1word1day | Entries tagged with biblical

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Nar·thex [nɑːθɛks]:
origin: (1665) → late Greek narthēx = giant fennel [the columns]

noun (adjective: Nar·the·cal)
Architecture has many words to describe things we might simply call "rooms" or "walls", but this particular room is located inside of a Church -- an area less formally referred to as a vestibule (inside room) or portico (outside porch) -- separate from the main worshipping area; an enclosed passage.

The purpose of the narthex was to allow those not eligible for admittance into the general congregation to hear and partake in the service. - Wikipeadia

*Today's word brought to you by the fact that I recently chanced to work inside one...
and because as a member of this community, I certainly cannot resist a word so cool-sounding!
(which also sounds like the name of a heavy metal group. lol)

Current Music: Burial - Prayer | Powered by Last.fm

theidolhands.livejournal.com

mi·she·goss (mish·e·gaas or mish·e·goss) [məʃug'ɔs]:
origin: Yiddish meshegas, from Hebrew משוגע (meshuge)

noun
Madness, behavior without logic, foolishness

---

dor·cas (ˈspīk-kûr-ˈpüpˈpen):
origin: (1553) Greek, Dorkas; translated from Aramaic, Tabitha (meaning "gazelle")

noun
Many a moon ago, I was introduced to a young Asian woman with this name; having been raised in the 80's, this proper name sounds exactly like the insulting phrase: dorkus malorkus. However, I said to her, "I am not one to make fun of people's names, but...is that a nickname or...?"

She humbly explained it was a name given from The New Testament, a charitable Christian woman who made clothing for the poor [Book of Acts (9:36–42)].

Although I'd never heard the name in my life, it strangely kept cropping up in my life after her introduction! Examples: Anita Blake's: Bloody Bones Dorcas Bouvier (a suspicious fae), a parlourmaid in The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, Dorcas Meadowes in Harry Potter (a member of the Order of the Phoenix), or Dorcas Lane in BBC's Lark Rise. There is even a Dorcas in the famous science fiction tale, Stranger in a Strange Land.

ellesieg.livejournal.com

A shibboleth is a behavior, belief, word, phrase or manner of speaking that is unique to a particular group and that, in the absence of prior knowledge or experience, is very unlikely to be correctly or believably performed, assumed, understood or stated. Thus a shibboleth can serve as a tell or giveaway -- something that enables people to differentiate members from non-members.

Examples of shibboleths in movies:

In Cannibal! the Musical, the group of prospectors encounter a Confederate soldier. They attempt to convince him they are fellow southerners in order to avoid his wrath, but give themselves away during a sing-a-long, when one member of their party ends a verse of "Dixie" with "You stupid Yank!" Though honestly, I'm not sure why that isn't an acceptable alternative to the real words ("Dixie Land")!

In Inglorious Basterds, a British spy posing as a Nazi gives himself away when he orders three drinks by holding up three fingers rather than a thumb and two forefingers, as is the German way. Actually this one contains quite a few shibboleths! Also, corpses.

Shibboleth comes from the Hebrew word shibbólet, meaning the part of a plant that contains grain, such as a stalk of wheat, or a rushing, flooded stream. It acquired the meaning explained above as a result of it having been used, according to an account in chapter 12 of the biblical Book of Judges, by Gileadites to distinguish their own from Ephraimite fugitives following a military victory. Anyone wishing to cross the Jordan River was asked if they were an Ephraimite, and, upon their (very wisely!) answering in the negative, asked to say "shibboleth." As the Ephraimite dialect was apparently lacking in the sort of sh sound found in words like "shoe" and "shudder," Ephraimites invariably sealed their fate by mispronouncing it as "sibboleth."

theidolhands.livejournal.com

gat·ta·ra [gɒtˈtɑːrə]:
origin: Italian gatto= "cat" and nutrire= "to feed" (masculine: gattaro, plural: gattare)

noun
"Crazy cat lady" in Italian, or more specifically an old woman who feeds stray felines; some may go so far as to inquire with local restaurants & butchers for leftover scraps to give, if not purchasing products from their own pockets.

