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! 😉
by Roseanna White | May 9, 2011 | Word of the Week
Today I’m tickled pink to announce the debut of a new group blog called Colonial Quills. About, you guessed it, authors and books focused on early American history! I’m proud to be a contributor to the blog thanks to my upcoming Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland that’s set in 1783, and in awe of the beautiful site Carla Olsen Gade put together for us. Stop on by and have some tea, get to know the ladies, and admire the beautiful artwork!
And in honor of this fabulous event, I thought I’d explore the word “debut” for this week’s word. I think we all know it’s French, right? And Fowler (the grammar expert associated with the OED) says:
“Début can only be pronounced as French, and should not be used by anyone who shrinks from the necessary effort.”
Tee hee hee. So don’t try to say it day-BUTT. Interestingly, debut came to us from France in 1751 to mean “first appearance” as a shortened form of “debuter,” which means to make the first stroke at billiards. I don’t know about you, but I had no clue it was a billiards term! The verb didn’t come to be until 1830. Pretty neat, huh?
So hop on over to http://colonialquills.blogspot.com and celebrate this particular debut with us!
by Roseanna White | Apr 25, 2011 | Word of the Week
I can’t say as I’ve ever understood why, when we comprehend something, we stand under it. So this week we’re working to understand the word understand. =)
According to the wonderful world of
www.etymonline.com (one of the best resources IN THE UNIVERSE!), this word, which has been in the English language pretty much since the English language has been, carries an old sense of “standing in the midst of.” And if you’re in the midst of it, you get it.
Now, the “under” is the tricky part. Etymonline quotes a few different expert opinions on why it’s “under.” They all agree it isn’t “under” as in beneath, but rather as in “between, among.” Take, as a modern day idiom that has survived with this meaning, the example “Under such circumstances.” We don’t mean we’re literally under these circumstances, but rather in the midst of them.
Some other Germanic languages have a word that means “stand before” rather than “stand under,” but ultimately the idea comes back to truly comprehending something when you’re very near it.
Understand? 😉
by Roseanna White | Apr 18, 2011 | Word of the Week
Every night, the family gathers around for bedtime prayers. I start off with a prayer of thanks for the day, for protection that night, for a good day following, and for anything else pertinent to that particular day. Then Xoe adds her bit, Rowyn either cheerily says “To you!” (don’t ask me why . . .) or else goes, “Nuh uh.” And we all say “Amen.” (Rowyn adding “And Rowyn!” . . . again, don’t ask me why, LOL.)
But it occurred to me the other night, after Rowyn’s addition to “amen” that I really had no idea how the word came to be used as it is and, for that matter, what it actually means other than “the end.” So I looked it up. =)
Here’s what I found. “Amen” is a direct translation from a Hebrew word that literally means “so be it.” That makes a ton of sense–when we end a prayer, we’re asking God to make whatever we prayed for be. But until the 13th century, it wasn’t tacked onto the end of prayers, but rather at the end of texts, carrying the meaning of “verily” or “truly” and carrying with it a meaning of agreement. (Think, “Amen to that!”)
Jesus revolutionized the “amen” by using it at the beginning of speech without referring to the words of another speaker. He used it instead to claim the truth of what he was about to say. Pretty cool. =)
As Holy Week gets under way, my prayer is that each of us takes the time to stop and consider what Jesus really did for us, what he went through, what it means. I pray that as we seek him this week, we find him in new, unexpected ways. I pray that each of us find a blessing where we thought there was none, and that the truth of our Savior blossoms in our hearts all over again. And all say it with me: Amen.
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.