by Roseanna White | Jan 2, 2017 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Word of the Week
I’d been praying for a word for 2017, as I usually do. Most of the time God will give me one when I ask, but there have been years when nothing has stood out. I had a feeling, as I prayed over the last few days, that this was going to be a no-word year.
But then yesterday, as my dad preached at a local nursing home, he read this verse:
“…These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” ~ John 16:33
The word “overcome” practically leaped out at me. I knew I had a word–what I’m still not sure of is if it’s for me, or for me to give. We shall see, on that one. But regardless, it’s a word that we all need reminded of, isn’t it?
In the Message version, that verse reads like this:
“…I’ve told you
all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured,
deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience
difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
I think the word “conquer” is even stronger than “overcome”–to my mind, at least, it doesn’t just mean being the victor over what comes upon you, but actively engaging in a battle that we win. That, my friends, is what the Church needs to do in this world!
I don’t want to just paste the whole section from John in here, as it’s a little long, but some context is actually really illuminating. Jesus had just told them that he’d be leaving, they’d be sorrowful, but that then he’d be back and their sorrow would turn to Joy. Then He says:
24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your Joy may be full . . . . 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
This part really struck me as I read it. We all know the verse: you don’t have because you don’t ask. But 26 is pretty amazing too. Here, Jesus is saying that when we ask in His name, it isn’t that He’s beseeching the Father on our behalf. It’s that, because we believe in Him, God will answer us. How amazing is that?
I don’t know what trials and tribulations will come upon any of us in 2017. There will be some–there always are. Individual ones, and ones that strike the Church, the country, the whole world. I don’t know what this word might pertain to in particular. But I do know this.
He has overcome. He has conquered. And because of that, when we ask in His name–if we ask in His name–we will conquer too.
by Roseanna White | Dec 19, 2016 | Holidays, Word of the Week
Today I’m not examining the etymology of the word itself so much as the history of the tradition of hanging mistletoe at Christmas. Is this part of your family’s tradition?
I’ve never really taken part in it, but certainly we all know that if one pauses beneath mistletoe, one cannot refuse a kiss. In past centuries, this was believed to be good luck and to guarantee love, marriage, and children in the coming year (for those still unmarried). The ball of mistletoe would be burned after the Twelve Days of Christmas to seal the fates of those couples who had kissed beneath it.
But where did the tradition come from? Well it dates back far beyond the coming of Christianity to Europe. For millennia, mistletoe was revered as a sacred plant and thought to contain powers of fertility and good luck and the ability to ward off evil. The plant typically grows on apple trees, but once in a while can be found on oaks (also sacred), so the oak mistletoe is especially sacred and would be cut by Druids with a golden sickle.
The legend goes as follows: the goddess Frigga had a beloved son, Balder, who was the god of summer and hence all things growing and alive. Balder had a terrible dream that he was going to die, so his mother went to every part of nature, above the ground and below, asking them to promise not to kill her son. But she neglected to request this of the mistletoe, which neither had roots below ground nor grew on its own above. So the tricky god Loki, enemy of Balder, made a poison from the berries of the mistletoe and dipped an arrow in it, shooting and killing Balder. For three days, every element and plant tried to revive him, to no avail. Finally, his mother’s own tears revived him, which then turned to little white berries on the mistletoe. She was so overjoyed that she kissed everyone who passed beneath the hanging plant.
You can see where this would easily become part of a tradition surrounding the birth of Christ, right? Someone who lay dead for three days and then was brought back to life, ultimate Love triumphing over Death. Especially since this plant was cut traditionally on the solstice already–and the winter solstice had long been established as the birth of Christ (read why here, if you haven’t already). It was easily incorporated into new traditions and became a lasting one–though still tinged with superstition.
