Word of the day

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:44 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:One for today:

cotta

â€¢ noun a short garment resembling a surplice, worn typically by Catholic priests and servers.
â€” origin mid 19th cent.: from Italian; ultimately related to coat.

Nothing to do with terracotta, then ?

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:46 pm

J.R. wrote:
Richard Ruck wrote:One for today:

cotta

â€¢ noun a short garment resembling a surplice, worn typically by Catholic priests and servers.
â€” origin mid 19th cent.: from Italian; ultimately related to coat.
Nothing to do with terracotta, then ?

Not unless it's been cooked!

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:46 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:
J.R. wrote:
Richard Ruck wrote:One for today:

cotta

â€¢ noun a short garment resembling a surplice, worn typically by Catholic priests and servers.
â€” origin mid 19th cent.: from Italian; ultimately related to coat.
Nothing to do with terracotta, then ?
Not unless it's been cooked!

??????????????????????

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:51 pm

Terracotta = cooked earth.

I just couldn't see the point in cooking a coat.....

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:56 pm

Cotta cotta???

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:00 pm

englishangel wrote:Cotta cotta???

Well, I imagine that would be correct!

Sorry, my Italian is pretty much limited to musical terms and to what I can work out from a knowledge of French and Latin.

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:02 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:
englishangel wrote:Cotta cotta???

Well, I imagine that would be correct!

Sorry, my Italian is pretty much limited to musical terms and to what I can work out from a knowledge of French and Latin.

Cotta cheese? - from the Veneto, I think. I'm sure I've heard of it somewhere.

Euterpe13 · Post by **Euterpe13** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:53 pm

panna cotta - cooked cream

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:38 am

Here we go - a booze-related word today.....

flor

â€¢ noun [mass noun] yeast allowed to develop in a whitish film on the surface of dry (fino) sherries and similar wines during fermentation.
â€” origin late 19th cent.: from Spanish, literally â€˜flowerâ€™.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:31 pm

Do any of these words orginate from our fair isle?

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:03 pm

Great Plum wrote:Do any of these words orginate from our fair isle?

Very few..... I really hope they sort this out.

I suppose we could contribute a few ourselves, though. Why not?

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:10 pm

How about a few unusual phobias?

Given tomorrow's date, triskaidekaphobia might be a good one to start with.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:15 pm

That is a great phobia....

There is a website somewhere that lists all the dfferent phobias... have to dig that one up...

DavebytheSea · Post by **DavebytheSea** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:16 pm

Great Plum wrote:Do any of these words orginate from our fair isle?

I believe there are only 7 original (Celtic) words in the English language - one of them is "brock" meaning badger; I can't tell you any others. Of course the Celts themselves were invaders of these islands once upon a time ......

This is highly unusual. The more usual situation is that eventually the language of the conquered race predominates and becomes the lingua franca albeit in a corrupted form. Examples are the conquest of the Greeks by the Romans when a huge amount of Greek passed into the Latin tongue in time virtually eliminating the original Etruscan. It happened again with the Norman Conquest of Britain when a bastardised form of the old Saxon tongue (English) supplanted the French of the Normans (Norman French remained the "official" language of lawyers and administrators until the 14th century I believe). In America also, the English spoken by the colonials was greatly modified by the negro slaves imported from Africa.

Why did this happen? It is generally supposed that the conquerors employed vanquished slaves to educate their offspring the role of the teacher being considered a menial pursuit. However, the Saxon invasion of these islands met fierce opposition from a well organised people who resisted them for well over 200 years. This is the time of the Arthurian legend when a great king or kings conducted an orderly withdrawal to the mountain fastnesses of Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. The Kingdom of Cornwall preserved its independence until the 10th century and those of Wales and Scotland even longer. The resistance of the Cornish Stannary Parliament survives to this day while the Saxon English have finally recognised the right of the other Celtic nations to revive their own Parliaments.

And this essay, no doubt, will promote me once again to Grecian status whence I had been earlier ignominiously demoted to Deputy Grecian by our illustrious Fuhrer. Please note, that the joy of this advancement has even induced me to recognise the full grandeur of spelling Grecian with the initial letter capitalised. Now I shall be one of them, the word has obviously a profoundly greater significance.

PS If, JT, my 500th posting is unworthy of Grecian status, do feel free to withhold advancement at your pleasure. I shall try again anon.

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:32 pm

Bl*ody swot!!