sher)

(1) In Judaism, a legal definition of food fit or allowed to be eaten or used, according to the dietary or ceremonial laws of the of the Talmud; in conformity with canonical texts or Rabbinical edict, the kosher rules can be applied also to non-food items such as clothing.

(2) In Judaism, adhering to the laws governing such fitness.

(3) In informal use (without any religious connotations), proper, legitimate, genuine, authentic.

1851: From the From Yiddish כּשר‎ (kosher), from Hebrew כָּשֵׁר‎ (kāshēr, kasher and kashruth) (right, fit, proper), the Yiddish reflecting the original meaning.  In the US, in the mid-nineteenth century, the forms kasher & coshar were also in use and beyond the Jewish community, the use as a general verbal shorthand for proper, legitimate, genuine, authentic etc dates from 1896 or the 1920s depending on source although it’s only “kosher” (the original, simplified form of the Hebrew) which endured thus.  Kosher is a verb, adjective & adverb, kosherness is a noun, kosherize, koshering & koshered are verbs and kosherly an adverb.  Because the state of kosherness is a matter of fact under the rules of the Talmud, the adjectives nonkosher & unkosher are often used though whether there are nuances which dictate the choice of which (or even if any such nuances are consistent) isn’t clear.  Although it’s grammatically non-standard, kosher & non kosher are sometimes used as nouns.  Even among those who tend to work in English or an English-Yiddish mix, the transitive verb “to kasher” is commonly used to describe the preparation of food to conform to Jewish law.  As a modifier it’s applied as required thus formations such as kosher salt, kosher kitchen, kosher pickle etc.

Lindsay Lohan on a visit to Westminster Synagogue with former special friend Samantha Ronson, London, March 2009.

The rules for kosher foods are codified in the Torah in the kashrut halakha (dietary law) which exists mostly in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  Food that conforms is called kosher; that which does not is treif.  Although many elements of the rules are well known (no hare, hyrax, camel, and pig; no shellfish or crustaceans, no creeping things that crawl the earth and no mixing of meat and dairy at the same meal), for adherents, it can at the margins be complex and sometimes the adjudication of the rabbi is needed although, Judaism as practiced is not monolithic and while those who are practicing will probably adhere to a core set or rules, the interpretation varies between communities, their traditions and their level of observance.  The history is also acknowledged by scholars of the texts and it’s admitted many of the original rules about the consumption of animal flesh were a kind of health code in the pre-refrigeration era, the proscriptions applied to the animals which had been found most prone to spread illness or disease if eaten after too long after slaughter or subject to inadequate preparation.  However, despite advances in technology & techniques meaning health concerns no longer apply, because of the long tradition, the rules have no assumed the function of a devotional obligation.

McDonald's at Abasto Mall, Buenos Aires, Argentina, said to be the world’s only kosher McDonald's outside of Israel.  On some days, it’s open until 2am.

The core rules of kosher food

(1) Animals must be slaughtered with a specific method: The beast must be killed by a trained kosher slaughterer (a shochet) using a sharp blade without nicks or imperfections.  The animal must be healthy and not suffer during the process.

(2) Only certain animals are considered kosher: The Torah lists several permitted animals including cows, sheep, goats, and deer. Pigs, camels, rabbits, and other animals are proscribed.

(3) If from the sea, river or lake, only fish with fins and scales may be considered kosher; crustaceans & shellfish are proscribed.

(4) Certain parts of an animal must not  be eaten including the sciatic nerve and certain fats.

(5) Insects which dwell or habitually crawl on the ground are proscribed but flying and leaf-dwelling insects such as locusts are permitted.

(6) Fruit and vegetables must carefully be inspected for bugs and other contaminants; a contaminated item can be cleaned if only touched by a bug but if partially eater, it must be discarded.

(7) Meat and dairy must never be mixed; not stored, prepared, cooked or consumed together.  Separate utensils and dishes must be used for each.

Sump

Sump (pronounced suhmp)

(1) A hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink (sump a common alternative name for a cesspool).

(2) In machinery, a chamber at the bottom of a machine, pump, circulation system, etc, into which a fluid drains before recirculation or in which wastes gather before disposal.

