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by Roseanna White | Oct 7, 2013 | Word of the Week
Last week in the course of our homeschool day, somehow or another we got talking about what our different fingers are called, and my clever little Xoe asked me why the pointer finger is also called the index finger.
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| Closeup from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam |
Insert Mommy going, “Um…because…maybe…it’s the one you trail down the page of an index when you’re looking for something?” LOL. At which point I added, “Don’t believe that, I’m making it up. Let’s look and see.” And so we did. =)
Index has meant “the pointer finger” since the 14th century. It comes directly from Latin, and the literal meaning is “that which points out.” So of course, it makes sense for the finger…and it also makes sense for the index in a book, a meaning which came along by the 1570s. Old in its own right, to be sure! So while the two are very directly related, coming from the same meaning of the same word, one didn’t derive from the other, but rather from the root. So I quickly corrected my guess, LOL.
More derivative meanings (like “cost-of-living index” or “heat index”) come from the sense of “indicator” that the word carries and started popping up in the 1800s.
Hope everyone has a great week!
by Roseanna White | Oct 3, 2013 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
I never considered myself a scientist. Growing up, I wasn’t the type to take toys apart to see their inner workings or do my own experiments. When I went to St. John’s College (The Great Books School), I didn’t quite get it when they said that the most important thing students had to learn was how to ask good questions.
After four years of hearing them, though, I get it. And I agree–it’s the most valuable tool my education gave me. The ability not just to question, but to question rightly. To question in a way that will lead me to answers, not circles.
And so now, as I look at the world around me, I ask “Why?” I ask “How?” I ask, “But what if it were this way? What would change?” And as events unfold, I try to find the reasons, the patterns, the keys. My questioning is always rooted in faith that God’s got it all under control, so my view is no doubt different from an atheist’s. My questioning is part of who I am. Part of what I do. Part of what makes me me.
I’ve asked a lot of “why”s lately. When we were presented with an unexpected answer to a vehicular need several months ago, I didn’t just accept it with a smile and go about my merry way. I began to pray. Because I knew, I knew quite certainly, that this wasn’t just God tossing me a boon. This was God preparing us for a change. This was God saying, “I’m removing some burdens,” not because they were too heavy then…but because they would have become so. There was a why to that gift, and to the gift of the house we just moved into.
Thank you, Lord, for helping me see that, so I didn’t squander it.
Earlier this week, my best friend texted me from the ER–her 3-year-old son had just had a seizure. The easy answer–that it was triggered by a high fever–was not the answer. He hadn’t been sick. And so they had to look for the why. Tumor? No, praise the Lord. Bleeding? No, which is another praise. But that leaves them with unanswered questions. What triggered it? Will it happen again?
No answers. And so we pray, and praise Him that little Connor is acting himself, with no lasting effects.
And then there are the career questions. Why do some things hit and others flop? Why do some of the most talented writers stay mid-list? Where do I fit in this publishing world? Will an award ever come my way? A spot on the best-seller list?
I don’t know, and I’m not a big fan of not-knowing here either, any more than I am when it comes to medical questions. I like answers. Preferably neat and tidy ones that are also solutions.
But learning to question rightly has also taught me that very rarely are the answers simple. For that matter, very rarely are they actual answers. Questions, true questions, don’t lead you to Yes or No. They lead you to more questions. They lead you on a journey.
Through faith, I can say that I don’t know what the path will look like, but I know where it ends. I know the goal. I know the One guiding me. I know my feet are traveling the road they need to travel.
I know there will be endless questions along the way. I’m never going to know all the Whys. And today, as I look out over the future and wonder what it might hold–for me, for my family, for my friends and their families–I see one of the greatest truths. That life and faith aren’t about knowing. They’re about seeking, and about bravely marching on despite the uncertainty.
