Yvonne1. – My first word this time, was discovered over at the blog of Mary @ Bookfan. Mary was sharing her regular Sunday post and the new books to arrive in her mailbox this week.
MEROVINGIANS
Caught between Rome’s tottering empire and Attila’s threat are the Frankish tribes and their ‘Long-Hair’ chiefs, northern pagans in a Roman Christian world, and a people history will call the Merovingians.
The MEROVINGIANS were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in a region known as Francia in Latin, beginning in the middle of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. The Merovingian dynasty was founded by Childeric I (c. 457 – 481), the son of Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, but it was his famous son Clovis I (481–511) who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule.
Merovingian comes from medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingi (“sons of Merovech”), an alteration of an unattested Old Dutch form. The Merovingian ruling family were sometimes referred to as the “long-haired kings” by contemporaries, as their long hair distinguished them among the Franks, who commonly cut their hair short.
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2. – The next couple of words come from a book I read some time ago, but I have so far not had the opportunity to slip them into a WWW post..
OPISTHOTONOS
He’d have staggered about the place, crashing into furniture, his back arching into the agony of opisthotonos before he hit the ground …
OPISTHOTONOS –
A condition of spasm of the muscles of the back, causing the head and lower limbs to bend backward and the trunk to arch forward.
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3. – Also from ‘The Devil’s Ribbon’ …
DIENER
Hatton’s chief diener, Albert Roumande, was on the far side of the mortuary, a question in his eye …
DIENER –
A laboratory helper especially in a medical school.
A morgue worker responsible for handling, moving, and cleaning the corpse (though, at some institutions dieners perform the entire dissection at autopsy). Dieners are also referred to as morgue attendants, autopsy technicians, and other titles that can vary from region to region.
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4. – And finally, this one is just for fun, but nonetheless, is still a new to me word and one which the originators obviously take pretty seriously!
I discovered it over at the blog of ‘Pen And Paper’, where author Tracy hosts a weekly ‘Media Matters’ post, where she highlights some of the quirkier news stories she has uncovered.
Click on the link in the word above to read the full article.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has finally been recognised as a religion in The Netherlands. Two days ago, pastafarians were told by the country’s Chamber of Commerce that they would be granted official status. They had been trying for several years.
PASTAFARIANS –
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism, a movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools. Although adherents state that Pastafarianism is a genuine religion, it is generally recognized by the media as a parody religion.
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a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading. It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’.You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
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You’ve got a great eye! Those are all new to me and they’re all mouthfuls! I’m guessing Pastafarian is a play on Rastafarian, a word I am familiar with. Thanks for playing along!
Hi Kathy,
Whilst the concept of a Pastafarian religion is fun and conjures up a vivid picture of what one of their churches might look like, my personal favourite words this time, are the two medical references I came across in ‘The Devil’s Ribbon’. The only problem, as you so rightly point out, is that just about any words describing a medical condition, or occupation, are generally real tongue twisters. In terms of the historical context surrounding the profession, I can understand why that is, however in today’s society of ‘plain English’, I would have thought that someone might have fought to change that perception and possibly do some renaming!
Thanks for hosting and for stopping by today 🙂
Another great collection. Thank you for the mention.
Hi Tracy,
I couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity to make use of a great word like Pastafarian, now could I?
Even better if I can casually slip “The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster”, into a conversation and just watch people’s faces 🙂
Thanks for stopping by.
I have The Devil’s Ribbon waiting in my Kindle. It remains to be seen if I’ll remember what those two words (both new to me) mean when I get around to reading it! 😉
Hi Kelly,
That’s always my problem too! … Discovering new words is always fun, researching their definitions is always interesting and working out ways to work those new words into a conversation is always intriguing. However remembering them at all for more than a short while, now that really is a challenge!
‘The Devil’s Ribbon’ is well worth the reading, if you ever have the opportunity, I really enjoyed it 🙂
All very interesting, especially the Pastafarianism bit – never heard of that before. Thanks for enlightening me!
Hi Julia,
At times, I am amazed by the wealth of new words my reading can offer … At others, I can see that I am still only scratching the surface.
The vocabulary of some of the contributors to sites such as Wikipedia, is totally awesome and I literally spend more time checking out the definitions of words in the text, than I do actually reading and assimilating the information.
Some, like Tracy’s ‘Pastafarians’ are simply included for fun, but they still exist as published words with definitions, so it is good that they all count!
Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments 🙂
Hard to pronounce but very interesting.
Hi Mary Ann,
I do sometimes wonder who comes up with all the complicated spellings and pronunciations, when they think up new words to add to the language.
I’m certain that medical references in particular, are made as complicated as possible, so that we the patients, never really query or question a diagnosis.
There has to be something in the campaign for plain English, although then the fun would be taken out of researching words for WWW 🙂
All interesting words Yvonne. Thanks for introducing me to Pen and Paper. That was fun.
Hi Margot,
‘Pen and Paper’ is one of my favourite sites to visit.
Tracy is the perfect host, her reviews are always honest and from the heart, and her ‘Media Monday’ posts are always a joy and help to brighten up my day.
I am so pleased that you decided to check out the site and hope to spot you chatting to Tracy, very soon 🙂