Dawning Improvement in Dog Treats

I have written about the Greek goddess of the dawn, Eos, before; a camera and a car in recent years have been named for her. A lip-gloss also is called eos, but my students have informed me that the initials stand for Evolution of Smooth; still, an acronym that hearkens back to the realm of mythology makes me smile. I have also written about Plato dog treats before, but handing my dog a treat this morning after he took his antibiotics, disguised by some Finlandia Swiss cheese, I observed that a new brand of Plato dog treats is called EOS, and has this explanation on the package: In ancient Greek mythology EOS is known as the goddess of the dawn, which has inspired us to create EOS, the dawning of a new era in natural treats. As my dog continues to improve on grain-free food, I am happy to find new, healthy, and classically-inspired Plato EOS Turkey with Pumpkin Dog Treats.

Epicenter of Good Taste

In a newsletter from a favorite cook’s shop in my beloved Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, I read about a line of spices called Epicenter, and I smiled at the cleverness of the name. An epicenter is a focal or central point, according to my Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition, from the Greek roots epi-, meaning “on, upon,” and kentron, meaning “sharp point, goad,” from the point of the compass that describes a circle. In addition, however, the root epi- also appears in the word epicure. The most current definition of epicure is “a person who enjoys and has a discriminating taste for fine foods and drinks.” The dictionary also includes a synonym note, one of my favorite features of this dictionary: “An epicure is a person who has a highly refined taste for fine foods and drinks and takes great pleasure in indulging in it; a gourmet is a connoisseur in eating and drinking who appreciates subtle differences in flavor or quality; gourmand, occasionally equivalent to gourmet, is more often applied to a person who has a hearty liking for good food or one who is inclined to eat to excess; a gastronome is an expert in all phases of the art or science of good eating; a glutton is a greedy, voracious eater and drinker.” (English is such a wonderful collection of synonyms!) In addition to the Greek roots of this spice line, the classical connection to epicure goes deeper. An Epicurean was a follower of Epicurus, a Greek who lived from 341-270 BC and promoted a philosophy of contentment, serenity of mind, and freedom from overindulgence. So a line of spices called Epicenter appeals to the importance of spices in preparing good food, the quality of these spices, and the concomitant pleasure of enjoying tasty meals. Prosit! P.S. In searching for the spice company, I discovered that it is actually called The Epicentre!

Serious Sailing

A co-worker sent an email about an interesting project being undertaken by a farmer turned sailor. What caught my Latin imagination is the name of the boat that will be making its way down the Hudson River: it is called Ceres “for the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture, and also the figure atop the State House Building in Montpelier.” Ceres lives on every time we eat cereal, products of various grains. My own favorite use of cereal is to throw a cup or so into pancake batter, and now that I have finally bought a waffle-maker, cereal will be taken to new levels in my kitchen. My favorite cold cereal is Uncle Sam, and my favorite hot cereal is Red River, which I look for with great nostalgia every time I visit a Canadian market. I have vivid memories of standing by the great wood-burning stove in my grandparents’ cottage on a cool summer morning, watching the Red River bubble and boil until it was thick enough to eat, topped by brown sugar and milk. A serene cereal experience!

Plumbing the Heights

When I walked into my school building for the first time in August, I saw on a co-worker's car an oval Euro-style sticker with the letters Pb, with the place-name Leadville, CO in small letters on the bottom edge. Those familiar with the periodic table of the elements will recognize the abbreviation for lead (Pb) from the Latin noun plumbum, plumbī n. lead. I learned from my co-worker that Leadville is the town at the highest altitude in the United States, a fact which caused another flash of insight. Leadville has a high altitude, from the Latin adjective altus, a, um high/deep. I think of lead as a heavy element used for plumb lines to measure depth, and yet Leadville rises high in the Rocky Mountain State.

A Classicist Writes the News?

I received in the mail today the 29 July issue of The Weekly Standard, my favorite weekly magazine. In the Scrapbook section was a short article called J-School Follies, in which the director of the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC is quoted, “But I think I would have trouble going into any newsroom today with a degree in classics.”—yi! This is why I love reading TWS; I hope you will judge for yourself.

