Month: July 2013
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on knock-knock jokes & word origins
Before moving on to the second part of my citrus series, I want to take a break from specific etymologies to reflect on them as such. Last post, I ended on quite the corny pun: “Orange you glad I didn’t squeeze them all into one?” This, of course, evokes a classic lemon of a knock-knock…
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citrus, part I
Fast Mash Citrus referred to the “citron tree” in Latin; possibly related to the Greek word for the cedar tree, kedros, and whose scent apparently can evoke citron Lemon (via French) and lime (via Spanish) come from Arabic laimun/limah, which may in turn trace back to Persian limun/lim (citrus) I hate to get too personal on this blog, but…
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estivate + edify
Fast Mash Proto-Indo-European root *aidh– (burn) gave Latin aestus (heat) and aestās (summer) From aestās English forms estival (of summer) and estivate (to spend the summer) *Aidh– also gave Latin aedes (building, shrine, hearth), basis of English’s edify (originally, to build up the church or soul in holiness) and edifice Estivate and edify aren’t exactly everyday words, but, boy,…
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the four seasons, part II (summer)
Fast Mash Summer is from Old English, sumor, meaning the same; first attested ca. 825 Probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem Abundant cognates, especially Germanic, and including the telling Sanskrit sama (half-year, year, season) This year, the summer solstice fell on June 21st at 1:04AM ET. The longest day of the year inaugurates the second and warmest…
Mashed Radish 