In Rome, "Gattaras" are encouraged to register the colonies they look after with municipal authorities. They have rights and duties. Apartment complexes are expected to work out how to handle any colony, assigning multiple people if necessary. Communal school kitchens will hand out food for cat colonies as the animals are frequently considered useful and part of the flavor or personality of the their neighborhoods.

The actress Anna Magnani & opera star Silvia Viviani were gattare too! Here is an insightful article focusing specifically on this social dynamic within Rome: Among the Cat People; some speculate that the tradition is ancient and dates well back to the Romans encountering and conquering Egypt, where cats were worshipped as divinities.

suk·kah [suːkˈkɑː]:
origin: Hebrew, סוכה= "booth"

noun
The way in which people worship is vast, in addition to being a way to seek God or enlightenment, these rituals are also uniquely tied to a people's culture and history -- connecting one generation to the next, sometimes for thousands of years.

The Sukkah is just such an object, named after the Jewish festival of Sukkot, which acknowledges Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt followed by God providing shelter thereafter (detailed in The Book of Vayikra or Leviticus). It is a kind of temporary hut, decorated with nature, built for the celebration -- currently running: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 ending the evening of Wednesday, September 25, 2013. One can take visitors, meals, study, and may even sleep in the sukkah (weather permitting) as a way to observe ancient pilgrimages.

Current Music: The Cat Empire - How To Explain | Powered by Last.fm

theidolhands.livejournal.com

How's everyone's summer going? Are you back in school?

cen•a•cle [ˈsɛnəkəl]:
origin: (1375–1425) Old French cenacle= the room where "The Last Supper" took place.

noun
1. A group or circle, especially of writers.
2. A small dining room, usually on an upper floor.
3. A religious retreat house (due to the origin of The Last Supper).

---

par·a·phil·i·a [ˌpærəˈfɪlɪə]:
origin: Greek, para [παρά] = beside + -philia [φιλία] = friendship, meaning love.

noun
A nonpejorative designation for unusual sexual interests, describes the experience of intense sexual arousal to highly atypical objects, situations, or individuals; a list of as many as 547 types have been categorized by Anil Aggrawal in 2009.

Examples include:
·Hybristophilia - a person erotically attracted to a person who has committed an outrage or a gruesome crime (such as serial rapist & murderer Ted Bundy receiving hundreds of love letters from admiring women).

·Autassassinophilia - may overlap with hybristophilia, as a sexual attraction that risks the life of the pursuer, these persons desire an intense fear of their life being at risk to feel aroused.

·Necrophilia - an attraction to corpses.

·Paraphilic infantilism - arousal from being treated & dressed as an infant.

·Exhibitionism - though it can be limited to behaving in an exaggerated manner for public attention, is also classified as the compulsive exposure of genitals in public.

Current Music: Van She - Sex City (Nightmoves Remix) | Powered by Last.fm

ellesieg.livejournal.com

Laodicean means "of or related to Laodicea," an ancient city of Anatolia (or Asia Minor), or "lukewarm," in the sense of being indifferent or unenthusiastic, especially when it comes to religious or political matters. This second meaning appears to have come from Chapter 3 of the Book of Revelation, which is addressed directly to the Laodicean Christian community:

14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. [source]

I suppose these verses are saying that the Christians of Laodicea were indifferent to religion and unaware of their spiritual poverty due to their being content with physical comfort and material wealth..but I think I forfeited my right to even attempt to analyze scripture when I began my research by asking for confirmation that Revelation is in the back of the Bible.

The metaphor of cold, hot and lukewarm water may come from the existence of a Laodicean aqueduct which could have supplied the city with water from a nearby hot spring. By the time it reached the city, the water would have been lukewarm -- not cold enough to make for pleasant drinking water, not hot enough to be useful for anything else. [source]

Laodicean was the winning word of 13-year-old Olathe, Kansas resident Kavya Shivashankar, the champion of the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Only 21 days, 3 hours and 11 minutes left until the start of the next national bee!

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Man·droid (ˌmænˌdrɔɪd):
origin: there bloody well isn't one.

I think I'll take a tip from

ellesieg's style here, since this word is a personal fetish of mine, and yet...is rather poorly defined. Really, I'm a sucker for most anything fictional that is connected to "droid", or essentially, an artificial being. The same goes for "borg", which seems to be a suffix for mechanical.