Cool Cash

Canadian currency has become interesting in the past few years. Coins are colorful and commemorative in many ways. This year at Canada Post I found gift sets of coins (lacking pennies for the first time in Canadian history) to acknowledge weddings and births of 2013. At $19.95CDN (+ 15% HST, i.e., harmonized sales tax), these gifts are a pretty solid money-maker, as the combined total of the coins ($2 + $1 + .25. + .10 + .05 = $3.40) plus the expense of the card, plastic sleeve, and envelope surely amounts to far less than the $19.95 price. The set for babies includes a quarter with a pair of little bare feet on the reverse; the wedding set quarter has a pair of intertwined rings. Perhaps in the distant future these sets will accrue some value. But what catches my eye even more than the images is the inscription in Latin around the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse of every Canadian coin: ELIZABETH II D. G. REGINA, standing for ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA, translated ELIZABETH II QUEEN BY THE GRACE OF GOD. A Canadian dollar is a coin with a loon on the reverse; they are known as loonies. The newer two-dollar coin therefore has the nickname of toonies. I keep a handful of toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels, and now outmoded pennies on my desk at school for instant access to international, current Latin.

Language on the Offense

I love the use of language terms in this poem, and I hope to find out more about John Agard's study of Latin.

Pandora's Vox

Yes, you read the title correctly. I heard a marvelous harpist, Alys Howe, at the Boxwood Festival concert in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia this week. Searching for more information about her recordings, I found also that Alys Howe had performed with a group called Pandora's Vox. A typo, I thought, until I watched a video about the group. Pandora's box is the mythological container that held both all the world's woes and hope. Why would a woman's choral group call itself Pandora's Vox? The Latin noun vox, vocis f. means "voice;" does this group sing of all the world's woes but also offer songs of hope? Searching a little more I found that one of the members of the Vox is named-- Pandora! From vox, vocis we also have in English vocal (pertaining to voice), and the trade name Magnavox means "great/big voice." The Latin verb vocō, vocāre, vocāvī, vocātum means "I call (i.e., use my voice)," and gives us all of the -voke, -vocative, and -vocation words: avocation (a calling away), convoke (I call together), evoke (I call out), invoke (I call on), provoke (I call forth), vocation (a calling). Pandora's Vox is provocative!

Trojan Swimmers

A brief mention in the Halifax Chronicle Herald alerted me to HTAC, the Halifax Trojan Aquatic Club. Founded in 1967, the centennial anniversary of Canada, the club dominates the competitive swimming scene in Atlantic Canada. Although I could not find a reason for their choosing Trojans as their name, the phrase in English to work like a Trojan has meant to work tirelessly to achieve a goal, such as the Trojans faced in keeping off for ten years the combined forces of the Greeks. I guess these young athletes are swimming like Trojans, and good luck to them! One last note: the HTAC practices in the Dalplex, the athletic center at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The combining form -plex is very productive in English from the Latin verb plicō, plicāre meaning "I fold," and appearing in words like duplex (two-fold), multiplex (many-fold), complex (folded-with/together), and complexity (a folding-with/together), and slightly more disguised words like accomplice (one folded-together-to/toward), explicit (out-folded), implicit (in-folded), replicate(make fold again), simplicity (single-foldedness), multiplicity (many-foldedness), and complicitous (full of/having to do with folded together).

Marketing Latin in Canada

I am just beginning to use Twitter as a resource, and I came upon this interview from Alberta, a fitting entry here. (The video graphics sound/look choppy, but the actual interview is smooth.) In a narrowly focused discussion, a marketing professor explains why Latin is a source of current branding trends. I am always amazed at the riches contained in Latin, a never-ending source of human linguistic creativity.

A Pleasant Connection

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember watching a late-night television show about new businesses, and I learned about a store in Hong Kong called AMO ENO. This wine store's name means "I love wine," and it yields another classical frisson besides its name from a Latin verb and a Greek combining form. The Latin verb is amō, amāre, amāvī, amātum "I love," and the Greek combining form is oino-, which changed to oeno-, which was shortened to eno- and means "wine." The Latin noun is spelled vīnum, "wine." Using all Greek forms a wine lover is an oenophile, sometimes spelled enophile. When you look at the web address (www.amoeno.com), you will also see a form of a Latin adjective amoenus, a, um, "pleasant." The name of a town in Dutchess County, New York takes its name from this Latin adjective; Amenia, New York, is indeed a pleasant place.

