Lachrymose

Lachrymose (pronounced lak-ruh-mohs)

(1) Suggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful.

(2) Given to shedding tears readily; tearful; weepy.

(3) The natural state of the emo.

1655-1665: From the Latin lacrimōsus, from lacrima (a tear).  The construct was lacrima (tear) + the suffix -osus (-ful”).  It was a dialect-altered borrowing of Greek dakryma (tear) from dakryein (to shed tears, weep, lament with tears), from the Old Latin dacrima, from the primitive Indo-European dakru-; cognate with the English tear.  The meaning "given to tears, tearful" dates from 1727; that of “a mournful character" is from 1822.  Lacrymose is the now rare alternative spelling.  Lachrymose & lachrymal are adjectives, lachrymosely an adverb and lachrymation & lachrymosity are nouns; the only noun plural to register on trends of use charts is lachrymations.  

T-shirts of a lacrymal Lindsay Lohan are available.

The -d- to -l- alteration in Latin is the so-called "Sabine -L-" (as in the Latin olere (smell), from the root of odor, and Ulixes, the Latin form of Greek Odysseus.  The practice in Medieval Latin of writing -ch- for -c- before -r- also altered anchor, pulchritude and sepulchre. The -y- is pedantic, from the former belief, widespread during the Middle Ages, that the word was pure Greek.  Earlier in the same sense was lachrymental, known from the 1620s and in mid-fifteenth century Middle English there was lacrymable in the sense of "tearful".  A lacrymatory or lachrymatory (from the Latin lacrima (tear)) was a small vessel of terracotta or, more frequently, of glass, found in Roman and late Greek tombs, and supposed to have been bottles into which mourners dropped their tears. Lachrymator is a substance that irritates the eyes and causes tears to flow.  Lacryma Christi (known also as the Lachryma Christi of Vesuvius (literally "tears of Christ")), is a Neapolitan type of wine produced on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy.  Analysis of the microscopic residue left on the taps of the casks revealed it to be the nearest equivalent to wine drunk in Ancient Rome.

Women have long understood the power of the tear and there’s suspicion some can turn it on and off like a tap if the situation calls; it’s just another technique of rhetoric.  Men generally probably are less capable of summoning lachrymosity on demand but in politics there have been a few tearful types, some occasionally, some habitually.  Winston Churchill (1875-1965; Prime Minister of the UK 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) could be as brutal and blood-thirsty as any but was sentimental about animals, the sufferings of colleagues and even opponents, unashamedly crying when moved by the moment, sometimes even in the House of Commons.  Harold Macmillan (1894–1986; Prime Minister of the UK 1957-1963), his successor but one, was in public of the “stiff upper lip school” but even he, as he noted in his diary, “burst into tears” after signing the 1963 nuclear test ban treaty although he did it alone, behind closed doors but then much of the old Etonian’s secret life was lived thus.  US house speaker John Boehner (b 1949; Speaker of the US House of Representatives 2011-2015) was famously tearful during his time in the chair but given the difficulties he faced, it’s a wonder he didn’t cry more.  He gained the speakership essentially because the Republican’s Tea Party faction gained enough seats to deliver him the numbers but once installed he found their bloody minded intransigence made his job close to impossible and while the story may be apocryphal, it’s said he cried even when playing golf with Barack Obama (b 1961; President of the US 2009-2017).  Folk probably cry during a round with Donald Trump (b 1946; President of the US 2017-2021) but for other reasons.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011. 

There have been a few Australian prime-ministers known to have made others cry but some did it themselves.  Bob Hawke’s (1929–2019; Prime Minister of Australia 1983-1991) tears flowed in response to a journalist’s question about a drug-related matter and only later did he reveal his daughter suffered a heroin addiction.  The loss of the prime-ministership brought tears from both Malcolm Fraser (1930-2015; Prime Minister of Australia 1975-1983) and Kevin Rudd (b 1957; Prime Minister of Australia 2007-2010 & 2013), Rudd at the time apologizing for having “blubbed on live TV” but the most famously lachrymose at the point of dismissal was Lord Goderich (1782-1859; Prime Minister of the UK 1827-1828) whose brief, unhappy premiership ended when he was sacked by George IV (1762–1830; King of the United Kingdom 1820-1830) who kindly loaned him the royal handkerchief.  The weeping would have come as no surprise to his contemporaries and even the official biography on the Downing Street website gleefully mentions the nickname they gave the tearful Goderich: “the Blubberer”.

Bride

Bride (pronounced brahyd)

(1) A woman on her wedding day, both before and after the ceremony of marriage.

(2) In needlework, a connection consisting of a thread or a number of threads for joining various solid parts of a design in needlepoint lace (also called a bar, leg or tie).

(3) An ornamental string used to tie a bonnet.

(4) Figuratively, an object ardently loved (obsolete).

(5) In theology, an expression to describe a woman who has devoted her life to some calling (eg “a bride of Christ”) which precludes marriage.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English bride, from the Old English brȳd (bride, betrothed or newly married woman), from the Proto-Germanic brūdiz (bride; woman being married).  It was cognate with the Old High German brūt, the Old Norse brūthr, the Gothic brūths (daughter-in-law), the Saterland Frisian breid & bräid (bride), the West Frisian breid (bride), the German & Low German Bruut (bride), the Dutch bruid (bride), the German Braut (bride), the Danish brud (bride), the Swedish brud (bride).  The use to describe the bonnet tie dates from 1865-1870, from the French bride (bonnet-string (literally “bridle”)), from the Middle French bride, from the Old French bride (rein, bridle), from the Middle High German brīdel (rein, bridle), from the Old High German brīdil (rein, bridle) and related to the Old High German brittil (rein, strap) and the French bretelle (from the Proto-Germanic brigdilaz (bridle)), the Spanish brida and the Italian briglia.  Restricted almost exclusively to needlework, the present participle is briding and the past participle brided; the noun plural is brides.  The spellings brid, bryd, bryde & brude persisted in English but are all long obsolete.

