February 2004 Archives:
Horse Words: capriole; chevalet; bidet; harridan; crock; caparison
More Horse Words: spavined; tacky; gambol (gambado); desultory; tattersall; cozen
Horse Sense: Terms of logic: Hobson's choice; negative pregnant; induction (deduction); boolean algebra; Ockham's razor; fuzzy logic; enthymeme; sorites; slippery slope
Characters from Greek Myth: protean; promethean; Orphean; syphilis; pandora's box; rhadamanthine;
psaphonic
Horse Words (Week of Feb. 2, 2004)
We'll enjoy some horse-related words, some unfamiliar, some familiar but with interesting equine aspects.
capriole a playful leap or jump; a caper
In root this is a goat-word, not a horse-word, but it also means a leap by a trained horse, with a backward kick of the hind legs [from It capriola, somersault (via Fr), and ultimately from L capreolus, diminutive of caper, capr-, goat. Nice image, of a goat cavorting in somersaults]
Borumoter first took his gage at lil lolly lavvander waader since when capriole capriole
covets limbs of a crane and was it the twylyd
or the mounth of the yare or the feint of her smell
made the seomen assalt of
her (in imageascene all: whimwhim
whimwhim).
James
Joyce, Finnegans Wake (I trust this example is
clear?)
Frank
Kermode, Shakespeare's Language, discussing the mourning at Juliet's
"funeral" in Romeo and Juliet:
Of
course we know Juliet isn't dead, and we know that the Nurse is sly. The
absurdity of [her mourning] speech is followed by Friar Laurence's necessarily
insincere exhortations. It is impossible not to see this as a deliberate
flaunting of expectations all this required what an Elizabethan called
"a sudden rash half-capriole" of snit, a moment
of poetic high spirits, and a taste for the unexpected.
By
etymology, the next two words refer figuratively to a small horse.
chevalet the bridge of a stringed instrument [from French; literally "little horse"]
bidet this familiar word comes from the French for a small horse or pony; that is, one easily straddled
The next two words concern worthless or broken-down horses:More of this sort to come.
harridan a
scolding, vicious old woman
[probably from F haridelle, a gaunt woman, a worn-out horse, a nag]
crock slang:
something decrepit and worn out; also, to make weak or disabled ("crock
up")
[Earlier, old ewe that past child-bearing; Norw. krake, sickly animal, and M. Dutch kraecke, broken-down horse]
caparison ornamental trappings for a horse; more generally, richly ornamented clothing; finery. verb: to outfit in such trappings or clothing
Typically used for horses and other animals, but can be applied to people and things.
Because I am allegedly handling what
John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces (Pulizer
Prize winner)
Already during the reign of Charles VI contemporary paintings depict the mad
King lying on his bed richly caparisoned in garments, the fabrics
of which had made the wealth of Renaissance Florence.
Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of
More Horse Words (Week of Feb. 9, 2004)
Two more words from broken-down horses:
spavined 1. old and decrepit; over-the-hill; marked by damage,
deterioration, or ruin: a junkyard full of spavined vehicles 2. (of a horse) afflicted with spavin, a swelling of the hock
(ankle)
tacky 1. in neglected disrepair: a tacky old cabin in the woods
2. in bad taste or offensive: tacky clothes; a
tacky remark [from tackey, an
inferior horse]
Note: to nag (scold, complain, or find fault
constantly; noun: a person who does so) and a nag (a horse,
especially one old or worn-out) appear to come from two different roots.
We began this theme with a word (capriole)
from a horse's leap. Here are several more leaping-horse words.
gambol to dance and skip about in play; to frolic.
[French gambade horse's jump, ultimately from L. Latin gamba hock of a horse, leg and from G kampe a joint or bend]
gambado a capering, leaping or gamboling movement (also, a low leap of a horse in which all four feet leave the ground)
I'll spoil your gay gambado!
He is the son of your Mikado!
Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado
Some sources attribute gamble to the root that gave us gambol and gambado (the notion of frolic leading to that of financial speculation). But this view is not universal.
desultory jumping
from one subject to another, without order or rational connection; disconnected
(desultory thoughts; a desultory speech; desultory shopping)
[lit. noun meaning "a circus rider who jumps from one galloping horse to another" from de- down + salire to jump, leap]
Finally, our last two horse-words (plus the first word of next weeks theme) pertain to horse markets, each an unsavory air about it.
tattersall noun
& adj. a cloth with a pattern of dark lines forming squares on a light
background; the pattern itself [from Tattersall's,
a London horse market and gambler's rendezvous, founded 1766 by Richard Tattersall]
cozen to cheat;
to defraud; to beguile; to deceive
[origin uncertain. perhaps
M.E. cosyn "fraud, trickery" (1453),
perhaps related to O.Fr. coηon
"dealer," from L. cocionem
"horse dealer." (Some speculate the source may be various generations
of French cousiner, to defraud, as to claim to
be a cousin in order to defraud - but is a swindler really likely to so claim;
would he expect to be believed?)]
