The Gift of Words

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:   C. Lee McKenzie, JQ Rose, Jennifer Lane, and Jacqui Murray!

This month's question is: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book review do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author? I rarely critique the author unless it's to say something general as in "I found the writing a bit choppy" or "I really liked the author's style of writing." My book reviews are pretty simple, I don't give synopses because there are plenty given by other reviewers and there is the book blurb itself. My reviews are mostly about what I like or don't like, how the story make me feel, what I learned or didn't learn. They don't tend to be longwinded. I rarely get into the "psychological" or "metaphorical" meaning behind a story. I rarely give out 5 stars either. For me, 5 stars are for those really powerful and special books that leave me kind of breathless and wanting more, that make me weep or laugh out loud, a book I will want to read more than once. Being honest with myself, most books I like are good solid 4s. A few are 3s. Unless an author is well known and people are raving about a book I find particularly bad, I rarely write reviews for books to which I would only give 1 or 2 stars. If the author is not famous and I think their story is bad (for whatever reason) but has lots of positive reviews, I keep my opinion to myself and don't post a review. I don't want to hurt another author's chances at making a little money.

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Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's words are: GIFT and BIBLE

Christmas is on it's way. What could be better than discovering the origins of these two words?

Gift, "that which is given," has traveled a long and winding road. We will go from newest to oldest: 

Old Norse gift, gipt meaning "gift or good luck".

Proto-Germanic geftiz, (which is also the source of the Old      Saxon gift, Old Frisian jefte, Middle Dutch ghifte "gift",        German mitgift "dowry") all come from the geb "to                give" which in turn comes from the

Words are Gifts

Proto-Indo-European root ghabh "to give or receive." This humble root word forms part or all of these words (this is not the full list):  able, cohabit, cohabitation, debit, debt, due, duty, endeavor, exhibit, exhibition, forgive, gavel, gift, give, habeas corpus, habit, habitable, habitant, habitat, habitation, habitual, habituation, inhabit, inhibit, malady, prohibit, prohibition, provender. 

I love that the word FORGIVE is related to GIFT.

The word Bible comes from the Latin biblia, which in turn comes from the Greek work biblion, meaning "paper scroll" and evolved to be an "ordinary word for a book as a division of a larger work." 

It's the paper scroll part that's interesting. Biblion was a diminutive of byblos, meaning "Egyptian papyrus." The city of Byblos was a Phoenician port from which papyrus was exported to Greece.  

We have papyrus to thank not only for the word paper, but also for the long list of words that have to do with books from bibliophile to biblioteca which is Spanish for library.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Today's loadwords come from Old Norse. There are so many, it was hard to choose. Loft/aloft, Anger, Are, Awe, Bag, Bait, Band (as in rope), Billow, Bleak, Both, Boon, Bug, Cake, Cozy, Creek, Cur, Die, Dirt, Dregs, Dump, Egg, Glitter, Gun, Happy, Haven, Husband, Keg, Kid, Kilt, Knife, Lad/Lass (not Scottish!? the Vikings gave them to us!) Leg, Mistake, Mug, Ransack, Reef, Rotten, Sale, Same, Skill, Skin, Skull, Sky, Take, Thrift, Troll, Ugly, Wail, Window (which means wind-eye) Wrong.

***

Merry Christmas,

Happy New Year,

Peace on Earth,

and

Broccoli on Mars

Let's Talk Turkey, IWSG, Being Thankful

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:  PJ Colando, Jean Davis, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diedre Knight!

This month's question is: November is National Novel Writing Month. Have you ever participated? If not, why not? I have participated, back when it was still new. I did it twice and finished both times. The novels I wrote languish in their files because 1) they need a lot of work and 2) I'm lazy. One is a crazy fantasy with lots of humor that's kind of a combo of Oz and Disc World. The other is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, West Indian style. Both have potential, but both need soooOOOOoooo much work... 

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: Turkey

Last month is was about pie, so it's seems only right that this month it be about turkey.

Back in the 1540s the Portuguese imported the guinea fowl from Madagascar and it arrived in Europe via... you guessed it... Turkey. But wait, guinea fowls were not called turnkeys.

The North American bird we call the turkey was first domesticated by the Aztecs and introduced to Spain by the Conquistadores. Because North Africa was under Ottoman (Turkish) rule and because it looked similar to the guinea fowl, by the time the North American bird arrived in Europe in the 1550s, the name "turkey" was starting to stick. However, the wild undomesticated bird arrived in England from the American colonies in the 1530s and was already becoming a popular main course at Christmas by the 1570s.

So there you have it, from Madagascar to Mexico we get look-alike guinea fowls called turkeys.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Today's loanwords are Arabic and Turkish/Persian in origin. All are very familiar and rather pretty, too. Arabic: Safari, Lemon, Admiral, Alcohol, Algebra, Sofa, Zero, Candy, Caravan, Shawl, Alchemy, Cotton, Zenith, Hazard, Apricot, Giraffe. Turkish/Persian: Sherbet, Talc, Tapestry, Sandal, Scarlet, Bazaar, Carafe, Percale.

Turkish Delight Dribble

She lounged on the sofa, sipping her alcoholic beverage, and nibbled on Turkish Delight. The shawl draped about her shoulders warded off the chill. Some idiot offered her a dish of sherbet. In a scarlet rage, she threw her sandal at the offender.