So where do you come down on mistletoe and kissing beneath it? Fun custom? Good luck? Or something to be avoided at all costs? 😉
by Roseanna White | Dec 12, 2016 | Word of the Week
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| Because my blog is sadly lacking in cat pictures, which we all know is the primary purpose of the internet… |
We have two cats in our family; Lilly is without question our daughter’s, and Ivy is more apt to hang out with the rest of us. She’s especially fond of sitting on my stomach while I’m watching TV and getting as close to my face as I’ll let her–which isn’t all that close, or my eyes get pretty itchy. 😉 The other night as my husband was petting her, he said, “Okay, so, which came first? Pet the noun, or pet the verb?” (Yes, our whole family asks these kinds of questions, LOL.)
I wasn’t sure, but suspected that the noun came first. Which indeed it did.
The origins of the word are a bit misty. An exact date of its first use isn’t known, but it was likely in the 1400s or perhaps earlier. We do know it was used almost exclusively in Scotland and northern England until the mid 1700s. The first recorded instance that could be found, it’s actually referring to an indulged child (around 1500), though etymologists suspect “tamed animal” is still the primary meaning back then.
Both actually derive from the adjective petty, which just means “small,” from French petit. (It wasn’t originally a disparaging word, though had taken on meanings of “of little importance” and “small-minded” by the later 1500s.)
As for the verb to pet, that’s surprisingly new! Didn’t come into use until about 1818 in the sense we think of most, “to stroke.” From the 1620s until then, it was a verb, but it meant “to treat as a pet.”
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
by Roseanna White | Nov 28, 2016 | Word of the Week
A quick but fun one, especially in context. =)
So, y’all probably know my current series is about thieves. I’m have SO much fun with this. And working pretty hard to make sure each main-character-thief views the world differently than her/his “sister” did in the previous one. But one thing they’re all destined to have in common is noting the rather huge difference in 1914 between the upper class and the common worker. As I was searching for the right words to describe something, I wanted to use posh.
Upon looking it up to make sure it was old enough, I discovered that, in fact, its first appearance in print was actually in 1914! Here’s the fun part, though. Despite claims from the 50s that the word is actually an acronym for “port outward, starboard home” (to describe accommodations on luxury steamers), it’s not–it is, in fact, taken from thieves’ jargon!
Posh actually dates from the 1830s as a word for “money,” particularly a coin of small value (thought to come from the Romany posh, which means “half”). By the 1850s, it was also being applied to people–the so-called dandies. From there, it was another 60 years or so before it became an adjective, though in 1903 we see an occurrence or two of the variation push.
So that of course seals it, that it came from thieves. I had to use it. 😉
by Roseanna White | Nov 21, 2016 | Holidays, Word of the Week
A couple weeks ago, my daughter asked why the animal is called a turkey and if it had anything to do with the country. I, naturally, said, “I don’t think so . . . I’ll look it up.”
Look it up I did–and quickly discovered that I was quite wrong with that “I don’t think so.”
So historically, there are two different birds identified as both guinea fowl and turkey, both from the mid-1500s. The guinea fowl was introduced to Europe from Madagascar via Turkey; the second, the larger North American bird, was domesticated by the Atzecs, introduced to Spain by the conquistadors, and then spread to wider Europe. The two animals were mistakenly thought to be related, and so both were called by both names.
Eventually they realized they were not related . . . and they mistakenly kept the name turkey for the one from North America rather than the one from Africa!
Ever wonder what they call the animal in Turkey? Hindi, which literally means “India”–based on the common-at-the-time misconception that the new world was India.
Poor mis-named critter. 😉 Gobble, gobble!
by Roseanna White | Nov 14, 2016 | Word of the Week
Quick word of the week today, and musical, since I just finished writing A Song Unheard. 😉
In today’s vernacular, upbeat means “with a positive mood”–but this is a rather modern connotation, only dating back to about 1947. It’s thought to have come from the phrase on the upbeat, which meant “improving, getting better.”
This does indeed come from the musical idea that a conductor’s baton is raised during a given beat in a measure (the denotation which is also rather modern, dating only to 1869)–however this beat in a measure isn’t particularly positive by nature or anything. It gained a “happy” connotation simply because it sounded optimistic. My kind of reasoning, LOL.
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.