Colorful Words

I’ve been reading a book all about color called All About Colour by Janice Lindsay. (You can tell the author is Canadian by the spelling of colour, which follows the spelling rules of England.) Ms Lindsay has added greatly to my list of common Latin words and phrases, as over the course of the last couple of days I have read the words dictum, gravitas, and proviso. Dictum is a Latin noun formed from the perfect passive participle of the verb dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dictum which means “I say;” in English a dictum is a saying or an authoritative pronouncement. Gravitās is a Latin noun that means “heaviness, seriousness,” and is also the source of English gravity, the force that keeps things and people grounded. In English gravitas means “seriousness or importance,” and is a term often found to describe candidates for high public offices. Proviso comes from the Latin verb prōvideō, prōvidēre, prōvīdī, prōvīsum “I see ahead, take care, foresee.” From this verb also comes the Latin participle/adjective prūdēns, “foreseeing,” source of the English adjective prudent. A proviso is a thing foreseen or provided for, a condition, stipulation, or restriction, especially in legal documents. Latin always makes English more colorful.

Green Wood

A recent story in the business section of the Halifax Chronicle Herald featured two energy companies, one called Viridis from British Columbia and the other formerly called Enligna Canada. Viridis takes its name from the Latin adjective viridis, viride which means “green,” and Enligna from the Latin noun lignum, lignī n. which means “wood.” You will not be surprised to learn that Enligna Canada was a biomass wood-pellet manufacturer, and that Viridis is also a biomass energy company. Latin is a dependable source of names for innovative enterprises.

Building a Name

I saw an advertisement in the Halifax Chronicle Herald this morning for a company called Cresco. Can you guess the nature of the business? The Latin verb crēscō, crēscere, crēvī, crētum means “I arise, increase, grow,” and Cresco is a company that builds houses, increases neighborhoods. From crēscō come English words increase and decrease as well as crescent (increasing), concrete (grown together), concretion (a growing together), and accretion (a growing to/toward). Another company name that comes from a first person singular Latin verb is Volvo; the Latin verb volvō, volvere, volvī, volūtum means “I roll,” and in addition to being the name of a Swedish car company gives us many English verbs ending in –volve [devolve (roll down), evolve (roll out), involve (roll in/into), revolve (roll back/again)] and also the English noun volume, as in a book. Volume is an excellent reminder that “books” for ancient Romans needed to be rolled, because they were scrolls.

Historical Latin

One of the books I brought with me to Nova Scotia is an art book called The Bayeux Tapestry which I bought years ago from a library book sale. This book was published in 1957 by Phaidon Press, and noticing the publisher's name in attractive lettering on the cover, I was curious about this company name. From the Phaidon website I found this paragraph about the early history of the company: The company was founded in Vienna in 1923 by Dr Bela Horovitz and Ludwig Goldscheider. Their first titles were not art books, but were on literature, philosophy and history. A German edition of Plato's works was among their first books. Horovitz took the name of Phaidon, a pupil of Socrates and speaker in Plato's dialogue on the immortality of the soul, as the name of his company (Phaidon is the German version of the name; in English it is Phaedo). It reflected his love of classical antiquity and culture. From the very beginning, great attention was paid to value and design, two factors that remain key today. Horovitz's objective was to deliver quality books at an affordable price; Goldscheider's contribution came in the elegant layout and handsome production. According to its web site Phaidon Press is the “world’s premier publisher of books on the visual arts.” My book from over fifty years ago is beautifully produced with excellent photos of the tapestry. My students will be translating the Latin titles from some of the panels this fall, and while we can find the panels on line, we will also enjoy having the book handy for quick reference.

