Wednesday word: teknonymy

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

teknonymy: [tek-non-uh-mee]

Noun: The practice within certain cultures to give a parent the name of their child. Examples include the Cocos Malays of the Keeling Islands and the Betsileo of Madagascar among many others.

Origin: Greek tékn (on) child + ónym (a) name

Related Forms:

Adjective: teknonymous

Adverb: teknonymously

That's the exact opposite of Western culture where people seem so fixated on bestowing their own identities upon their children, rather than the other way around. :-)

Thursday word: stannous

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

stannous (STAN-uhs) - adj., of, pertaining to, or containing tin; (chem.) containing bivalent tin.


Exactly what a word spelled like that has to do with tin may trip you up until you remember the symbol for the element tin is Sn -- both coming from the Latin word for tin, stannum (though apparently that originally meant an alloy of silver and lead, and was later transferred to this important component of bronze). As an adjective and chemical term, stannous dates from 1849.

Most modern toothpastes are formulated with stannous fluoride as an antibacterial.

---L.