(3) In internal combustion engines, the lowest (except in dry-sump systems) part of the crankcase of an internal-combustion engine, into which lubricants drain to form a reservoir.

(4) In mining or other extractive industries, a space where water is allowed to collect at the bottom of a shaft or below a passageway; the lowest part of a mineshaft into which water drains.

(5) In drilling, a pilot shaft or tunnel pushed out in front of a main bore.

(6) A synonym for crankcase (pre-war British-English, now obsolete).

(7) In certain British-English dialects, a swamp, bog, or muddy pool (now mostly obsolete except for historic references).

(8) In construction, an intentional depression around a drain or scupper that promotes drainage.

(9) In nautical use, the the pit at the lowest point in a circulating or drainage system.

(10) In spelunking, a completely flooded cave passage, sometimes passable by diving.

1375-1425: From the Middle English sompe, (marsh, morass) from either the Middle Dutch somp or the Middle Low German & Middle Dutch sump (cognate with German Sumpf), from the Old Saxon sump, from the Proto-West Germanic sump, all Germanic forms ultimately from the Proto-Germanic sumpaz (linked also to swamp), from the primitive Indo-European swombho- (spongy).  Variations of the Middle English forms (related to marshes and swamps) had been used in locality names since the mid-thirteenth century but, untypically, this appears not to have led to their adoption as surnames based on a family's proximity to such places.  That's presumably because of the historical aversion to such dank, smelly sites, moistness rarely viewed favorably where water is stagnant.    The meaning "pit to collect water" was first noted in the 1650s and in English the most common meaning (a reservoir of fluid to lubricate machinery) was picked up by analogy and the first sump-pump was installed for mine-drainage in 1884.  The alternative spelling was sumph, obsolete since the seventeenth century.  Sump is a noun & verb, sumped is a verb; the noun plural is sumped.

The dry sump

A dry sump schematic. 

The somewhat misleadingly-named dry sump is a system for lubricating engines with oil drawn from a remote reservoir rather than a pan mounted at the lowest point beneath the engine.  Advantages are (1) increased power through lower crankshaft friction, (2) larger oil capacity, (3) consistent oil-pressure through removal of g-force effects, (4) reduced centre of gravity through lower mounting of the engine and (5) simplified oil-pump maintenance (the accessibility improved by the external mounting).  Disadvantages are (1) cost, (2) complexity and (3) a slight increase in weight.

Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 (W109, 1968-1972, left) & 450 SEL 6.9 (W116, 1975-1981, right)

When Mercedes-Benz developed the 450 SEL 6.9 to replace the 300 SEL 6.3, the engine’s (the M-100) wet sump was changed to dry.  This wasn’t to gain the dry-sump’s traditional benefits but an engineering necessity imposed by the new model’s lower hood (bonnet)-line.  With the wet sump installed, the big V8 simply wouldn’t fit.  The term "wet sump" is usually tautological but is used when discussing engines equipped variously with both simply to ensure there's no confusion.

Of sumps and sumptuousness  

Lindsay Lohan in 2011 Maserati Gran Turismo, Los Angeles, 2011.  Especially since the 1980s, Maseratis have been noted for their sumptuous interior appointments, the timberwork and soft leather making an inviting cabin.  Most version of the Gran Turismo (2007-2019) used a conventional wet sump but the Gran Turismo MC Stradale (2011-2015), a high-performance version of the Gran Turismo S (2008-2012), was dry sumped.

Linguistically promiscuous, English is a slut of a language which has picked up words from around the world, keeping them if they seem useful (even assimilating them as English words) and discarding them as they fall from use or can be replaced by something better.  This has advantages in flexibility and avoids the duplication which would ensue were new forms created.  It can however be confusing for those learning English because different traditions use varied spelling and phonetic conventions so what one root or element borrowed by English for one purpose might appear in conflict with another.  For someone learning English it would be reasonable to assume the meaning of the adjective "sumptuous" would be “of or pertaining to the design or construction of sumps” whereas it’s actually used to demote something “magnificent, lavish, splendid or luxurious”.  There are few images more disparate than a sump and something sumptuous.  Sumptuous was from the French somptueux, from the Latin sumptuōsus, from sūmptus (costly, very expensive; lavish, wasteful), the construct being sumō (I take) + -tus (the noun forming suffix), the past participle of sumere (to borrow, buy, spend, eat, drink, consume, employ, take, take up), a contraction of subemere, the construct being sub- (under) + emere (to take, buy) from the primitive Indo-European root em- (to take, distribute).  The most common derived forms are the noun sumptuousness and the adverb sumptuously.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Jelly

Jelly (pronounced jel-ee)

(1) A food preparation of a soft, elastic consistency due to the presence of gelatin, pectin etc, especially fruit juice boiled down with sugar and used as a sweet spread for bread and toast, as a filling for cakes or doughnuts etc.