Lindsay Lohan in costume as a bride for an episode of the TV series Two Broke Girls, 2014.  It was in June 2022 confirmed that Lindsay Lohan had married Bader Shammas who works for Credit Suisse, the couple based in Dubai.  Describing herself as the "...luckiest woman in the world", she added she was "...stunned that this is my husband. My life and my everything.  Every woman should feel like this every day".  Although the details haven't be finalized, it seems that to mark the event, there will be a ceremony in the United States.

The Gothic cognate bruþs meant "daughter-in-law" and the form of the word borrowed from the Old High German into Medieval Latin (bruta) and Old French (bruy) had only this sense.  In ancient Indo-European custom, a married woman would live with husband's family so the only "newly wedded” female in such a household would have been the daughter-in-law.  In a similar structralist analysis, some etymologists linked the word to the primitive Indo-European verbal root bhreu-, from which are derived words for cooking and brewing, the basis for this the (not wholly unfounded) speculation that such would be the household tasks of the daughter-in-law job.  In what may be a similar vein was the Old Frisian fletieve (bride (but literally "house-gift”)) but it may have been used in the sense of welcoming a new family member rather noting the addition of an economic unit.

In praise of older men

Wedding day of actors Johnny Depp (b 1963) and Amber Heard (b 1986), Bahamas, 2015.  Ms Heard filed for divorce in May 2016.

The noun bridesmaid (young girl or unmarried woman who attends on a bride at her wedding) began in the 1550s as the construct bridemaid (bride + maid). The interpolated “s” is thought un-etymological but emerged in the late eighteenth century and in succeeding decades became the standard form, the “s” presumably indicating a possessive although it may have evolved simply because that’s how the word had come to be pronounced; bridemaid & bridemaids less kind to the tongue.  A bridesman was in the early nineteenth century a "male attendant on a bridegroom at his wedding" although the modern practice is for a groom to be attended by a best man and several groomsmen, matching the bride’s entourage of a maid or matron of honor (the difference being a maid of honor is unmarried while a matron of honor (even if for whatever reason legally single) has already had a wedding of her own (and matron of honor supplanted the earlier bridematron)) and bridesmaids.  Done properly, the numbers should align; the maid of honor and best man acting as chiefs of staff; the groomsmen and bridesmaids paired-off for ceremonial purposes.

Wedding day of Rupert Murdoch (b 1931) and Jerry Hall (1956), London, 2016.  It was recently announced the couple are to divorce.

Brideman & bridegroom (man newly married or about to be) date from the early seventeenth century although the short form groom later prevailed.  The noun bridegroom was from the Old English brydguma (suitor), the construct being from bryd (bride) + guma (man (though also used to mean “boy”)), from the Proto-Germanic gumon- (source also of the Old Norse gumi and the Old High German gomo), literally "an earthling, an earthly being" (as opposed to “of the gods”), from a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root dhghem- (earth).  In the sixteenth century, the ending was altered by folk etymology, the noun groom (boy, lad) preferred, a hint at the youthfulness which then characterized marriage.  Bridegroom was also a common compound in Germanic languages including the Old Saxon brudigumo, the Old Norse bruðgumi, the Old High German brutigomo and the German Bräutigam.  However, in Gothic, it was bruþsfaþs, literally "bride's lord", the possessive sense of which presumably worked either way depending on the dynamics of the marriage.

The phrase “give away the bride”, whereby the father of the bride “gives away” his daughter to the groom persists and seems, surprisingly, to have escaped serious feminist criticism; perhaps they really are romantics at heart.  The meaning was once literal in that at common law, the bride and all her worldly goods (save for her paraphernalia) passed upon marriage to her husband as real property or mere chattels, the legal significance of “give away” being that the father’s ownership of daughter and goods was at that point unconditionally sundered.  Legislative reform has done away with all that but the ceremonial tradition endures, as does the phrase “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” a lament for one for whom spinsterhood seems a fate.  Other constructions include "war bride" (which can mean either a woman who marries someone going away to war or one who marries (in a variety of circumstances) during a conflict and “bride of the sea” “bride of the fields” etc, on the model of “bride of Christ” and suggesting an exclusive attachment to something or (more commonly) the idea of sharing the attention of a husband with their vocation (seafaring, farming etc).

Wedding day of Boris Johnson (b 1964) and Carrie Symonds (b 1988), London 2021.  Although it was his third marriage, Mr Johnson was married by the Roman Catholic Church, the ceremony conducted at no less than Westminster Cathedral.  Although a  baptized Catholic, the history meant a few eyebrows were raised but under canon law, it was an uncontroversial matter, both previous marriages invalid by reason of lack of canonical form.  The wedding was private but a ceremony of some description has been planned for Chequers in September 2022, the country house of the prime-minister in Buckinghamshire, the invitations said to have been posted before the events of early July which compelled Mr Johnson to announce he'd be leaving office "when the party has elected a successor".  Chequers in early autumn sounds a charming place for a party so it's hoped the Tories don't too quickly find their next leader.  

A “bride price” was money or other valuables paid in some cultures by a bridegroom or on his behalf) to the family of the bride.  Technically, it was the same idea the dowry (from the Middle English dowarye & dowerie, from the Anglo-Norman dowarie & douarie, from the Old French douaire, from the Medieval Latin dōtārium, from the Classical Latin dōs (from the Proto-Italic dōtis, from the primitive Indo-European déh₃tis, from deh₃- (give) and a doublet of dosis.  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis) & the Sanskrit दिति (díti)) and was paid to the family of the groom although dowry became a generalized term for the transaction irrespective of the direction.  In some cultures the dowry remains an important component of the structure of society although the practice is not free from controversy.

