Wild Word Friday!
SWARD is one of those words seldom heard in modern English. As a noun, it’s used to designate a grass-covered area or a field. As a verb it means to cover or become covered with grass. SWARD traces its roots to an Anglo-Saxon word, sweard, which means a skin or hide. In modern German, a related word – schwarte – means rind or hard skin.
The word SWARD intrigues me. I’m guessing that it may be rooted in some very ancient form, perhaps the Indo-European swordos, which means dirty or black, like the soil that gradually builds up under a layer of turf.
It’s been a cold April here in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and, as much as I long for a warm spring, I’m delighted that the SWARD around my house isn’t yet lush enough to require mowing! And by the way, in case you were wondering, the SWARD pictured above is NOT my yard. I wonder who has to mow that?
How about you? Are you mowing yet? For folks in the southern hemisphere – as you approach winter, is your climate cool enough to slow down the SWARDing of your garden?
Blessings!
Sue
(Some information from Webster’s New World Dictionary. Photograph from Wikipedia.)
Beautiful Oscar!
According to his mom, Lisa, “Oscar is a spoiled rotten Pomeranian.” We venture to add another word to that description, Lisa – Beautiful! Four-year-old Oscar loves to dress up in fancy clothes and collars. He likes to play fetch, “all the time,” says Lisa. When he stands on his hind legs and waves his arms up and down, his family knows that he wants something. Of her dogs, Lisa says, “God has blessed us with special little ones that love us no matter what.”
Welcome, Oscar, to the YOUR PET! Family. We’re very glad you joined us!
Do any of you own pets that have unusual ways to get your attention when they want something?
Blessings!!
Sue
Photo copyright, 2012, Lisa Sims
Wild Word Friday!
SIMULACRUM means a counterfeit image, a travesty or sham.
(A U.S. twenty dollar bill undergoing counterfeit testing.)
The word SIMULACRUM is a rare compendium of two words from two very separate linguistic odysseys.
The simula portion of SIMULACRUM has ancient roots in the Latin word simul, which means together with or likewise. Crum comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon, crump or crumb. Both versions of the word mean bent or crooked. (Did you know that in some Scottish and British dialects a cow with a crooked horn is called a crummie?)
Put simul and crum together and you have SIMULACRUM, a word that means like something bent or crooked, or a travesty. As in: My attempts to duplicate my mother-in-law’s wonderful dinner roll recipe have always resulted in a pan full of SIMULACRUMs! (Definitely a travesty!) Therefore, I buy my dinner rolls.
Do you have any SIMULACRUMs in your life?
Blessings!
Sue
(Photos from Wikipedia.)
Bright Lights, Beautiful Dog – Brock
Brock is a pit bull, but his owner Jeff says that he will make any close-minded person immediately change any pre-conceptions they might have about pit bulls. Brock is sweet, loving, happy and loves to run around and play. He’s great with kids, too.
Join me in welcoming Brock to our YOUR PET! Family!
Blessings!
Sue
Photograph Copyright, 2012, Christina Wiesley
If you would like to have your pet featured on YOUR PET!, please email a .jpg photograph to sue@sueharrison.com.
Wild Word Friday!
PITCH is one of those words that takes up a third of a column in the dictionary because it has so many meanings. It also has two separate entries in the dictionary because there are two separate and unrelated origins for the word, each with its own group of meanings.
Today I’m going to talk about only one of those meanings: “in music, to determine or set the key of a tune, an instrument or the voice.” [Webster's New World Dictionary] According to Webster, the origin of this meaning for PITCH is from pick, meaning to strike. However, the other evening I was studying THE LUTHIER’S HANDBOOK by Roger H. Siminoff, to strengthen my research for my current novel, which features a main character who builds exquisite handcrafted violins.
According to Siminoff, the first strings used for musical instruments were made from animal gut, which had to be dried and cured. To vary the sound of the strings, some were soaked in different kinds of varnish or PITCH from trees. The hardened coat of PITCH on the strings added mass and thus lowered the tone or PITCH. The word PITCH that refers to tree sap comes to us from the Anglo Saxon, pic via the Latin pix.
Now I’m just wondering– do you think if Webster had known how the first musical strings were made thousands of years ago, would he have decided that PITCH, the musical tone, isn’t a descendant of pick meaning to strike, but of pix, Latin for tree PITCH?
Hmmmmm…
Do you play a musical instrument? Please tell us what it is.
Blessings,
Sue
(Photograph from Wikipedia.)
FRANK, LOVIN’ YOU
Today we welcome Frank to the YOUR PET! Family. You might guess that Frank loves to pose for pictures. Frank was a rescue dog, and he is now very, very loved by his human Mom, Amy. Frank loves to go for long runs and is an energetic, happy and fun dog.
One of our dogs (an English springer spaniel) LOVED wearing a neckerchief. Our other dogs, not so much. Our cats? NEVER!
Do your pets like to dress up like Frank does?
Blessings!
Sue
Photograph Copyright, 2012, Christina Wiesley
If you would like to have your pet featured on YOUR PET!, please email a .jpg photograph to sue@sueharrison.com.
My husband and I just returned from a very fun vacation. On our way back home, we stopped off at a Barnes & Noble bookstore where I had a ball picking out new books for our monthly FREE BOOK! giveaways.
Our April 2012 FREE BOOK! is a 500-page, compact hardcover edition of THE BEST-EVER BOOK OF BREAD by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter. This gorgeous cookbook is illustrated with more 1000 full-color photos and is a complete guide to making your own bread in a traditional oven or a bread machine. A few of the topics covered include: breads of the world; shaping and rising; glazes; hand-shaped (artisan) loaves; sourdoughs and starter dough breads; doughnuts; and many more.
To qualify for our Monday, April 30 drawing, let us know your favorite kind of bread! Mine is homemade sourdough. What’s yours?
Blessings!
Sue