(2) A preserve made from the juice of fruit boiled with sugar and used as jam (jam the preferred term in much of the English-speaking world outside North America).

(3) Any object or substance having a jelly-like consistency.

(4) A fruit-flavored gelatin dessert (in the English–speaking world but less common in North America where “jello” or “jell-o” are preferred).

(5) A “jelly shoe”, a plastic sandal or shoe, often brightly colored.

(6) To bring or come to the consistency of jelly.

(7) In theatre, film & television production, the informal term for a colored gelatin filter which can be fitted in front of a stage or studio light.

(8) A slang term for the explosive gelignite.

(9) In Caribbean (Jamaica) English, a clipping of jelly coconut.

(10) A savory substance, derived from meat, with a similar texture to the sweet dessert (the gelatinous meat product also known as aspic).

(11) In the slang of zoology, a jellyfish.

(12) In slang (underworld & pathology), blood, especially in its congealed state.

(13) In slang, an attractive young woman; one’s girlfriend (US, probably extinct).

(14) The large backside of a woman (US, now rare).

(15) In internet slang, a clipping of jealous (rare).

(16) In Indian use, a vitrified brick refuse used as metal in road construction.

(17) As “royal jelly”, a substance secreted by honey bees to aid in the development of immature or young bees, supplied in extra measure to those young destined to become queen bees.

1350–1400: From the Middle English jelyf, gelly, gelye, gelle, gelee, gele & gely (semisolid substance from animal or vegetable material, spiced and used in cooking; chopped meat or fish served in such a jelly), from the Old French gelee (frost; frozen jelly), a noun use of feminine past participle of geler (to set hard; to congeal), from the Medieval Latin gelāta (frozen), from gelu (frost), the construct being gel- (freeze) + -āta (a noun-forming suffix).  The Classical Latin verb gelō (present infinitive gelāre, perfect active gelāvī, supine gelātum) (I freeze, cause to congeal; I frighten, petrify, cause to become rigid with fright) was from gelū (frost), from the primitive Indo-European gel- (cold) and was cognate with the Ancient Greek γελανδρόν (gelandrón).  Originally quite specific, by the early fifteenth century jelly was used of any jellied or coagulated substance and by the 1700s it came to mean also "thickened juice of a fruit prepared as food" which was both a form of preserving fruit and a substance used by chefs for flavoring and decorative purposes.  The adjective jellied (past-participle from the verb jelly) emerged in the 1590s with the sense of “of the consistency of jelly” and by the late nineteenth century this had been extended to include “sweetened with jelly”.  Because of the close historical association with foods, the preferred adjectival form for other purposes is jelly-like.  As a modifier jelly has proved productive, the forms including jelly baby, jelly bag, jellybean, jelly coat, jelly doughnut, comb jelly, jelly bracelet, jelly plant & royal jelly.  Jelly is a noun & verb, jellify & jellification are nouns, jellified & jellied are verbs & adjectives and jellying is a verb; the noun plural is jellies.

Aunger "jelly bean" aluminium wheels, magazine advertisement, 1974.  A design popular in the 1970s, different manufacturers used their own brand-names but colloquially the style was known as the “jellybean”, “slotted” or “beanhole”.

The verb jell (assume the consistence of jelly) is documented since 1869 and was a coining of US English, doubtlessly as a back-formation from the noun of jelly.  The figurative use (organizations, ideas, design etc) emerged circa 1908 but with the spelling gel, a echo of the Middle English gelen (congeal) which was extinct by the late fifteenth century.  The jellyfish (also jelly-fish) was in the late eighteenth century a popular name of the medusa and similar sea-creatures, the name derived from the soft structure.  Figuratively, jellyfish was used from the 1880s for “a person of weak character” although publications from 1707 use the name for an actual vertebrate fish.  

