Word of the Day!

Apologies for my absence these past weeks, was utterly swamped at work, but I'm back with extra words to make up the difference!

a·bu·gi·da [ˌɑːbuːˈɡiːdə]:
origin: (1864) Ethiopian; from Ge'ez (a-bu-gi-da), the first four structures in the language, borrowed from the Greek idea of alpha-beta for alphabet.

noun
We tend to think in terms of our own anglo culture, which terms our written language as being based on the "alphabet", but abugida is based on four letters, and indicates a language where every consonant is connected to a vowel -- one alters the word by altering the vowel.

This basic style is at the core of many Abramaic & Eritrean languages with extensive texts regarding history, mankind, and philosophy -- the Brahmic family of India & Southeast Asia posses the most ancient of these languages. Sanskrit is a famous abugida style language couching great wealths of early human history. See also: Hindi, Burmese, Cree, Bengali, Malay, Ojibwe, etc.


An example of Cree.

( Pogroms and Deiparous )

Although both of today's words come from the long-running television series, Poirot (based on the books by Agatha Christie), the first initially came to my attention via another British series, Two Fat Ladies -- blog dedication & recipe: here.

ked·ger·ee [ˌkɛdʒəˈriː]:
origin: (1600's) Hindi khicarī; Sanskrit khiccā= dish of rice.

noun
A humble British breakfast dish, adapted from an Indian khichdi, consisting of: curried rice, (smoked) flaked fish, hard-boiled eggs, parsley, (clarified) butter and/or cream; peas are another common addition. At it was originally made with just lentils & rice, some people like to add legumes too.

In the episode of Poirot, "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly", an offered meal of kedgeree is a sign that -- despite the appearance of luxury -- the family is struggling financially. However, I think it sounds quite tasty!

Gordon Ramsey has also done his "posh" version.


ti·sane [ti-ˈzän]:
origin: (1400s) Latin ptisana; Greek ptisanē= crushed barley.

noun
An herbal infusion boiled into a beverage (for one's health); herbal tea.

Everyday, Poirot takes a "tisane" in the afternoon as a stimulant for his "little grey cells", which the Belgian detective prefers to the traditional English version of milky black caffeinated tea.