A Netful of Salmon

In Seashores of the Maritimes by Merritt Gibson, my on-shelf reference book for plants and birds that I see outside my windows, I discovered a trove of words relating to Atlantic salmon. These salmon are classified as Salmo salar in binomial nomenclature; salmō, salmōnis m. is the Latin noun for “salmon,” and salar is an adjective meaning “leaping, jumping,” from the Latin verb saliō, salīre, saluī, saltum “I leap, spring.” All of these salmon words have great crossword-puzzle or Free-Rice potential, beginning with redd (origin unknown, “a hollow in gravel dug by a female salmon”). Then the male and female deposit milt (originally “spleen,” but here “roe/fish eggs and fish sperm”) into the redd, and having spawned are called kelts (origin unknown). The young salmon are called parr (origin unknown), and develop into smolts (of doubtful origin). Salmon that have been to sea for one year are called grilse (of unknown origin). Probably there are other terms in the salmon world, but these are the ones that swam into my reading today. One final note: Seashores of the Maritimes is published by Nimbus Publishing Ltd. in Halifax, Nova Scotia; nimbus, nimbī m. is a Latin noun that means “cloud, rain, storm.”

Pega-what?

Looking through the pharmacy shelves in our local Canadian grocery store, I discovered an unmistakable classical connection, but I’m not sure of the reason behind it, nor do I wish to explore further, but here it is: Pegalax, a laxative for the relief of constipation. The design on the package is great, and we do have English words from the Latin root laxō, laxāre a verb which means “I open out, undo, slacken,” including relax (undo from work, as on a vacation) and lax (slack in upholding rules or requirements). In mythology Pegasus is the great winged horse who sprang from the blood of Medusa.

Earthly Words

The Halifax Chronicle Herald runs a Vintage Nova Scotia photograph daily, and today on page A2 the photo featured a tellurometer, a measuring tool used by the Lawrencetown Land Survey Institute in May, 1966. Here is a picture from a stamp of a tellurometer and its inventor. In Latin tellus, telluris f. is a noun that means “earth, soil, land, country, world,” a synonym for the more familiar terra, terrae f. "earth, land, ground, country, region.” From both of these Latin roots we have wonderful English words such as tellurian (of the earth; terrestrial), telluric (relating to the earth), terrene (mundane, earthly), terreplein (level space behind a parapet of a rampart where guns are mounted), terricolous (living on or in the ground), terrier (a dog originally used by hunters to dig animals out of the earth), and terrigenous (born of earth or relating to oceanic sediment derived from rocks on the earth’s surface). Also from terra is tureen (an earthenware dish for serving food), but not terrapin (Algonquian, a kind of turtle) or terry (French, from the verb which means “to draw”) as in terry cloth. I enjoyed consulting Webster's New Encyclopedic Dictionary as well as dictionary.com and the Oxford English Dictionary. The perfect adjective to describe the state of the yard after six days of pouring rain here in Nova Scotia is terraqueous (consisting of land and water).

From Medusa to Rome with Love

Last night I happened to see on television the opening of a film produced by Medusa Films, an Italian company. I was delighted by the animated logo of the company. The film is called To Rome with Love, and in the few moments I watched, I was longing to be back in Rome. As the film was released in 2012, the photography was clear and contemporary. I was last in Rome five years ago, but it feels like yesterday!

So Long, Status Quo

I spend a lot of time in the summer reading, watching old movies on television, and listening to radio programs. I look and listen for Latin in our popular culture. One phrase I have registered several times since summer vacation began is status quo, the most recent occurrence being in the lyrics of the song Brave written by Nichole Nordeman and Jay Joyce and sung by Nichole Nordeman. Status quo is a Latin phrase that means the “existing state of affairs,” literally, “state in which.” I heard Brave on K-Love , so I offer the warning that the lyrics given here are for a Christian song. Note that the first line of this song is a nice example of asyndeton, lack of a conjunction to join two independent clauses. If you are curious about contemporary Christian music, I encourage you to look up a review of Brave to receive the full effect of the song.

MEDUSA ATTRACTS INVESTORS

This was the headline on page B3 of today’s Chronicle Herald from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Not the snake-haired Gorgon of classical mythology, but Medusa Medical Technologies Inc., a Halifax company best known for their Siren ePCR (electronic patient care reporting) system. Why Medusa? I couldn’t find an explanation, but could it be a visual reference, i.e., many individual strands of information being sent electronically to a single system? Siren also is a classical reference, one of the two or three sweetly-singing but deadly half-bird women who appeared in the stories of both the Argonauts and Odysseus. Orpheus, one of the Argonauts, sang more sweetly and drowned out the Sirens, and Odysseus was tied to the mast of his ship while his men blocked their ears with wax and thus successfully sailed past the Sirens.