The jelly roll.

The jellyroll (also jelly-roll) was a “cylindrical cake containing jelly or jam” which dates from 1873 and in some markets (notably Australia & New Zealand) it is sold as a “jam roll” or “Swiss Jam Roll”.  The use of jelly roll as slang for both the vagina and the act of sexual intercourse was of African-American origin circa 1914 and was mentioned several times in blues music.  The jellybean (also (rarely) jelly-bean) (small bean-shaped, multi-colored sugar candy with a firm shell and a thick gel interior) was introduced in 1905, the name obviously from the shape.  It entered US slang in the 1910s with the sense of “someone stupid; a half-wit which was apparently the source of the slang sense of bean as “head”.  In the 1990s, jellybean was the (usually disparaging) term often applied to the depressingly similarly-shaped cars which were the product of wind-tunnels.  While aerodynamically efficient, few found the lines attractive.

1996 Ford Taurus Ghia (left) and 1996 Ford EF Falcon XR8 (right).

In 1996, Ford Australia put the US-sourced Taurus into the showrooms alongside the locally-built and well-received EF Falcon.  As well as carrying the stigma of front wheel drive (FWD), the “jellybean” styling alienated buyers, some of whom suggested the Taurus looked as if it had already been in an accident.  The Taurus was withdrawn from the Australian market after two years of dismal sales, dealers managing to clear to unsold stock only after a further year of heavy discounting.

Champagne Jelly

Champagne Jelly was served at the coronation banquet of Edward VII (1841–1910; King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India 1901-1910) in 1902 and has since been a popular “nostalgia” dish, seen often at weddings or seasonal celebrations.

Ingredients (to serve 6)

1 bottle 750 ml bottle of Champagne
2 sachets (2½ tsp each) powdered gelatin (or 8 gelatin sheets)
2 tablespoons water (if using powdered gelatin)
115g (4oz) white sugar
Berries and/or edible flowers (optional)
Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

Instructions

(1) Place Champagne bottle in a freezer 30 minutes before beginning (this will ensure jelly will retain the bubbles

(2) In a small bowl, sprinkle the powdered gelatin, if using, over the water and let stand until softened (typically 3-5 minutes).  If using gelatin sheets, put sheets into a bowl and cover with cold water, soaking until floppy (typically 5-10 minutes).

(3) Open Champagne and pour 120ml into a small pan.  Return the Champagne to the freezer, ensuring bottle remains upright.  If this is not possible, put bottle into fridge in upright position.

(4) Add the sugar to the pan, place over a medium heat, and heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves at which point, removed from the heat.  Liquefy the powdered gelatin by setting the bowl of softened gelatin into a larger bowl of very hot tap water (do not use boiling water).

(5) If using gelatin sheets, lift the sheets from the water, wring to release excess water, then put them into a bowl and liquefy as for the powdered gelatin.  Add the liquefied gelatin to the Champagne mixture and stir until the gelatin dissolves.

(6) Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl or pitcher, then allow it cool to room temperature.

(7) Add 480ml of chilled Champagne to the cooled gelatin mixture and stir well.  If adding berries or edible flowers, pour half of the gelatin mixture into a 600ml (1pint) mould and chill until almost set (typically 30-45 minutes).  Arrange the embellishments on top, then add the remaining gelatin mixture.

(8) If serving the jelly without embellishments, pour all the gelatin mixture into the mould.  Cover and refrigerate until fully set (at least 12 hours and preferably longer).  At this point drink remaining Champagne.  If need be, open a second bottle.

(9) To serve, fill a bowl with hot water.  Dip the bottom of the mould into the hot water for a few seconds to loosen the jelly from the mould, then place on a serving plate and garnish with mint.

Lindsay Lohan in outfit inspired by Champagne Jelly, ABC’s Good Morning America, November 2022.  The suit was from Law Roach’s (b 1978) Akris’ fall 2022 ready-to-wear collection, the ensemble including a wide-lapelled jacket, turtleneck and boot cut pants fabricated in a green, yellow, red & orange Drei Teile print in an irregular geometric pattern.  The distinctive look was paired with a similarly eclectic combination of accessories, chunky gold hoop earrings, a cross-body Anouk envelope handbag, and Giuseppe Zanotti platform heels.

