by Roseanna White | Jun 20, 2011 | Word of the Week
There are times when I use a word, when I remember distinctly seeing it in older books, but when it isn’t until I look up its etymology that I remember the subtle differences that have evolved in said word over time.
Ecstatic is one of those.
I remember learning this word back in the day and just loving it because it perfectly captured that excitement of good things. No one bothered telling me that it wasn’t always that way.
Ecstatic has been around since the 1590s, but at that point in time it meant “mystically absorbed, stupefied.” So one was ecstatic in relation to things beyond one’s ken. Over the next 70 years it became “characterized by deep emotion.” This is certainly closer to what we know, but there was at that point no connotation of the pleasant.
This is how I’ve seen it used in older works of literature. And isn’t it funny how realizing that difference can change your understanding of something? If we read an old book, and a distressed character is described as “ecstatic” in her upset, we might be a little confused. And think, “Waaaaiiiiiiiit a minute. If she’s upset, how is she ecstatic?”
Well, now we know. She’s just deeply upset, very emotional.
Personally, I’d rather be the modern kind, LOL. And on a personal note, I just spend an amazing weekend in Niagara Falls celebrating my 10th anniversary with my hubby. I’ll probably share some of our fun experiences on Thursday, along with some pictures. And on Wednesday I’ll likely be sharing the arrival of a very fun item that was waiting for me in the mail when we got home. =)
Have a great week everybody! And if you’re inclined, say a prayer for me today. I have some major changes on the horizon of my writing career and need the Lord’s guidance before any decisions are made.
by Roseanna White | Jun 13, 2011 | Word of the Week
Yesterday was my honey’s birthday, so I thought I’d take a look-see at the word and see if it’s as old as I assume it is.
The answer? Mostly. 😉 The Old English form byrddæg meant an annual celebration of one’s birth, but was used mostly for saints and kings. It wasn’t extended to the general populace’s birthdays until the late 16th century.
More interesting, is that “birthday suit” has been used as a way of saying someone has no clothes on since since the 1730s for sure, and probably earlier. Who knew? I always thought that was a modern convention, but I guess not.
Also fascinating is record of “birthnight” instead of “birthday,” appearing in the early 1600s. Which is, I suppose, what my daughter would have, as she was born at 9 p.m. 😉 I never would have thought to make the distinction.
And there we have it, all in honor of my fabulous hubby, whose birthday yesterday was a ton of fun. Have a great week, everybody!
by Roseanna White | Jun 6, 2011 | Word of the Week
Passport – it’s pretty literal. “The authorization to pass through a port.” Not surprising, right? What surprises me is that the word (and hence the concept of a noun to embody it) is from around 1500. I had no idea it was that old!
(The one in the picture is French, from 1684)
Now, this is interesting to me because for the book I’m researching, time and again it comes up that people need passes. They need passes to go freely around a city held by one military. They need passes to get from one side of the lines to the other. They need passes to move freely through enemy-held land.
More amazing? You could get those passes, LOL. Which is to say, I find it funny that you can get a pass to travel through enemy territory. But then, it was usually because you were a normal, everyday person about normal, everyday business, with nothing to do with the conflict.
This is also on my mind because this week I’m getting a passport for the first time in my life. =) Heading to Niagara Falls for our anniversary trip, but also now thinking of all the other places we can go without stopping to realize, “Oh, but we’d need a passport.” Not that we necessarily will travel more, but it’s a freedom I love to savor. =)
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!
by Roseanna White | May 30, 2011 | Holidays, Word of the Week
No thought at all went into selecting this week’s word. =) Given that today is Memorial Day and all, here we go!
Memorial. Memorial is a word straight from the Latin memoriale, so it’s been in English approximately forever. Since the late 14th century it’s been used exactly as it’s used now – something by which a memory is preserved.
But the interesting thing is in Memorial Day. It’s been used generically, as any day of memory, since the 1830s. But after the Civil War it became a national holiday to commemorate the fallen Northern soldiers. It started unofficially in the 1860s and became recognized by veteran groups in 1869.
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t realize it was a Civil War thing! Pretty interesting.
So, everybody have big Memorial Day plans? My family is combining the M-Day picnic with my grandmother’s b-day party. So in honor of that, I made this cake, which I’m calling my Hydrangea-in-a-Basket cake. =)
Hope everyone has a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating holiday, and that we use it to memorialize those who have fought and fallen for our wonderful nation.
by Roseanna White | May 23, 2011 | Word of the Week
This week’s word comes to us courtesy of Dictionary.com‘s Word of the Day. =) It’s my homepage, and occasionally I so love the words they highlight that I just have to share.
So, longueur. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t, I confess. It’s pronounced long-GUR, and here’s the definition:
“A dull and tedious passage in a book, play, musical composition, or the like.”
Now doesn’t that just make you go, “Oh, that’s what I should call those?? Sweet! I have a name for it! And it sounds so close to “longer” that it makes a ton of sense, because that’s what it makes said books, plays, or music feel like!” LOL.
So rest assured that my compositions will make every attempt to avoid any longueur. And on that note . . .
by Roseanna White | May 16, 2011 | Word of the Week
Intelligence is a pretty old world. It’s been around since the 14th century, meaning exactly what it does now. And even the secondary meaning–“information gathered, especially by spies”–dates back to the 1580s. I found this pretty surprising.
As I’m doing research for a spy novel set centuries ago, I’m paying close attention to all this stuff, and this one jumped out at me. Especially because General Washington often referred to his spies as “intelligencers,” a word I just love (though Spell Check sure doesn’t!)
It’s not often we find a word that hasn’t changed its meaning so fully over the course of 700 years!
And that’s apparently all the intelligence I can muster on a Monday morning before even a whiff of coffee. Hope your day is full of it! 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, 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. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.