Finishing up February is amaranthine. This adjective lends a beautiful, ethereal feel to the concept of endless time. Amaranthine is derived from the myth of the amaranth, the legendary undying flower. Of course, amaranth is a real family of flowers, too, and a grain alternative. All this month, I have introduced and discussed words dealing…
Category: #Otherworldly Words
For October I unveil a daily dose of the unusual, the dark, the bizarre on a linguistic journey through words befitting the season. Join me as we explore Otherworldly Words − words that help us express the frightening matters that often are hard to explain.
#Otherworldly Words: Transilience
February is the month that benefits from a leap year, thus having 29 days this year. A Leap Year is the year we gather the fragments of the 1/4 day in our calendar and give them space. It is a way of collecting time as if over the course these fragments were lost. Three…
#Otherworldly Words: Chronon
This month I’m looking at words to do with time! A chronon is a hypothetical unit that helps scientists theorize. It’s important to remember that science is a creative endeavor. Thinking about the vastness of space (and time) not only inspires scientists but authors and other storytellers across the eons. Words like chronon have…
#Otherworldly Words: Tachyon
February is the month that benefits from a leap year, thus having 29 days this year. A Leap Year is the year we gather the fragments of the 1/4 day in our calendar and give them space. It is a way of collecting time as if over the course these fragments were lost. Time itself…
#Otherworldly Words for February
It’s time to look at words associated with February. February is cold. February is the shortest month. February is the month that benefits from a leap year, thus having 29 days this year. A Leap Year is the year we gather the fragments of the 1/4 day in our calendar and give them space. It…
Otherworldly Words: Mesmerize
This whole month I’ve taken a look at words named after someone: January mausoleum Fortean Joining the ranks is mesmerize. Like mausoleum, we no longer capitalize mesmerize, despite its being named after the Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer. He theorized “animal magnetism,” which he thought was the force that passes between two people or inanimate…
Otherworldly Words: Fortean
Not everybody gets a word named after him, not to mention an entire society! Charles Fort is just one of those individuals. Fortean, meaning “pertaining to extraordinary and strange phenomenon and happenings” is named after this expert in the paranormal. He research and cataloged phenomenon from UFOs to spontaneous human combustion to poltergeist. His tomes…
Otherworldly Words: Mausoleum
This month, I’m exploring words named after people. I started with January. Today the mausoleum is thought of as a repository for our lost loved ones and part of what make historic cemeteries beautiful, peaceful places of quietude. Originally, however, the word had a very specific meaning as the tomb of Mausolus, king of Caria, who ruled part of…
Otherworldly Words: January
January is a time for new beginnings, and apparently, for looking back. This month, I’m exploring words named for people, or, as in the case of January, named for a God. January is the month dedicated to Janus, the two-faced God of beginnings, transitions, and as such, doorways as well as the rising and setting of the…
Otherworldly Words: Mordant
Mordant derives from the Latin mordere meaning “to bite.” I have, on occasion, been accused of being mordant. I call it, “all in good fun.” I have even caused friends to storm off. Limits, man. It’s all about limits when you have a caustic wit. If you enjoyed this post, look around, or sign up…
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