Nothing

Nothing (pronounced nuhth-ing)

(1) No thing; not anything; naught.

(2) No part, share, or trace (usually followed by of).

(3) Something that is nonexistent; non-existence; nothingness.

(4) Something of no importance or significance.

(5) A trivial action, matter, circumstance, thing, or remark.

(6) A person of little or no importance; a nobody.

(7) Something that is without quantity or magnitude.

(8) A cipher or naught; the quantity or quality of zero.  The value represented by the numeral zero (and the empty set: {}).

(9) As “think nothing of it” and related forms, a procedural response to expressions of thanks.

(10) In no respect or degree; not at all.

(11) Amounting to nothing, as in offering no prospects for satisfaction, advancement, or the like.

(12) In architecture, the contents of a void.

Pre 900: From the Middle English nothyng, noon thing, non thing, na þing, nan thing & nan þing, from the Old English nāþing, nān þing & naðinc (nānthing & nathing) (nothing (literally “not any thing”), the construct being nān- (not one (source of the modern none)) + þing (thing).  The earlier Old English was nāwiht (nothing (literally “no thing”), related to the Swedish ingenting (nothing (literally “not any thing, no thing”).  The ultimate source was the primitive Indo-European ne- (not).  In slang and dialectical English there have been many non-standard forms including nuffin, nuffink, nuttin', nuthin, nuthin', nowt, nuthing & nothin'.  Slang has been productive (jack, nada, zip, zippo, zilch, squat, nix) as has vulgar slang (bugger all, jack shit, sod all, fuck all, dick).  Nothing is a noun & adverb and nothingness is a noun; the noun plural is nothings.

Lindsay Lohan wearing nothing (shoes don't count; everybody knows that).  Playboy magazine pictorial, January / February 2012.

The meaning "insignificant thing, a thing of no consequence" emerged circa 1600 (although as an adverb (not at all, in no degree), it was known in late Old English) whereas nothing in the sense of "not at all" had existed since circa 1300.  Phrases in the twentieth century were created as needed: “Nothing to it”, indicating something easily accomplished was noted from 1925 and “nothing to write home about” was really literal, recorded first and with some frequency by censors monitoring the letters written by soldiers serving at the front in Word War I (1914-1918); it appears to date from 1917, the extent of use apparently encouraged by it being a useful phrase exchanged between soldiers by word-of-mouth.  Nothing seems not to have been an adjective until 1961, an evolution of use (or a decline in standards depending on one’s view) which saw words like “rubbish” re-applied in a similar way.  A do-nothing (an idler) is from the 1570s, the noun an adoption from the from the verbal phrase and as an adjective to describe the habitually indolent, it’s noted from 1832.  The adjective good-for-nothing (a worthless person) is from 1711.  The term know-nothing (an ignoramus) is from 1827 and was later applied (though not deliberately) to the US nativist political party, active between 1853-1856, the bulk of which eventually migrated to the Republican Party.  The noun nothingness (non-existence, absence or negation of being) was first used in the 1630s but is most associated with the ideas around nihilism, the exploration of which became a mainstream part of philosophy in the nineteenth century.  Nothingness is distinct from the noun nothingarian which references "one who has no particular belief," especially in religious matters, a descriptive dating from 1789.  It's striking how often in religion, even when factions or denominations are in disputes with one another (sometime actually at war), one thing which seems to unite them is the feeling that whatever their differences, the nothingarians are the worst sinners of all.

The noun nihilist, in a religious or philosophical sense, is from the French nihiliste, from the Latin nihil (nothing at all).  Nihilism, the word first used in 1817, is “the doctrine of negation", initially in reference to religion or morals but later extended universally.  It’s from the German Nihilismus, from the Latin nihil (nothing at all) and was a coining of German philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819).  In philosophy, it evolved quickly into an extreme form of skepticism, the political sense of a "rejection of fundamental social and political structures", first used circa 1824 by the German journalist Joseph von Görres (1776-1848).  Most associated with a German school of philosophical thought including (rather misleadingly) GWF Hegel (1770–1831) and (most famously) Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), the particular Russian strain was more a revolutionary political movement with something of a premium on violence (that would much influence Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924)).  Thus with an initial capital, Nihilism (Nigilizm in the Russian) as used in this context is specific to the movement of Russian revolutionary anarchism 1863-1917 and limited in that the meaning refers to the participants’ disapproval of all social, economic & political possibilities in pre-Soviet Russia; the sense they viewed “nothing” with favor.