Now, follow me. A robot is a machine programmed with a certain level of ability, but not capable of thinking for itself and does not need to resemble a human (such as: J.A.R.V.I.S.). An android is an entirely mechanical body that resembles a human being as closely as possible, including intelligence (example: Data from Star Trek). A cyborg is part human and part machine (think: Robocop).

So...to me, a mandroid should be a creature constructed of flesh, resembling a person in entirety, such as Dr. Frankenstien's monster or Longshot (from Marvel Comics) -- though technically, it would fall just short of being truly human [insert possible arguments about the soul here]. *Not to be confused with a homunculus, as that would be grown, and is implied to be diminutive in stature.

However, currently, the most likely definition one will find is: “A Mandroid is a heavily armored personal combat suit originally designed and engineered by Stark International for use by S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division).”

That is just wrong. I am shocked and appalled Mr. Stark, because we all know these are "exosuits", and everyone can thank the country of Japan for their fine work over their long-standing obsession with that idea!

Mam·mom (ˈmæmən):
origin: Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:9,11,13. < Late Latin < Greek < Aramaic = māmōnā riche

Speaking of people like Longshot, whose dimension is run by a being so hellbent on greed that the entire place is named after him and worship is a way of life, via the mass media of violent, reality television competitions (remind you of a slightly more familiar dimension..hmm?). Nor is it that dissimilar from a certain sluggish alien known as Jabba the Hut who occupies the universe with a couple of "plucky" Droids (there's that prefix again).

No one knows mammon like these high mucky-mucks!

Typically defined:
1. riches or wealth regarded as a source of evil and corruption
2. worldly gain personified as a false god in the New Testament
3. avarice or greed

Check, check, check!!

Bonus points for both also having creepy platforms upon which they perch, and glare down with the clarity of forbearance that such words stemming from the bible can afford. Like, oh yeah, maybe one can overdo it with the mammon.

Current Music: Adam WarRock - Longshot | Powered by Last.fm

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Man·na (măn'ə):
origin: Hebrew: מָ‏ן‎, Arabic: al-Mann wa al-Salwa (Qurʾān); New Testament [Exodus 16:1-36 + Numbers 11:1-9]

noun
1. Miraculous food.
→ expression: "Manna from Heaven"
2. A windfall; an unexpected gift; aid to success (sudden & without cost).
3. Sap; a sweet excretion of various trees and/or the tamarisk manna scale.

Current Music: Limahl - Never Ending Story

theidolhands.livejournal.com

phil·is·tine (ˈfɪlɪˌstaɪn):
origin: Old Testament, 12th Century B.C.; (1689) coined from Philister, Germany, drawn from Book of Judges

noun
1. citizen of the Aegean people who settled ancient Philistia
(not capitalized)
2. a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values
3. one uninformed in a special area of knowledge
4. an excellent way to insult a person whom you suspect truly is a philistine since they likely will have no idea what you just said and have thus proven your point!

prettygoodword.livejournal.com

olamic (oh-LAH-mik) - adj., (now rare) pertaining to or enduring throughout eons, eternal, infinite.

That is, lasting or continuing for ages, or periods exceeding any historical measurement of time. The origin is Biblical, the Hebrew word olam (עולם), with an array of meanings centered around the world, including the physical planet, the states if the world, a domain of someone's life or learning, and the temporal duration of one's lifetime or the lifetime of the world. In the Torah, it most often appears in the form l'olám, in the sense of roughly "to the extent of the world," which almost always carries the temporal meaning -- and it's in the Old Testament that English-speaking Christians met it. contemporary English-speaking Jews, however, most likely know the word from tikkun olam, the responsibility Jews have to "repair the world" by performing mitzvot and, for Reform Jews, doing good works. (A word chosen for those celebrating the birthday of the world this week.)

The millennium clock may not be olamic, but ten-thousand years is pretty darn longer than my lifetime.

---L.

