WORK
“I’m beginning to think that the proper definition of ‘Man’ is an animal who writes letters.”
—Lewis Carroll
—from The Selected Letters of Lewis Carroll
WORD(S)
aphetic /ə-FED-ik/. adjective. Pertaining to, or the result of aphesis (coined by OED editor Sir James A.H. Murray), the loss of an unaccented vowel at the beginning of w a word forming a new word. For example, tender—as in the coal-car on a train—is aphetic for attender, and cute is aphetic for (seriously) acute. From Greek aphienai (to let go, dismiss).
“Words with lost prefixes (socalled aphetic forms—a term coined by James A. H. Murray) may coexist with full forms, and their affinity is then felt. For example, lone and squire are aphetic doublets of alone and esquire.”
“The scarcity of Groser, grocer, is not surprising, for the word, aphetic for engrosser, originally meaning a wholesale dealer, one who sold en gros, is of comparatively late occurrence.” (Ernest Weekley)
“Space is ‘an area, extent, expanse, lapse of time,’ the aphetic of Old French espace dating to 1300…” (World Heritage Encyclopedia)
WEB
-
One of the best pieces I’ve seen about the (lack of) nutritional science, the problem of the scientific establishment and the entanglement of industry and food. Amazing. → The sugar conspiracy
-
Perhaps you can replace all that sugar with a single cube or two… → LSD could make you smarter, happier and healthier. Should we all try it?
-
I must have the book; until then, this illustrated article will have to do. → A Visual History of Typewriter Art from 1893 to Today.
-
If you can figure out how to make it work, radiooooo is an interesting way to explore and discover music from around the world.
-
Today in 1865, United States President Abraham Lincoln is shot by actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln would die early the next morning. Booth would be cornered and killed (possibly by a self-inflictec gunshot wound) nearly two weeks later. Read Whitman’s elegy, “O Captain! My Captain!” Read Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address.
WATCH/WITNESS
![Trailer for Godfrey Reggio's Koyannisqatsi reconstructed shot-by-shot with modern, watermarked stock footage. [click to view]](https://buttondown-attachments.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/eea94fc4-2ca3-41cf-a591-45ea4e2ed683.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJEXF6S6TCOKT7N3Q&Signature=3VPQ3%2FsDRSiq5F%2BjDuw9FaCRQi4%3D&Expires=1707569468)
Trailer for Godfrey Reggio’s Koyannisqatsi reconstructed shot-by-shot with modern, watermarked stock footage.
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
-
Reader S. drops some knowledge on the Clamor: “Dretch is also, curiously, a type of demon in D&D. Knowing Gygax’s love for words like dweomer etc., I’m assuming he got it from Chaucer or Malory.” — Dweomer, or the variations popularized by Tolkien—dwimmer and dwimor—are great words!
-
Reader L. muses: “Enjoyed the Dorothea Tanning list–she was also a poet and this reads like a list poem. ¶ Wonder if drech is related to dreck? But the latter has a Yiddish derivation.” — Though the ultimate origin of both dreck and dretch remain unknown, it doesn’t appear they are related. Dreck’s origins seem to be in the Old English þreax (rubbish) and Greek σκατός (dung)…"
-
Reader A. is near Tanning’s old haunts: “Sedona Journal? ‘forum for those who wish to speak to us from other dimensions and realities.’ ¶ That’s just an hour up the road. Crystals and red rocks and hippies turned capitalists.” — Yeah, I probably should have specified ‘Tanning’s journals while in Sedona!’ But that description isn’t too far off the mark from some of Tanning’s art…
I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.
Enjoy the WORD(S) section? Check out my other little project: concīs » http://concis.io/
And please feel free to share anything here as far and wide as you want! If you want to give a shout-out, please link to: http://katexic.com/clippings/.