A probably inaccurate representation of nothing.  

The idea of nothing, in a universal sense in which literally nothing (energy, matter, space or time) exists is difficult to imagine, imaginable presumably only as infinite blackness, probably because that’s the closest to a two-dimensional representation of the absence of any sense of the special, white implying the existence of light.  That nothingness is perhaps impossible to imagine or visualize doesn’t however prove it’s impossible but the mere fact matter, energy and time now exist in space does imply that because, were there ever nothing, it’s a challenge to explain how anything could have, from nothing, come into existence.  Some have mused that there are aspects of quantum theory which suggest even a state of nothingness can be inherently unstable and where there is instability there is the possibility of an event.  The argument is that under quantum theory, if long enough is allowed to pass (something which, bewilderingly, apparently can happen even if there is no time) then every possible event may happen and from this may evolve energy, matter space or time.  To speak of a time scale in all of this is irrelevant because (1) time may not exist and (2) infinity may exist but it can for administrative purposes be thought of as a very long time.  The intriguing link between time starting and energy, matter or space coming into existence as a consequence is that at that point (in time), it may be the only time “now” could exist in the absence of the past and future so everything would happen at the same time.  Clearly, the conditions operative at that point would be unusual so, anything could happen. 

That is of course wholly speculative but in recent decades, the “string theorists” have extended and refined their mathematical models to a degree which not long ago would have been thought impossible so some modelling of a unique point of “now” in nothing would be interesting and the basic framework of that would seem to demand the mathematics of a model which would describe what conditions would have to prevail in order for there truly to be nothing.  That may or may not be possible but might be an interesting basis from which to work for those trying to explain things like dark matter & dark energy, either or both of which also may or may not exist.  Working with the existing universe seems not to be helpful in developing theories about the nature of all this supposedly missing (or invisible) matter and energy whereas were one, instead of working backwards as it were, instead to start with nothing and then work out how to add what seems to be missing (while remaining still not visible), the result might be interesting.

It’s not a new discussion.  The thinkers from Antiquity were known to ponder the philosophers’ traditional concerns such as “why are we here?” and “what is the meaning of life?” but they also realized a more basic matter was “why does anything exist instead of there being nothing?” and for thousands of years this has been “explained” as the work of gods or a god but that really not a great deal of help.  In the Western tradition, this basic question seems not to have bothered angst-ridden Teutonic philosophers, the German Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) writing on the subject, as later would the Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951).  Martin Heidegger (1889–1976, who was only briefly a Nazi) called it the “fundamental question of metaphysics”.  The English-speaking school, more tied to the empirical, noted the matter.


Sunday, March 26, 2023

Goodly

Goodly (pronounced good-lee)

(1) Of a substantial size or quantity.

(2) Of a good or fine appearance (rare).

(3) Of fine quality (obsolete).

(4) Highly virtuous (obsolete unless quantity is thought virtuous which does seem possible).

Pre 1000: From the Middle English, from the Old English gōdlīc, from the Proto-Germanic gōdalīkaz (equivalent to the Old English gōd (good)).  The construct was good + -ly.  Good was from the Middle English good & god, from Old English gōd (that which is good, a good thing; goodness; advantage, benefit; gift; virtue; property), from the Proto-West Germanic gōd, from the Proto-Germanic gōdaz, from the primitive Indo-European ghed (to unite, be associated, suit).  It was cognate with the Dutch goed, the German gut, the Old Norse gōthr, the Gothic goths & the Russian го́дный (gódnyj) (fit, well-suited, good for) & год (god) (year). The –ly prefix was from the Middle English -ly, -li, -lik & -lich, from the Old English -līċ, from the Proto-West Germanic -līk, from the Proto-Germanic -līkaz (having the body or form of), from līką (body) (from whence Modern German gained lich); in form, it was probably influenced by the Old Norse -ligr (-ly) and was cognate with the Dutch -lijk, the German -lich and the Swedish -lig.  It was used (1) to form adjectives from nouns, the adjectives having the sense of "behaving like, having a likeness or having a nature typical of what is denoted by the noun" and (2) to form adjectives from nouns specifying time intervals, the adjectives having the sense of "occurring at such intervals".  Goodly, goodlier & goodliest are adjectives and goodliness is a noun.