Horse Sense: Terms
Of Logic (Week of Feb. 16, 2004)
The theme's title is a pun, and a link. For our first word fits of this week's logic-word's theme also fits into the horse-words theme we've been pursuing.
Hobson's choice an apparently free choice which is really not free, because when there is no real alternative
Thomas Hobson
(c.1544-1631),
Guy
Wetmore Carryl's retelling of the tale of Prince
Charming and Sleeping Beauty:
In Charming's principality
there was a wild locality
Composed of somber forest and of steep and frowning crags,
Of pheasant and of rabbit, too; and here it was his habit to
Go hunting with his courtiers in the keen pursuit of stags.
But the charger that he rode
So mercurially strode
That the prince on one occasion left the others in the lurch,
And the falling darkness found him
With no vassals left around him,
Near a building like an abbey, or a shabby ruined church.
His Highness said: "I'll ring the bell
And stay till morning it in!" (He
Took Hobson's choice, for no hotel
There was in the vicinity.)
negative pregnant
a denial (negation) of one thing that implies (is pregnant with) affirmance of another.
For example, if you are told, "You're a cheap, smelly drunk," and you angrily reply, "I am not cheap," your very denial implies that you admit to being smelly and a drunk.
Secretary Powell also said: "With respect to
Senator Arlen Specter, speaking in the US Senate in the week of Feb. 11, 2002
induction (logic) the process of deriving general principles from particular facts or instances
contrast deduction
reasoning from stated premises to a conclusion; that is, from the general to
the specific
boolean
algebra a mathematical system for algebraic manipulation of logical
statements (adj. boolean; contrast
conventional algebra, which operates upon numerical quantities). Boolean
algebra can demonstrate whether or not a statement follows from given premises,
and show how a complicated statement can be reduced to a simpler, more
convenient form.
Heavily used in computer science. Developed
by the English mathematician George Boole c.1850.
A reader notes, "A BBC radio program that I heard last year stated that George Boole was friends with A. Conan Doyle, and was in fact the inspiration for his villain Dr. Moriarity."
Ockham's razor; Occam's razor the philosophical
rule that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex.
Also called law of parsimony.
[after William of Ockham, English philosopher (~1285-?1349), who wrote, "Non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem;" a plurality of reasons should not be proposed without necessity.]
A reader notes that he has seen only Occam's razor, not Ockham's
razor. Some dictionaries give the former as variant of the latter; other
dictionaries list the latter as the variant of the former.
fuzzy logic
a multivalued logic developed to deal with imprecise
or vague data. Contrast classical logic (manipulated Boolean algebra), where
variables are either 0 or 1, black or white, yes or no, true or false. Fuzzy
logic allows for intermediate values, "shades of gray", and is a
means to draw logical inferences from imprecise relationships.
Because of the name, sometimes people sometimes
people equate "fuzzy logic" with "imprecise logic". But
fuzzy logic is not any less precise than any other form of logic,
rather it is an organized and mathematical method of handling inherently
uncertain concepts or data.
Fuzzy logic forms the basis for artificial intelligence systems, the kind of computer programming that mimics human intelligence. Its uses include the controls of household appliances (e.g., refrigerators; washing machines which sense load size and detergent concentration to auto-adjust their wash cycles), passenger elevators, certain automobile subsystems (such as ABS), cameras, and video games.
enthymeme a "truncated syllogism" in which one of the premises is left implicit, rather than stated explicitly.
For example:
We
are dependent; therefore we should be humble.
This
man has perjured himself in the past. He is not to be trusted.
[Each omits the major proposition: "Dependent creatures should be humble," and "Those who perjure themselves cannot be trusted."]
sorites
a chain of enthymemes (and a fine way to hide unstated assumptions)
[Interestingly, from Gk for "heap". pronounced so-RYE-tes.]
We
cannot trust this man, for he has perjured himself in the past. Since the
witness cannot be trusted, we must disregard his present testimony. Without his
damning testimony, the accusations against my client are nothing. Since the
accusations against my client amount to nothing, let him be dismissed.
slippery slope
a dangerous and irreversible course: the slippery slope from narcotics to
prison. [Wordcrafter note: I do not think this
definition is entirely accurate, but can find no better. Comments?]
In logic, the argument, "If we do A as
proposed, it will lead to B, and then to C
. [etc. to
disaster]." For example, " If we forbid
partial-birth abortion, soon all abortion will become illegal."
This word has the concept of "opening the door to disaster". So do two of next weeks woods: "Promethean" (illustrated here) and "pandora's box".
[concerning the implications and
dangers of cloning] There is, of course, the slippery slope argument,
and it is certainly true that there have been many such slopes down which we
have slipped, or joyously skied, in the past few decades. But unless we believe
that we are not masters of our fate, that the Promethean bargain
is completely uncontrollable, this is not a slope we need slip down, at least
with proper regulation.
Theodore Dalrymple, Cloning human cells is not
the beginning of the slippery slope, Telegraph, Feb. 13, 2004
Characters from Greek Myth (Week of Feb. 23,
2004)
We devote this week to words from characters from Greek mythology.
protean
exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms.