The test of life isn’t about the answers. It’s about how we react to the questions.
by Roseanna White | Oct 2, 2013 | Ancient World, Remember When Wednesdays
As I’ve mentioned on here before, I’m in the midst of doing the Bible-in-a-year schedule…which I started in July. So I’m still in Kings and Chronicles (it’s the chronological Bible, so things are mixed up.)
I’ve read the Old Testament several times in my life, but it’s been a while since I read all the way through it, and this being me, I usually read a story and think, “But what about…?” which leads me to wondering. About things like the unnamed, unmentioned characters obviously present.
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| Samuel Blesses Saul – from Doré’s English Bible, 1866 |
Like when Samuel was a young man, not yet a prophet, a “righteous man of Israel” came and prophesied against Eli and his sons. Insert Roseanna going, “What, no name? Come on! Who was it?? Do we ever see him again? Had he been wronged by those evil sons? How?”
Then many chapters later, after Samuel is grown, we read that his sons weren’t so righteous either. At which point Roseanna goes, “So…when did Samuel get married? To whom??”
I know, I know–those little details aren’t often important in the Old Testament. But still, they make me ask questions. And sometimes surprise me with what information they do offer. (Like how many wives Gideon had–yowza! So didn’t remember that part from my previous reads…)
And since these are the kids of things that inspire me to write, we’ll just keep the questions coming. 😉
Are there any biblical stories that made you pause to wonder about the people missing in the account, but who were obviously there?
by Roseanna White | Sep 30, 2013 | Word of the Week
I’m back! All settled in (mostly) at the new house, with internet up and running–if you heard the “Hallelujah Chorus” ringing through the air last night, that was just me when my angel of a husband got it all set up. 😉
My search for a word of the week started with the last one I posted, “cool.” I kept scrolling down through the listings at www.etymonline.com, and soon I learned something!
Cucumber is from the Latin cucumerem, and may even predate Latin, believe it or not–this is one ancient veggie! 😉 In the 17th and 18th centuries, English speakers often spelled it cowcumber, and that pronunciation apparently lingered well into the 19th century, though the spelling had, by then, changed.
But of course, what convinced me that this vegetable is worthy of a Word of the Week is the phrase “cool as a cucumber.” That idiom came about around 1732. Ever wonder why? Well apparently folk knowledge said that cucumber fields were cooler than the air around them. Which would earn nothing but an “interesting…okay” except that in the 1970s scientists thought to question this old phrase. And what did they learn? That, indeed, the temperature in a cucumber patch is 20 degrees below the surrounding areas!
I had no idea. Honestly, I didn’t even know where the phrase came from. Pretty neat, eh?
Oh, and ATTENTION WRITERS!
For an upcoming article in the ACFW Journal, a friend of mine is running a survey at The Character Therapist on whether writers feel supported or unsupported by their spouses. The survey will be live at 6 a.m. CST today and will remain up for a month. If you’re a writer (with a spouse, I suppose, LOL), do go take the survey, and pass along the link to your writing friends!
https://www.roseannamwhite.com/2013/09/writers-quiz-is-your-partner-supportive.html
by Roseanna White | Sep 19, 2013 | Uncategorized
Over the next week, I’m going to be moving. Today is step one (kinda funny to call it so, given how busy we’ve been getting to this point, LOL)–we’re moving my hubby’s grandfather into the apartment my hubby and his parents built for him. Then we’re tearing up the carpet in his house, which we’ll be moving into. The result–we’ll be there on his family’s land, which we’re all looking forward to.
Of course, it kinda cuts into blogging time. 😉 So if I’m quiet for the next week or so, you know why. This isn’t a move-in-one-day deal, we’re going to take it slow. Which is great on the one hand, but it does prolong the process. So I beg you to bear with me.
And in the meantime, enjoy the coming of autumn! It feels very autumnal here, with increasingly-colder nights but warm days, and I’m looking forward to the changing colors on the trees. =) Definitely one of my favorite times of year (if only it didn’t end in winter, LOL).
Have a great one!
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.