Lindsay Lohan with a largifical show of skin and a goodly sprinkle of freckles in Lynn Kiracofe tiara & Frye boots with Calvin Klein Original’s blue cotton jeans over white polyester and spandex XT Trunk briefs, W Magazine photo shoot, April 2005.

In English, goodly was long used to mean (1) someone or some act thought commendable or virtuous, (2) an item of high quality, (3) something or someone attractive and (4) ample or numerous in quality.  It was thus variously a synonym of many words including ample, big, biggish, burly, capacious, comprehensive, decent, extensive, good, great, gross, hefty, husky, jumbo, largish, major, massive, ponderous, respectable, sensible, beautiful & virtuous.  However, by the mid-twentieth century most senses of goodly had gone extinct and the word was only ever used of something quantitative.  Even then it was (and remains) rare but it exists in a niche populated by poets and literary novelists so its audience is thus limited.  As an example of the inconsistency in English’s evolution, the sense of virtue did survive in the noun goodliness.  An alternative to goodly when speaking of quantities was largifical and unlike goodly, it did not survive although large obviously has flourished.  The adjective largifical was from the Latin largificus, from largus (bountiful, liberal), the construct being an adaptation (via facere (in fact)) of larg(us) + faciō (do, make), from the Proto-Italic fakjō, from the primitive Indo-European dheh- (to put, place, set), the cognates of which included the Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi), the Sanskrit दधाति (dádhāti), the Old English dōn (from which English ultimately gained “do”) and the Lithuanian dėti (to put).  So, beyond the confines of the literary novel, the preferred alternatives to goodly and largifical include sufficient, adequate, plenty, abundant, enough, satisfactory, plentiful, copious, profuse, rich, lavish, liberal, generous, bountiful, large, huge, great, bumper, flush, prolific, overflowing, generous & ample, the choice dictated by the nuances of need.

Ooze

Ooze (pronounced ooz)

(1) Of moisture, liquid etc, to flow, percolate, or exude slowly, as through holes or small openings.

(2) To move or pass slowly or gradually, as if through a small opening or passage:

(3) The act of oozing, to make by oozing; to exude (moisture, air etc) slowly.

(4) Something that oozes; the product or the result from oozing.

(5) In geology, the technical word for a calcareous or siliceous mud composed chiefly of the shells of one-celled organisms, covering parts of the ocean bottom; a soft thin mud found at the bottom of lakes and rivers

(6) In commercial tanning, an infusion of vegetable matter, such as sumach or oak bark.

(7) Secretion, humor (said now to be rare).

(8) Juice, sap (obsolete except when used as a verb describing process).

(9) Of something abstract, such as information or confidence, to appear or disappear slowly or imperceptibly (often followed by out or away).

Pre 900: The noun wass from the Middle English wose (sap), from the Old English wōs (sap, froth, juice, moisture) and wāse (soft mud, mire), from the Proto-Germanic wōsą & wosan (related to the Middle Low German wose (scum), the Old High German wasal (rain) and the Old Swedish os & oos), from the primitive Indo-European wósehz (sap) (related to the Sanskrit वसा (vásā) (fat)).  Also of influence was the Old English wāse (mud), related to the Old French wāse and the Old Norse veisa.  The other Proto-Germanic link was waison (source also of the Old Saxon waso (wet ground, mire) and the Old Norse veisa (pond of stagnant water), probably from a primitive long-lost Indo-European root meaning "wet".  The modern spelling is from the mid-1500s.  The verb form meaning (1) "to flow as ooze, percolate through the pores of a substance" (intransitive) and (2) "to emit in the shape of moisture" (transitive) emerged in the late fourteenth century.  Wosen (the Old English verb was wesan) was a verbal derivative of the Old English noun wos (sap, froth, juice, moisture)," from Proto-Germanic wosan from same source as the noun ooze (n.).  The modern spelling is from the late sixteenth century.  Ooze is a noun & verb; oozed, oozle & oozing are verbs and oozy is an adjective; the noun plural is oozes.