Remembering the laughter: Bill Clinton (b 1946) and crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947) at the wedding of Donald Trump (b 1946) and Melanija Knavs (b 1970), Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, 2005.

The adjective bridal (belonging to a bride or a wedding) appeared circa 1200, derived from the noun bridal (wedding feast), from the Old English brydealo (marriage feast), from bryd ealu, (literally "bride ale"), the evolution an example of an imperfect echoic, the second element later (especially after circa 1600) confused with the adjectival suffix –al.  Similar forms were the mid thirteenth century Middle English scythe-ale (drinking celebration for mowers, as compensation for a particular job) and constructions in a similar vein in Scotland.  The first bridal-suite was advertised in 1857, offered as part of a package deal when hiring a venue for a wedding reception.

Cutting the cake: Silvio Berlusconi (b 1936) and Marta Fascina (b 1990) at their "symbolic" wedding ceremony, Lesmo, Italy, March 1922.

Wedding planners estimated Mr Berlusconi's "symbolic" wedding would have cost some €400,000 (US$415,000) the bride's lace gown by Antonio Riva said to have absorbed some 5% of the budget.  Although it certainly looked like a wedding, it actually had no status before Church or state, apparently because of what was described as "an inheritance row between the families" a reference to objections said to have been raised by the groom's five adult children, concerned by the possibility Ms Fascina might gain a right of claim against the 85-year-old's reputed billions of Euros.  The reception was held over lunch at the Da Vittorio restaurant, the menu including veal mondeghili with lemon, ricotta gnocchi and potatoes with saffron and paccheri 'alla Vittorio' as well as sliced ​​beef in red wine with dark potato and cinnamon flavored carrot cream, the entertainment provided by Mr Berlusconi himself who reprised his early career as a cruise ship singer, accompanied by a friend on piano.

Although not verified, reports in the Italian press suggested the "bride" was "offended and very angry about not having a proper wedding", having already had his initials tattooed somewhere (undisclosed).  Mr Berlusconi seemed however delighted with what had been styled a "festival of love" rather than a wedding, telling Ms Fascina she was "a gift from the heavens" and that "You complete me, I couldn't live without you, you fill my life".

Dump

Dump (pronounced duhmp)

(1) To drop something or let fall in a mass; fling down or drop heavily or suddenly.

(2) To empty the contents of something (by tilting, overturning etc).

(3) To dismiss, fire, or release from a contract.

(4) In informal (and very common) use, to end a relationship with someone (especially a romantic partner), used mostly when the action is one-sided although there are many mutual dumpings, even if some are technically retrospective.

(5) Suddenly to transfer or rid oneself of some responsibility, task or duty.

(6) In the slang of boxing (1) to knock down an opponent & (2) intentionally to lose a match.

(7) In commerce (1) to put (goods or securities) on the market in large quantities and at a low price without regard to the effect on market conditions or (2) deliberately to offer goods in large quantities or at prices below the cost of production & distribution in an attempt to drive out competition.

(8) In international trade, to sell (goods) into foreign markets below cost in order to promote exports or damage foreign competition.

(9) In computers, (1) to print, display or record on an output medium the contents of a computer's internal storage or the contents of a file, often at the time a program fails, later to be used to debug or determine the cause or point of failure or (2) as screen dump, to print or create an image file of the screen’s display.

(10) Of precipitation (rain, hail & (especially) snow), heavy downfalls.

(11) In historic use, a small coin made by punching a hole in a larger coin (called a holey dollar and issued in both Canada and Australia).

(12) A deep hole in a river bed; a pool (a northern England regionalism).

(13) In slang, to kill; to arrange or commit murder.

(14) To fall or drop down suddenly.

(15) To throw away, discard etc something.

(16) In informal use, to complain, criticize, gossip, or tell another person one's problems (often as “to dump on”); to treat with disrespect, especially to criticize harshly or attack with verbal abuse.

(17) In vulgar slang, an evacuation of the bowels; to defecate (often as “take a dump”; men especially fond of the phrase “huge dump”).

(18) An accumulation of discarded garbage, refuse etc; a tip or landfill site, also called a dumpsite or dumping-ground.

(19) In military use, a collection of ammunition, stores, etc, deposited at some point, as near a battlefront, for distribution (ammo dump, fuel dump etc).

(20) In mining, a runway or embankment equipped with tripping devices, from which low-grade ore, rock etc., are dumped; the pile of stuff, so dumped.

(21) In informal use, a place, house or town (even a state or entire country according to some) that is dilapidated, dirty, or disreputable.

(22) In merchandising, a bin or specially made carton in which items are displayed for sale.

(23) In surfing (of a wave) to hurl a swimmer or surfer down.

(24) To compact bales of wool by hydraulic pressure (Australian and New Zealand).

(25) A mournful song; a lament; a melancholy strain or tune in music; any tune (obsolete).

(26) A sad, gloomy state of the mind; sadness; melancholy; despondency (usually in the form “down in the dumps”).

(27) Absence of mind; reverie (now rare).

(28) Heavily to knock; to stump (Scottish, obsolete).

(29) A thick, ill-shapen piece (UK, archaic).

(30) A lead counter used in the game of chuck-farthing (UK, archaic).

(31) A type of dance (obsolete).