[The Greek sea god Proteus could change his shape at will.]
What accounts for al Qaeda's ongoing effectiveness in the
face of an unprecedented onslaught? The answer lies in the organization's
remarkably protean nature. Over its life span, al Qaeda has
constantly evolved and shown a surprising willingness to adapt its mission.
Jessica Stern, The Protean Enemy,
Foreign Affairs, July/August 2003
promethean (usually capitalized) so boldly creative as to have a life-giving quality; inspiring.
[The titan Prometheus made man out of clay and gave mankind
fire. He was subjected to gruesome punishment for stealing that fire from
[Architect Frank Lloyd] Wright was Promethean
in his ambition and imagination. He attempted to relate his buildings to time
as well as space. He incorporated earth, fire, water and air symbolically into
his conceptions.
The word sometimes has a dark connotation, somewhat akin to a Faustian bargain. See entry for "slippery slope" a couple of days ago.
Orphean
hauntingly beautiful or enchanting (literary)
[most dictionaries, if they list this word at all, give only "Of or pertaining to Orpheus, the mythic poet and musician". AHD notes that his "music had the power to move even inanimate objects," and by it he "almost succeeded in rescuing his wife Eurydice from Hades."]
Something was expected of me, some Orphean
performance that would gain me access to the underworld where she was hidden.
The Magus by John Fowles
syphilis we all
know this word, but what are its origins? Perhaps Greek
mythology.
The 1530 poem Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus" ("Syphilis, or the French Disease"), by Veronese doctor Girolamo Fracastoro (1483-1553), tells of the shepherd Syphilus, supposed to be the first sufferer. Sixteen years later Fracastoro's treatise De Contagione originated the use of the word as a name for the disease.
It's unclear why Fracastoro
chose this name. Perhaps he took it from Greek sys + philosΉ
loving. Or it may come from the tale in Ovid of Siphylus
or Sipylus (the manuscripts vary), Niobe's impious son, whom Apollo was turned to stone.
ΉThe sources don't mention this, but I trepidate that the source might be phallos
rather than philos.
Today's word, like the recent "slippery slope" (which see) and "promethean", has the sense of "opening the door to disaster.
pandora's box a source of many unforeseen troubles
[Greek mythology: Zeus gave Pandora a box with instructions that she not open it. But she was overcome by curiosity and opened it, and all the miseries and evils flew out to afflict mankind.]
rhadamanthine
rigorously and uncompromisingly just
[In myth Rhadamanthus, because of his inflexible integrity, was made one of the three judges of the dead in the lower world, together with Aeacus and Minos.]
You
can hear the heavy newspaper reviewers, the wits of the glossy magazines, and
the deep voices of the academic quarterlies - those Rhadamanthine
judges of the quick and the dead in the world of literature - searching their
hearts for condemnation bitter enough to reflect the greatest possible credit
upon themselves.
Robertson
Davies, The Merry Heart: Reflections on
psaphonic
related to outrageous self-promotion [But a caution: today's
"word" is an interesting borderline case. One can seriously question whether
it is a word at all and, if it is, what that word means. ]
The story of Psaphon,
perhaps one of the most obscure figures of Greek myth, is told only by Aelianus [Aelian] (2nd/3rd c.),
himself rather obscure. Psaphon, in novel
self-promotion, released birds that he had trained to call out his name, "Psaphon! Psaphon!" [Some net-sources say they cried out "Psaphon is a god!"]
Interesting, but has his name become a word? You
won't find it in OED or in any of the other major published dictionaries (nor
in Bailey's, by the way), and Ciardi says he
"proposes" that word thus indicating that no such word exists. On
the other hand, you will find psaphonic listed in
several of the more "personalized" dictionaries. (e.g., Novovatzky & Shea; Mrs. Bryne; Berent & Evans [all
published in paper; I have personally checked the first two); on-line sources
listed in one-look.) None give back-up; they may well be quoting each
other.
If it's a word, what does it mean? Those
dictionaries that list it say "____ one's rise to fame" the blank
being either "seeking" or "planning" "preoccupied with
plotting". Unfortunately, definition this doesn't seem faithful to the
myth. It misses the myth's concept of outrageous self-promotion. It is so broad
that it would include, for example, even a diligent and virtuous aspirant, a
self-aware Horatio Alger.
Ciardi however says, "Nor can I resist this opportunity to propose to the language the word psaphonic Of advertising (implying that it is for the birds)." This definition seems more true to the myth and more is in accord with the few usages I can find (quoted below) other than people playing displaying a word they have learned.
BREWER
DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE (1894):
Psaphon's Birds: Puffers, flatterers. [citing
What do writers hope for from those who comment on their
work in public? ... [In] book reviews, ...
"Praise is what we want, praise is what we want, praise is what we
want." Martin Walser, one of the most intelligent
essayists of contemporary German literature, ...
Marcel Reich-Ranicki, The
Author of Himself