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Blue Moon (ˈblüˌmuːn):
origin: biblical, a "false" moon (re: Lent); coined specifically as a phrase (1815–25)

noun
1. a full moon occurring twice within a calendar month
→ such as August 31 (this coming Friday)
→ next opportunity won't be until July 2015
2. may also refer to the 3rd full moon in a season with four full moons.
3. extremely rare event of an actual bluish cast, due to volcanic ash (ex: Krakatoa, 1883).
4. informal; "once in a blue moon", meaning it happens very rarely or almost never.
→ modern interpretation; relates to absurdities and impossibilities
5. ( admittedly, a favorite song of mine by The Marcels (1961): )

Current Music: The Marcels

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Tim·shel (′timˌʃɪl):
origin: coined by John Steinbeck, in his book East of Eden (1952)

noun {second person imperfect; an act that has not yet occurred}
1. the choice between good and evil.
2. a phrase constructed of four Hebrew words taken directly from The Bible, that loosely translate to: "thou mayest".

"Timshel" is a word born of Steinbeck's midrash (interpretations of biblical text, specifically the Talmud) on the classic tale Cain and Abel: of sibling rivalry, jealousy, ego, murder, and desire for (parental) love. East of Eden stands out not only as a classic in literature and film, but additionally as a most modern midrash on the subject.

Ultimately, the word is meant to reflect the freedom and empowerment that every human has, every day and moment of their lives, to its very last, to do good -- amid the struggle and cruelty that can be life -- beyond the curse, the weight of knowledge that we may also choose to do otherwise.

( note on pronunciation )

Current Music: Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

theidolhands.livejournal.com

Tes·ser·act (ˈte-sə-ˌrakt):
origin: coined in A New Era of Thought (1888) by C.H. Hinton, from the Greek [τέσσερεις ακτίνες] "four rays"

noun
a.k.a. "hypercube", "tetracube", "polytope"; a hexahedron with six equal squares as faces (or a four-dimensional analog of the cube). In a real tesseract, which cannot exist in our three-dimensional space, each edge would be the same length.

➝ examples of:
➀ Variating in shape, a version of the cube is found in Salvador Dalí's Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) (1953).
➁ A wrinkling of time allowing two points to be connected through a 5th dimension thus permitting time travel, used in the science-fiction novel A Wrinkle in Time (1973).
➂ Ancient Asgardian artifact of unimaginable power kept in Odin's chamber, referred to as "The Cosmic Cube" and featured in Marvel Comic's latest series of films -- culminating in The Avengers (2012).

( 3D image - WARNING: mesmerizing )

*request: Could we clean out the misspelled tags, please? I volunteer, if needed.

theidolhands.livejournal.com

a·men (ˌeɪˈmɛn,):
origin: via late Latin, via Greek, from Hebrew "āmēn" [certainly/truth/faithful/firm]

interjection
1. it is so; so be it.

noun
2. the end of a prayer.
3. to express strong approval of, or support for (an assertion, hope, etc).

adverb
4. verily; truly.

nerdfury.livejournal.com

Quick warning to all folks - I've recently been added by a bunch of Russian journals, each of which seems to disappear within a day or so of me not adding them back, but keep an eye out for spammers!

Jehu [jei-hoo]
noun

Definition
A fast or furious driver; a driver, coachman.

Eymology
Jehu, son of Nimshi, was the king of Israel in the nineth century BCE (or BC if you're into that sort of thing), and was noted to be a bit of a reckless driver. This was noted in the Bible, specifically II Kings IX, xx: 2 Kings ix. 20 ‘the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he driveth furiously.’

Real Usage
1759 Goldsm. Bee No. 5 (Reverie): He assured the Coach~man that his baggage was perfectly light. But Jehu was inflexible.

Usage
The Israeli prince wasn't the only one in history to get a bit of a name as a jehu on the roads; Phaeton, son of Helios, was given the job of pulling the sun along just for one day and cocked it up! On the plus side, Jehu didn't have to be killed by Zeus to stop endangering the world as we know it!

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Word of the Day!

Entries tagged with biblical

Saturday Word: Narthex

Saturday & Sunday Word: Dorcas & Mishegoss

Tuesday Word: shibboleth

Saturday & Sunday Word: Gattara & Sukkah

Saturday & Sunday Word: Cenacle & Paraphilia

Tuesday Word: Laodicean

Saturday & Sunday Word: Mandroid & Mammon

Sunday Word: Manna

Saturday Word: Philistine

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Blue Moon

Timshel

Tesseract

Amen

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