1300–1350: From the Middle English dompen & dumpen (to fall suddenly, plunge), from the Old Norse dumpa (to thump, strike, bump).  The modern senses of the transitive verb and noun are unknown prior to the nineteenth century and may either be from another source or are an independent expressive formation.  There may have been some Scandinavian influence such as the Norwegian dumpa (suddenly to fall) which may also be linked with other Germanic forms such as the Middle Low German dumpeln (to duck) and the Danish dumpe (suddenly to fall).  The use in the sense of “hole used for the disposal of unwanted items by burying” was a development of the Scots dump (hole in the ground), the Norwegian dump (a depression or hole in the ground), the German Low German dumpen (to submerge) and the Dutch dompen (to dip, sink, submerge), something obviously not unrelated to the early fourteenth century meaning “throw down or fall with force, drop (something or someone) suddenly” which didn’t exist in Old English.  The modern use is actually most modern, the sense “unload en masse, cause to fall out by tilting up a cart etc” not recorded until it emerged in American English by 1784 while that of “discard, abandon” dates from 1919.  The use in economics to describe “export or throw on the market in large quantities at low prices” was first noted in 1868 in the context of anti-competitive practices.  A dumping ground was first documented in 1842 although the term may earlier have been in oral use.  Dump & dumping are nouns & verbs, dumped is a verb, dumper & dumpage are nouns and dumpy is an adjective; the noun plural is dumps.

By 1865, the noun dump was understood as place “where refuse is dumped, piled or heaped; a repository of refuse matter” and applied originally to extractive mining as a development of the verb, the use extending to sites for discarding domestic rubbish by 1872, the earlier “dumping-ground” common by 1857.  The meaning “any shabby or dilapidated place” dates from 1899 while the use by the military to describe places for the “collection of ammunition, equipment etc, deposited at a convenient point for later distribution” was a product of World War I (1914-1918), noted first in 1915 and possibly a development from soldiers’ slang although the later war-time slang to mean “act of defecating” appears to be of civilian origin, noted first in the US in 1942.  The dump-truck was first so described in 1930s and although truck had for decades been used to dump stuff, the name was derived from the use of hydraulic rams to enable to load more quickly to be emptied by raising the load bed or freight compartment at an acute angle.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, 2011.

The “Dempster-Dumpster trash-hauling mechanism” remains familiar as the modern “dumpster”, a large, mobile container designed to be removed by a truck and taken away so the contented could be dumped in a dump, the container quickly reused.  It was patented by the Dempster brothers of Knoxville, Tennessee who ran an operation manufacturing waste collection vehicles (which would eventually include the Dempster Dumpmaster and Dempster Dinosaur).  The Dempster-Dumpster system achieved success by creating a system of mechanically emptying standardized metal containers which had been perfected between 1935-1937.  The concept of the dumpster (a standardized design able to be stored, re-used and transported efficiently) later influenced the development of container shipping.  The name dumpster became generic and was itself linguistically productive: “dumpster diving” (1979) described the practice of scavenging from dumpsters while “dumpster fire” was a figurative reference to a situation at once calamitous, foul and either insoluble or, if fixable, not worth the effort.  In use, a “dumpster fire” is similar to a “train wreck” or “shit show” but different from a “hot mess”, hot messes worth fixing because they remain in essence, desirable.  The use of “dumpster fire” spiked in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election, used not only by both camps but also disillusioned neutrals.

The noun landfill dates from 1916 was a euphemism for dump although unlike some of the breed, it was at least literally true.  The adjective dumpy (short and stout) was from circa 1750 and the origin is undocumented but many etymologists assume it was linked to dumpling (mass of boiled paste (also “a wrapping in which something is boiled”)) which dates from circa 1600 and was from the Norfolk dialect, again of uncertain origin but the source may be Germanic or simply from “lump” (and there are those who argue dumplings were probably originally “lumplings”).  Lump was from the Middle English lumpe, from a Germanic base akin to the Proto-Germanic limpaną (to glide, go, loosely to hang).  “Humpty Dumpty” was a French nursery rhyme hero (it seems first to have been translated into English in 1810) and in the late eighteenth century it had been used to mean “a short, clumsy person of either sex”, presumably a reduplication of Humpty (a pet form of Humphrey (which was used of mandarin Sir Humphrey Appleby in the BBC Television comedy Yes Minister) although a humpty-dumpty in the 1690s was originally was a drink, a cocktail of “ale boiled with brandy” which probably tasted better than it sounds.  The construction was based presumably on hump and dump but the basis has eluded researchers.  In the late twentieth century, “hump & dump” was repurposed to describe the practice (habit, calling, tactic, whatever) of enticing a woman in order to enjoy sex and immediately afterwards leaving, never to ring or call.  It’s subsequently be claimed by bolshie women for much the same purpose; the variations included “fuck & chuck”, “pump & dump:, “jump and dump” and “smash and dash”.

Crooked Hillary dumping on deplorables, Georgia, 2016.

Big buses have long been used by politicians for their campaign tours.  They offer lots of advantages, being offices and communications centres with at least some of their running costs offset by a reduction in staff travel expenses.  Additionally, with five large, flat surfaces, they are a rolling billboard although that can be good or bad.  In 2016, one of crooked Hillary Clinton’s campaign buses was photographed in Lawrenceville, Georgia dumping a tank full of human waste onto the street and into a storm drain.  The local news service reported that when police attended the street was “…was covered in toilet paper and the odor was noxious”.  Hazmat crews were called to clean up the scene and the matter was referred to the environmental protection division of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources.  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) later issued an apology, claiming the incident was “an honest mistake.”  Using the word “honest” in any statement related to crooked Hillary Clinton is always a bit of a gamble and there was no word on whether the dumping of human excrement had been delayed until the bus was somewhere it was thought many deplorables may be living.  If so, that may have been another “honest mistake” because Gwinett County (in which lies Lawrenceville) voted 51.02% Clinton/Kaine & 45.14% Trump/Pence although the symbolism may not have been lost on much of the rest of Georgia; state wide the Republican ticket prevailed 50.38% to 45.29%.