Kim Jong-un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011) watching industrial lubricant ooze into a 209 litre (the old 44 gallon (Imperial)) drum.

Lindsay Lohan having just had her T-shirt oozed upon in Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

The adjective was oozy which existed in Old English as wosig (juicy, moist) but the original sense is long obsolete, the meaning "containing or resembling fine soft mud; having the consistency of wet mud or slime" is from 1560s and the related form, ooziness, though rare, remains in occasional use.  Ooze and its derivatives are, to some degree, associated with words such as slime, mud, muck, sludge, marsh, bog, goo, silt, gunk, drain, seep, leak, dribble, percolate, trickle, exude, bleed, mire, fluid, gook, glop & alluvium yet none of them appear to evoke the same distaste as what is said to be the most disliked word in English: “moist”.

Calcareous-siliceous sediment distribution: The worldwide distribution of ooze.

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Flurona

Flurona (pronounced floo-roh-nuh)

An (currently) informal term for a case in which a patient simultaneously is infected both with influenza and the SARS-Cov-2 virus (source of the COVID-19 (a coronavirus) disease).

2022: A portmanteau word, the construct being (in)flu(enza) + (co)rona.  Influenza was from the Italian influenza (influence), from the Latin influentia.  The word has been used in English since 1743 borrowed from the Italian where it had been used since at least the late fifteenth to describe diseases (not all of which would now be regarded as influenza) with symptoms similar to a severe cold accompanied by a high fever.  Italian picked up the word from the  Medieval Latin influentia in the astrological sense (visitation, influence (of the stars)), an inheritance from the Classical Latin where it carried the meaning "to be planet-struck, afflicted as if by an evil star" on the notion of the then inexplicable disease being the result of some astral, occult, or atmospheric influence.  Corona dates from 1555–1565 and was from the Latin corōna (garland, crown) from the Ancient Greek κορώνη (kor or korōnis (crown, any curved object)), akin to korōnís (wreath; curved, beaked) & kórax (crow; raven); related was the Latin curvus (curved).  COVID-19 (an abbreviation of coronavirus disease 2019) is the name of the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.  The name was adopted in February 2020, chosen by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.  Until then, it had been called variously 2019-nCoV, Novel coronavirus or Wuhan coronavirus.  SARS-CoV-2 is related to MERS-CoV (which causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)) and SARS-CoV (which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)).  Flurona is a noun; the noun plural is fluronas.

Avoiding florona:  Donald Trump, crooked Hillary Clinton, Lindsay Lohan and Boris Johnson in face masks.

Flurona is one of those neologisms which are creations of a certain time and place and dictionaries tend to reserve judgement, so many words of this type fading from use as the circumstances which encouraged their creation recede.  Two things may count against flurona becoming embedded in the language: (1) flurona is thus far rare although it’s hard to be definitive because among those with minor or zero symptoms reporting is known to be low (it’s just unknown how low) and (2) even where cases are confirmed, it’s rare for a case of flurona to produce symptoms which are appreciably worse than single instances of either condition.  So the dictionaries will wait and see and there’s every chance a hundred years hence, flurona might appear in whatever form lexicographers will then use appended with an “archaic”, “extinct” or “obsolete”.

COVID-19 and Flu A/B Rapid Antigen Combo Test.

Flurona differs from the more established neologisms used in epidemiology and virology: twindemic & tripledemic (the respective constructs twin or triple + (pan or epi) + -demic.  There words reference respectively a combination of (1) influenza & Covid-19 or (2) influenza, COVID-19 & RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).  Both a twindemic and a tripledemic can thus be geographically limited (as in an epidemic) or, like a pandemic, widespread.  A case of flurona (not a single disease or a new strain of COVID-19) is thus two conditions diagnosed in one patient whereas twindemic or tripledemic are outbreaks of two different conditions happening simultaneously.