On the Via Again

Another discovery from a Sunday newspaper ad: a travel company called Viator.com. Their motto is Travel with an insider. Viator is a good name, for viator, viatoris m. is a Latin word that means “one who is on the road, a traveler.” The suffix -tor (masculine) or -trix (feminine) means "one who," and it is a handy way to coin new Latin words. So, for example, if you wished to converse in Latin on Twitter, you could call yourself a Pipilator or Pipilatrix, "a person who peeps, chirps, or tweets."

A Robot for Life

One Sunday in May I read in my local Sunday newspaper about a new medical robot in Carmichael, California. Now that June is here and I am cleaning off my desk, the article is at hand, and I can tell you what caught my eye. The new robot is called RP-VITA, which is short for Remote Presence Virtual Independent Telemedicine Assistant. RP-VITA is a fourth-generation telemedicine robot controlled by a tablet (computer)--and soon by an iPhone--that has videoconferencing capabilities, so doctors can see the patient in an emergency. RP-VITA can also move itself around. Vita, vitae f. is a Latin noun that means “life,” source of English words vital and vitality, and a hopeful acronym for a life-saving robot.

From Bestiaria Latina: Why Study Latin?

An Electronic Blend

I love blended words, also known as portmanteau words. My latest find is redditors, a blending of the website Reddit and editors; so redditors would be people who use Reddit. I learned of the website Reddit a while ago; it is a social network with a clever Latin name. In Latin reddit, from the verb reddō, reddere, reddidī, reditum I return, I give back means “he/she/it gives back, returns.” Back in April I heard a news story about people from around America wishing to send pizza to the first responders and families affected by the bombing in Boston; the redditors used Reddit to send a lot of pizza, an excellent use of a social network.

Perfidy

I was intrigued when I saw on the television last night that the song playing on the Big Band channel was called Perfidia, which is a Latin word meaning “faithlessness, treachery.” Tommy Dorsey and his band were credited as the artists, so I did a little search to find out the history of Perfidia, and learned that perfidia is actually the Spanish word for faithlessness and, according to Wikipedia, the tune was written by a Mexican composer, Alberto Dominguez. Most interestingly, however, Alberto Dominguez was born on 21 April 1913, a century ago on Rome’s traditional birthday! So although I thought the title might be Latin, in fact, it is not, but there is a slight classical connection. You can hear an early version of the song with Spanish lyrics here. In Book Four of Vergil’s Aeneid, Dido twice reproaches Aeneas with the term perfide, faithless one, treacherous one. No dancing matter in the Aeneid, but two millennia later, Perfidia the dance melody is featured in two classic movies, Casablanca and Now, Voyager. Both movies star Paul Henreid; in Casablanca his wife, played by Ingrid Bergman, is having an affair with Humphrey Bogart; they dance to Perfidia in the flashback scene in a Paris nightclub. In Now, Voyager, Paul Henreid is having an affair with Bette Davis, and they dance to Perfidia in a Rio de Janeiro nightclub. Perfidia, the Latin word, also gives us English perfidy (treachery) and perfidious (full of treachery, faithless, treacherous).

Fauna Foods

Running errands today I stopped by my favorite dog food purveyor, but I had to turn carefully into the driveway, because a delivery truck was almost blocking the way. I did not notice the name on the truck until I was leaving the shop, and I smiled to read the words FAUNA FOODS. Of course, what a perfect name for a pet-food distributor! Usually the word fauna is accompanied by the word flora, as in flora and fauna, the plant and animal life of a geographical area. Carolus Linnaeus, the father of scientific binomial nomenclature, chose fauna, animal life, as the partner of flora, plant life; Flora was a Roman goddess of flowers, and Fauna was the sister of Faunus, the goat-footed Roman equivalent of the Greek nature god, Pan. So Fauna Foods provides food for animal life. I also stopped by my veterinarian’s office on my way home and noticed that he, too, has an account with Fauna Foods. From Faunus we also get the word faun, a lesser Roman deity represented with human upper parts and goat legs and feet.