Dump has been quite productive.  A “dump-pipe” is part of the exhaust system in an internal combustion engine; a “brain dump” or “info dump” is the transfer of a large quantity of information or knowledge from one person (or institution) to another, although it’s also used in the slang of those working in the theoretical realm of the digitizing of human consciousness; a block dump was an image contains the sectors read from an original floppy diskette or optical disc; “dump months” are those periods during which film distributers & television programmers scheduled content either of poor-quality or of limited appeal; a “dump job” was either (1) the act of moving a corpse or some incriminating material from the scene of the crime to some un-related place, preferably remote & deserted or (2) the abandonment of an unfinished task for which the abandoner might be expected to take responsibility, especially in a fashion that makes it likely that one or more colleagues will take on its completion; the “mag dump” was military slang for the act of firing an entire magazine-full of ammunition from a fully-automatic weapon in a single burst; “dumpsville” could be either (1) the figurative location of a person who has been dumped by a lover or (2) a description of an undesirable town or other locality; to be “down in the dumps” is to be depressed, miserable and unhappy.

An electrically controlled exhaust system "cut-out", the modern version of the old, mechanical, "by-passes".  All dump-pipes work by offering exhaust gasses a "shortcut" to the atmosphere.

In internal combustion engines (ICE), there are both down-pipes and dump-pipes.  Their functions differ and the term down-pipe is a little misleading because some down-pipes (especially on static engines) actually are installed in a sideways or upwards direction but in automotive use, most do tend downwards.  A down-pipe connects the exhaust manifold to exhaust system components beyond, leading typically to first a catalytic converter and then a muffler (silencer), most factory installations designed deliberately to be restrictive in order to comply with modern regulations limiting emissions and noise.  After-market down-pipes tend to be larger in diameter and are made with fewer bends to improve exhaust gas flow, reduce back-pressure and (hopefully) increase horsepower and torque.   Such modifications are popular but not necessarily lawful.  Technically, a dump-pipe is a subset of the down-pipes and is most associated with engines using forced aspiration (turbo- & some forms of supercharging).  With forced-induction, exhaust gases exiting the manifold spin a turbine (turbocharger) or drive a compressor (supercharger) to force more of the fuel-air mixture into the combustion chambers, thereby increasing power.  What a dump-pipe does is provide a rapid, short-path exit for exhaust gases to be expelled directly into the atmosphere before reaching a down-pipe.  That makes for more power and noise, desirable attributes for the target market.  A dump pipe is thus an exit or gate from the exhaust system which can be opened manually, electronically, or with a “blow-off” valve which opens when pressure reaches a certain level.  In the happy (though more polluted) days when regulations were few, the same thing was achieved with an exhaust “by-pass” or “cut-out” which was a mechanical gate in the down-pipe and even then such things were almost always unlawful but it was a more tolerant time.  Such devices, lawful and otherwise, are still installed.

Grab from a Microsoft Windows system dump.  Although dumps contain much, of the thousands of lines one might contain, only a small string of text in one line might be relevant and users may need some assistance to interpret the result. 

In computing, a system dump is typically a commitment to a file of what exists in memory (random access memory (RAM) or on a paged volume) and they’re created usually at points of failure, creating essentially a snapshot of what was happening either at or immediately prior to the unfortunate event.  The contents of a system dump can be used to identify errors and debug programs.  A “stand-alone dump” program (a SAD or SADMP) produces a dump occupied by either (1) a system that failed or (2) a stand-alone dump program that failed.  Either the stand-alone dump program dumped itself (a self-dump) or the operator loaded another stand-alone dump program to dump the failed stand-alone dump program.  It’s less ominous than it sounds and together, the stand-alone dump program and the stand-alone dump together form what is known as the stand-alone dump service aid.  The significance of the element “stand-alone” is that the dump is performed separately from normal system operations and does not require a system to be in a condition for normal operation.  It means that except in cases of catastrophic failure (especially if involving the total loss of mains & UPS (uninterruptable power supply) power, it should be possible always to create a high-speed, unformatted dump of central storage and parts of paged-out virtual storage on a tape device or a direct access storage device (DASD).  The stand-alone dump supplies information which can be used to determine why the system or the stand-alone dump program failed.

Ambrosia

Ambrosia (pronouced am-bro-zia)

(1) In classical mythology, the food (sometimes called nectar) of the gods and said to bestow immortality.

(2) Something especially delicious to taste or smell.

(3) A fruit dish made of oranges and shredded coconut.  Sometimes includes pineapple.

(4) Alternative name for beebread.

(5) Any of various herbaceous plants constituting the genus Ambrosia, mostly native to America but widely naturalized: family Asteraceae (composites).  The genus includes the ragweeds.

1545-1555.  From the Middle English, from the Old French ambroise, from the Latin ambrosia (favored food or drink of the gods) from the Ancient Greek ambrosia (food of the gods), noun use of the feminine of ambrosious (thought to mean literally "of the imortals") from ambrotos (immoratlity; immortal, imperishable).  The construct was a- (not) + mbrotos (related to mortos (mortal), from the primitive Indo-European root mer- (to rub away, to harm (also "to die" and used widely when forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death).  Writers in Antiquity woud use the word when speaking of theit favorite herbs and it's been used in English to describe delectable foods (though originally of fruit drinks) since the 1680s and came to be used figuratively for anything delightful by the 1730s.  Applied to certain herbs by Pliny and Dioscorides; used of various foods for mortals since 1680s (originally of fruit drinks); used figuratively for "anything delightful" by 1731.  The adjective ambrosial dates from the 1590s in the sense of "immortal, divine, of the quality of ambrosia", the sense of "fragrant, delicious" developed by the 1660s.  The other adjectival forms were ambrosiac (circa 1600) & ambrosian (1630s).

