Saturday, September 29, 2012

Phytogeographically

While writing my carobs essay, I came across the adverb above. Phytogeography is apparently a thing, just what its name says it is, and of course it exists in Greek: Φυτογεωγραφία.

See gorgeous phytogeography photos here

Friday, September 28, 2012

Ακρίδες --Locust/ Locust tree


I promise never to write another essay without looking up its subject in the OED.


locust-treen.

Etymology:  In sense 1 clearly < locust n.... (Show More)

 1. The carob-treeCeratonia Siliqua.

1623   R. Jobson Golden Trade 132   They haue likewise great store of Locust trees, which growing in clusters of long cods together in the beginning of May, growes to his ripenes, which the people will feede vpon.
1776   Ann. Reg. 1775 ii. 92   A tree growing in Spain called..carrobe or locust-tree..the fruit exactly resembles kidney-beans.
 

 2. A well-known North American tree, Robinia Pseudacacia, having thorny branches and dense clusters of white heavily-scented flowers; = acacia n. 2b. It is used extensively for ornament and as a timber-tree, the wood being very hard and durable.

1640   J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1550   Arbor siliquosa Virginensis spinosa, Locus nostratibus dicta. The Virginian Locus tree.
1676   S. Sewall Diary 28 Sept. (1973) I. 23   Brought my Brother John going so far as the little Locust tree.
1688   R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. 80/1   The [leaves of the] Locus tree, are oval leaves set on the stalk by short foot-stalks.
1775   A. Burnaby Trav. Middle Settlements N.-Amer. 69   The pseudo-acacia, or locust-tree.
1822   W. Irving Bracebridge Hall (U.S. ed.) II. 206   The house stood..in the centre of a large field, with an avenue of old locust trees leading up to it.
1892   R. L. Stevenson Across Plains 8   Locust-trees..gave it a foreign grace and interest.
 

 3. The courbaril (courbaril n.) of tropical South America and the West Indies. Also: the West Indian Byrsonima cinerea and B. coriacea (Treasury Bot. 1866).

1629   Plantation St. Christopher in J. Smith's Works (Arb.) 905   Sugar Canes..also Masticke, and Locus Trees.
1693   S. Dale Pharmacologia 506   Gummi Animi..Locus vulgò. The Locust-Tree. In Nova Hispania & Brasilia oritur.
1756   P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 221   The Locus Tree... It is a spreading shady tree, and found in many parts of Liguanea.
1796   J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam II. xxiii. 165   We saw some very fine locust-trees, being eighty or a hundred feet high, and prodigiously thick... The timber is of a beautiful cinnamon-colour,..its seeds, like beans,..enclosed in a broad light brown pod.
1838   T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 542   This resin [animé] is obtained from the hymenæa courbaril, or locust tree.
1872   D. Oliver Lessons Elem. Bot. ii. 165   The Locust-tree (Hymenæa) of tropical South America..affording a very tough and close-grained wood.
 
1872   A. Domett Ranolf & Amohia vi. ii. 111   Feathery locust-trees o'erarched a little plot.
1898   E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 254/2   Kowhai, Maori name given to (1) Locust-tree, Yellow Kowhai (Sophora tetraptera).
 

 5.   African locust-tree n. Parkia africana ( Treasury Bot. Suppl. 1874).  bastard locust-tree n. of the West Indies, Clethra tinifolia.  honey locust-tree n. a North American ornamental tree, Gleditschia triacanthos.  swamp locust-tree n. (alsowater locust-treeG. monosperma (Treasury Bot. 1866).

1725   H. Sloane Voy. Islands II. 86   Bastard Locust-tree. The berries are ripe in August.
1760   J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317   Locust-tree, Honey, Gleditsia.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

kourkouti vs. kourkoutas

Somebody explain to me why the Cypriot endemic lizard Laudakia stellio cypriaca is called a kourkoutAs, only one letter away from the Greek word for batter (for frying), kourkOUti.


slimy

γλοιώδης (glee--OH--des)... Tutoring my 11 year old, this word came Up. She knew it and I didn't. Not much sliminess going on in my world. Either that or Cypriots have some other word and you don't read about sliminess all that often. 

οιστρηλατώ

(ee--stree--lah--TOH) No English-Greek translation of this word so I'll paraphrase the Greek def: to drive someone into a frenzy of excitement. Totally from the oestros from which estrogen derives. Said of demagogues who make their audience nuts with excitement.