Ambrose was the masculine proper name, from the Latin Ambrosius, from the Ancient Greek ambrosios (immortal, belonging to the immortals),  The Biblioteca Ambrosian (Ambrosian Library) in Milan (1609), established by Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564–1631), is named for Saint Ambrose of Milan (circa 339–397) Bishop of Milan 374-397.

Cupid, Psyche and the Nectar of the Gods

In Greek mythology, Psyche was the youngest and loveliest of a king’s three daughters.  So haunting was Psyche’s beauty that people travelled from afar to pay homage, neglecting the worship of Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, instead venerating the nymph.  Venus became enraged at finding her altars deserted, men instead turning their devotions to the young virgin, watching as she passed, singing her praises and strewing her way with chaplets and flowers.

Indignant at the exaltation of a mortal, Venus began her righteous rant.  "Am I then to be eclipsed in my honors by a mere mortal girl?  In vain then did that royal shepherd, whose judgment was approved by Jove himself, give me the palm of beauty over my illustrious rivals, Pallas and Juno. But she shall not so quietly usurp my honors. I will give her cause to repent of so unlawful a beauty."  Venus summoned her winged son, the mischievous Cupid and telling him of Psyche, ordered her revenge.  "My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give your mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph."

Obediently, Cupid set to his task.  In the garden of Venus lay two fountains, one of sweet waters, the other of bitter.  Cupid filled two amber phials, one from each fountain and suspending them from the top of his quiver, hastened to the chamber of Psyche, finding her asleep.  He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips and although though the sight of her moved him almost to pity, touched her side with the point of his arrow.  At the touch she awoke and her eyes gazed upon the invisible Cupid which so enchanted him he became confused and pricked himself with his own arrow.  Helplessly in love, his only thought now was to repair the mischief he had done and he poured the balmy drops of joy over all her silken blonde ringlets.

Psyche, henceforth frowned upon by Venus, gained no benefit from her charms.  While all cast covetous eyes upon her and all spoke her praises, not prince, plebeian or peasant ever asked for her hand in marriage.  Her two sisters had become betrothed to princes but Psyche sat in solitude, feeling cursed by the beauty which had failed to awaken love.  The king and queen, thinking they had incurred the wrath of the gods turned for guidance to the oracle of Apollo who answered: “The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist."

Her parents, distraught, abandoned themselves to grief but Psyche was fatalistic, saying "Why, my dear parents, do you now lament me? You should rather have grieved when the people showered upon me undeserved honors, and with one voice called me a Venus. I now perceive I am victim to that name.  I submit.  Lead me to that rock to which my unhappy fate has destined me."  Accordingly, amid the lamentations of all, she was taken to the peak of the mountain and there left alone.  When the tearful girl stood at the summit, the gentle Zephyr raised her from the earth and carried her on the breeze, bringing her to rest in a flowery dale where she laid down to sleep.  When she awoke, refreshed, she looked around and beheld nearby a grove of tall and stately trees.  Entering the forest, she discovered in its midst a fountain from which bubbled crystal-clear waters and nearby, a splendid palace, so magnificent she knew it the work not of mortal hands, but the retreat of some god.  Drawn by admiration and wonder, she ventured to enter the door.  Amazed at what she saw, she walked along a marble floor so polished it shimmered, golden pillars supported a vaulted roof, walls were enriched with carvings and paintings of fantastic beasts.  Everything upon which her eye fell delighted her.

Soon, although she saw no one, she heard a voice.  "Sovereign lady, all that you see is yours. We whose voices you hear are your servants and shall obey all your commands with utmost care.  Retire, should you please, to your chamber, recline upon your bed of down and when you see fit, repair to the bath.  Your supper awaits in the alcove”.  Psyche took her bath and seated herself in the alcove, whereupon a table appeared laden with extraordinary delicacies of food and nectarous wines.   While she ate, she heard the playing of lute and harp and the harmony of song.

That night she met he husband but he came only in the darkness, fleeing before the dawn, but his words and caresses were of love and inspired in her a like passion.  Often she would beg him to stay so she might behold him in the light but he refused, telling her never to attempt to see him, for no good would come of it and that he would rather have her love him as a man than adore him as a god.  This, Psyche accepted but the days grew long and lonely and she began to feel she was living in a gilded cage.  One night, when her husband came, she told him of her distress, her charms enough to coax from him his unwilling acquiescence that her sisters could visit.  Delighted, she summoned the obedient Zephyr who brought them to the mountain and in happiness, they embraced.

The splendor and celestial delights of Psyche’s palace astonished her sisters but also aroused their envy and they began to pepper her with questions about her husband and she told them he was a beautiful youth who spent his days hunting in the mountains.  Unconvinced, the soon drew from her that she had never seen him and they began to fill her mind with dark suspicions, recalling the Pythian oracle had declared her doomed to marry a direful and tremendous monster.  Psyche protested but they told her the folk living in the valley say the husband is a terrible and monstrous serpent, amusing himself while nourishing her with dainties that he may by and by devour her.  They told to one night to take with her a lamp and sharp blade so that when he slept she might light the lamp and see his true form.  If truly he is a monster they told her, "hesitate not and cut off its head".

Psyche tried to resist her sisters’ persuasions but knew she was curious and that night she took to bed a lamp and a long, sharp knife.  When he had fallen to sleep, silently she arose and lit her lamp, beholding but the most beautiful of the gods, his golden ringlets falling over his snowy neck, two dewy wings on his shoulders whiter than snow, with shining feathers like the tender blossoms of spring.  Entranced, as she moved her lamp better to see his face, a drop of hot oil fell on the shoulder of the god and startled, he opened his eyes and fixed them upon her.  They both were frozen for a few seconds, then suddenly and without a word, he spread his wings and flew out of the window.  Psyche, crying in despair, in vain endeavored to follow but fell from the window to the ground below.

Hearing her fall, Cupid for a moment paused in his flight and turned to her saying, "Oh faithless Psyche, is it thus you repay my love? After I disobeyed my mother's commands and made you my wife, will you think me a monster and would cut off my head?  Go, return to your sisters, who you trust more than me.  I punish you no more than to forever leave you for love cannot dwell with suspicion."  With those words, he flew off, leaving poor Psyche crying into the earth.  For hours she sobbed and then looked around, but her palace and gardens had vanished and she found herself in a field in the city where her sisters dwelt.  She repaired thither and told them her story at which, though pretending to grieve with her, the two evil sisters inwardly rejoiced for both thought as one: that Cupid might now choose one of them.  Both the next morning silently arose and snuck secretly to the mountain where each called upon Zephyr to bear them to his lord but leaping up, there was no Zephyr to carry them on the breeze and each fell down the precipice to their deaths.

The devastated Psyche meanwhile wandered.  Day and night, without food or rest, she searched for her husband and one evening saw in the distance a magnificent temple atop a lofty mountain and she felt her heart beat, wondering if perhaps there was Cupid.  She walked to the temple and there saw heaps of corn, some in loose ears and some in sheaves, mingled with ears of barley.  Scattered about, lay sickles and rakes, the instruments of harvest, without order, as if thrown carelessly from the weary reapers' hands in the sultry hours of the day.  This unseemly confusion disturbed the neat and tidy Psyche and she put herself to work, separating and sorting everything and putting all in its proper place, believing she ought to neglect none of the gods, but prove by her piety to prove she was worthy of their help.  The holy Ceres, whose temple it was, finding her so religiously employed, thus spoke to her, "Oh Psyche, truly your are worthy of our pity, though I cannot shield you from the frowns of Venus, I can teach you how best to allay her displeasure. Go, then, and voluntarily surrender yourself to your lady and sovereign, and try by modesty and submission to win her forgiveness, and perhaps her favor will restore you the husband you have lost."  Filled with both fear and hope, Psyche made her way to the temple of Venus.

Venus met her with anger.  "Most undutiful and faithless of servants," said she, "do you at last remember you have a mistress or have you come to see your sick husband, the one injured by the wound given him by his worthless wife?  You are so ill favored you can be worthy of your lover only by showing industry and diligence.  I shall put you to work".  She led Psyche to temple’s storehouse in which sat vast piles of wheat, barley, vetches, beans and lentils, the food for her birds.  “Separate these grains, put them all in sacks and have it done by night” she commanded, leaving her to the task.  Shocked, Psyche sat silent, moving not a finger.  While she despaired, Cupid ordered an ant, a native of the fields, to bring all ants from the anthill and they gathered on the piles.  Quickly and with the efficiency of their breed, they took grain by grain, making perfect parcels of each and when done, vanished from sight.  As twilight fell, Venus returned from a banquet of the gods and seeing the sacks neatly stacked, became enraged.  "This is no work of yours, wicked one, but his, whom to your own and his misfortune you have enticed."  So saying, she threw her a piece of black bread for her supper and stormed off.

Next morning Venus ordered Psyche to be called and said to her, "Behold yonder grove which stretches along the margin of the water.  There you will find sheep feeding without a shepherd, with golden-shining fleeces on their backs.  Go now, fetch me some of that precious wool gathered from every one of their fleeces."  Standing on the riverbank, wondering at the difficulty of her task, Psyche was about to cross but river god made the reeds speak, telling her "Oh maiden, tempt not the dangerous flood, nor venture among those rams for as long as the sun shines, they burn with a cruel rage to destroy mortals with their sharp horns or rude teeth.  But when the noontide sun has driven them to the shade, and the serene spirit of the flood has lulled them to rest, you may then cross in safety, and you will find the woolly gold sticking to the bushes and the trunks of the trees."  Psyche did as they said and returned with her arms full of the golden fleece but Venus was not pleased.  "Well I know it is by none of your own doings that you have succeeded I do not believe you are of use but I have another task for you.  Here, take this box and go your way to the infernal shades, and give this box to Proserpine and say, 'my mistress Venus desires you to send her a little of your beauty, for in tending her sick son she has lost some of her own'.  Be not too long on your errand, for I must paint myself with it to appear this evening at the circle of the gods."

Psyche now believed her own destruction was at hand and, with no wish to delay what was not to be avoided, dashed to the top of a high tower, preparing to cast herself headlong, thus to descend the shortest way to the shades below.  But then, a voice from the tower said to her, "Why, poor unlucky girl, do you design to put an end to your days in so dreadful a manner? And what cowardice makes you sink under this last danger when you have been so miraculously supported in all your former?"  Then the voice told her how by a certain cave she might reach the realms of Pluto, and how to avoid all the dangers of the road, to pass by Cerberus, the three-headed dog, and prevail on Charon, the ferryman, to take her across the black river and bring her back again. But the voice also cautioned, "When Proserpine has given you the box filled with her beauty, you must never once open or look into the box nor allow your curiosity to pry into the treasure of the beauty of the goddesses."

Encouraged, Psyche obeyed the advice and travelled safely to the kingdom of Pluto. Admitted to the palace of Proserpine, she delivered her message from Venus and soon, she was handed the box, shut and filled with the precious commodity. Then she returned the way she came, glad once more to be in the light of day.  But as she walked along the path, a longing desire overcame her, an urge to look into the box for, as she imagined, a touch of the divine beauty would make her more desired by Cupid so, delicately, she opened the box.  But in there was nothing of beauty but only an infernal and truly Stygian sleep which, being set free from its prison, took possession of her, and she fell in the road where she stood, plunged into a deep sleep, lying there without sense or motion.

But Cupid was now recovered and could no longer bear the absence of his beloved Psyche and slipping through a crack in the window, he flew to where Psyche lay.  He gathered up the sleep from her and closed it again in the box, waking her with the gentlest touch of one of his arrows. "Again," said he, "have you almost perished by the same curiosity.  But now perform exactly the task imposed on you by my mother, and I will take care of the rest."  Then Cupid, as swift as lightning, presented himself before Jupiter with his supplication.  Jupiter was impressed and so earnestly did he plead the cause of the lovers that he won the consent of Venus and on hearing this, sent Mercury to bring Psyche up to the heavenly assembly, and when she arrived, he handed her a goblet ambrosia saying, "Drink this, Psyche, and be immortal; nor shall Cupid ever break away from the knot in which he is tied, but these nuptials shall be perpetual."  Thus Psyche became at last united to Cupid, and in time, born to them was a daughter whose name was Pleasure.

Wedding Banquet of Cupid and Psyche (circa 1517) by Raphael (1483–1520).

The story of Cupid and the OCD Psyche is told by the Roman writer Apuleius (circa 124-circa 170) in three chapters in his rather risqué picaresque novel, The Metamorphoses of Apuleius (which Saint Augustine dubbed Asinus aureus (The Golden Ass (by which it’s today known)).  The Golden Ass is notable as the only full-length work of fiction in Classical Latin to have survived in its entirety and is a work with aspects which would be regarded as novel centuries later, including fantastical imagery, passages like fairy tales and elements which would now be called magic realism.  Like many modern fairy tales, there is a moral to the story and for Apuleius it was that it is love which makes to soul immortal and there was no need for subtlety, Cupid the son of the goddess of desire and Psyche's name originally meant soul.

With the re-discovery (and some re-invention) of much of antiquity during the Renaissance, the story gained much popularity and attracted the interest of artists and from Raphael’s (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, 1483–1520) studio came the best known evocation.  One of the scenes is the wedding feast, painted in the form of a hanging tapestry.  Psyche’s guest list was a roll-call of the gods, Ganymede, Apollo, Bacchus and Jupiter are all at the table, the Graces and the Hours in attendance.  The artists (for some the work was executed by professional painters under Raphael’s guidance) do have some fun, very much in the spirit of Apuleius for above the flying Mercury sits, artfully arranged, a suggestive conjunction of certain vegetables and fruits.

The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche (1532) by Giulio Romano.

The romance of Cupid and Psyche drew other artists including the Italian Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi, circa 1499-1546), a student of Raphael whose influence permeates.  While not highly regarded by critics and better remembered as an architect, Romano is of note because he was among the earliest of the artists whose work can be called Mannerist and certainly his wedding feast painting includes the mythological, a staged and theatrical setting, eroticism and an unusual sense of perspective; all characteristic of Mannerist art although he remained entirely naturalistic in the callipygian rendering of Psyche’s buttocks.

In Shakespeare's late drama The Winter's Tale there’s an allusion to Romano as “that rare Italian master” but despite the bard’s apparent admiration, historians of art treat him as little more than a footnote; the shadow Raphael cast was long.  Some critics seem determined to devalue his work, the Catholic Encyclopaedia (1913) noting it was “prolific and workmanlike, always competent…” but with “…no originality; as a painter, he is merely a temperament, a prodigious worker. His manual dexterity is unaccompanied by any greatness of conception or high moral principle.  His lively but superficial fancy, incapable of deep emotion, of religious feeling, or even of observation, attracted him to neutral subjects, to mythological paintings, and imaginary scenes from the world of fable. Therein under the cloak of humanism, he gave expression to a sensualism rather libertine than poetical, an epicureanism unredeemed by any elevated or noble quality.  It is this which wins for Giulio his distinctive place in art.  His conception of form was never quite original; it was always a clever and bookish compromise between Raphael and Michelangelo.  His sense of color grows ever louder and uglier, his ideas are void of finesse, whatever brilliancy they show is second-hand. His single distinctive characteristic is the doubtful ease with which he played with the commonplaces of pagandom.  In this respect at least, paintings like those of the Hall of Psyche (1532) are historical landmarks.  It is the first time that an appeal is made to the senses with all the brutal frankness of a modern work”. 

Damning with faint praise perhaps.  Grudgingly, the editors did concede that despite being “…distinguished by such characteristics and marked by such defects, Romano occupies nevertheless an important place in the history of art. More than any other, he aided in propagating the pseudo-classical, half-pagan style of art so fashionable during the seventeenth century. It’s mainly through his influence that after the year 1600 we find so few religious painters in Europe”.

One could hardly expect The Catholic Encyclopedia (sub-titled An International work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline and history of the Catholic Church), to find much worthy in a mannerist (or perhaps anything modern).  Mannerism, novel in some ways as it was, was rarely original in form or content.  It was a reaction against the perceived perfection of the neo-classicism of the High Renaissance and artists from Romano on were drawn to Greek mythology, characters like Psyche and Echo able simply and unambiguously to represent the psychological problems muddied by Christian theology.