***

Being Thankful

Today I am thankful that we've had some rain. Not much, almost three of inches, but it's been heavenly.

We also had our first serious cold front, dropping into the mid 30s at night, and staying in 40s during the day.

What are you thankful for? Have you participated in NaNo? Are you ready for the holidays? 

IWSG, There's a Gossamer Shimmer in Air, LoanWords, Drought, Being Thankful

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:  Sonia Dogra, J Lenni Dorner, Pat Garcia, Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen, and Meka James!

This month's question is: The IWSG celebrates 12 years today! When did you discover the IWSG, how do you connect, and how has it helped you? It's been 12 years already? My how time flies when we're having fun! I think I was among some of those original people who already "knew" Alex through blogging when he came up with the idea. Has it helped? YES!!! I don't think I would still be blogging and trying to stay connected with writerly type people if it weren't for these monthly questions. 

So, THANK YOU ALEX!

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: Gossamer 

There are some words in the English language - like sphere, tranquility, ethereal, serendipitous, sumptuous, amethyst - that are just plain pretty. They are pretty to look at, sound nice, and they feel good on the lips, tongue and in the mouth when spoken. Gossamer is, for me, one of those words.

But it's story doesn't hint at how it's meaning would change. Just look at some of it's many lovely synonyms. Gauze/gauzy, diaphanous, sheer, translucent, filmy, light, feathery.

It is the last word, feathery, that hints at gossamer's origin. It comes to us from Old English. Back in the old days, a thousand years ago or so, in the fall, filmy spiderwebs could be seen on the stubbly remains after the fields had been harvested. People may have thought the feathery spider webby stuff that flew around in the air looked like goose down. Hence we get gos, meaing "goose" plus sumer  meaning "summer." Literally, goosesummer. These late summer, early fall days was also the time when geese were eaten, so when the birds were being cleaned their down likely floated around in the air.

As for Texas, goose down and cobwebs are not floating around, but the air is definitely shimmering like silvery gossamer. 

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. 
Today's loanwords are from the Orient.

Chinese: Ketchup, Brainwashing, Typhoon, Chow, Gung-ho, Kowtow, Paper Tiger, Pidgin, Tea, Tycoon. Japanese: Honcho, Ramen, Soy, Tofu, Emoji, Rickshaw, Tsunami, Koi, Futon, Teriyaki, Tempura, Ginkgo

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We are getting tired of this unpresented heat and lack of rain. We are in Stage 4 water restrictions and Exceptional Drought conditions. Predictions are that September will be more of the same. Predictions are this area will eventually become a desert. Trees are shedding their leaves. Cypress are turning brown. I still see sprinklers going. The underlying fear is fire. So far we have been extremely blessed or lucky that all the fires that have happened have been small and quickly contained. But there are still idiots out there who think they can burn their brush piles or light up their burn barrels. All it would take is for one cedar to catch fire and we'd have a disaster on our hands. I know a volunteer fireman and he keeps me posted. He's nervous...

Somewhere Else

The dry, hot wind

                    sucks the moisture

                    from the air

Sucks it out of the tree and leaves

Sucks it out of human skin

Evaporates it all

and sends it up into a

                    cloudless sky.

Where it goes

                    is a mystery.

But

Somewhere else

                    there is rain

                    there is flooding.

***

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful that the Texas electrical grid has held 

despite getting almost daily alerts to conserve energy.

I'm MELTING!!! IWSG, Origins, LoanWords, Being Thankful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQJ8WrKnLUs

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Kate Larkinsdale, Diane Burton, and Shannon Lawrence!

This month's question is: Have you ever written something that afterwards you felt conflicted about? If so, did you let it stay how it was, take it out, or rewrite it?

Conflicted in what way? Subject matter? How it was written? The answer for me is, can't say that I have. 

***

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: Melt

It's August. It's hot. What better word to explore than something heat does to ice cream (which itself has a long history.)

Melt has an old and prestigious pedigree. It comes down to us from the Middle English word melten, which comes from the Old English meltan, meaning to "become liquid through heat". They are in turn from the Proto-Germanic words meltanan and gamaltijan. If that weren't old enough, those two Proto-Germanic words can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European word meldh - also the source of the the Sanskrit word, mrduh, meaning "soft, mild" - AND the Greek meldein, "to melt, make liquid" AND the Latin mollis, "soft, mild", both of which come from the Proto-Indo-European root mel, meaning "soft." Got all that? 

Proto-Indo-European is hypothesized to have been spoken between 4500 BC and 2500 BC, which is late Neolithic to early Bronze Age. That's approximately 6500 to 4500 years ago.

So, when the Wicked Witch of the West cried out, "I'm melting!" maybe it was August.

Then there's this great hot summer song from the Lovin' Spoonful.

Lastly 50 years ago, on August 28th, 1963  (the temp was a pleasant 83 degrees) Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a peaceful crowd of a quarter of a million people.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Today's loanwords come from three beautiful "Romance" languages. Spanish: Cigar, Tobacco, Patio, Savvy, Vigilante, Vanilla, Cockroach. (That last HAD to come from SOMEwhere!) Portuguese: Massage, Cashew, Zebra, Breeze, Grouper, Lingo, Caste, Coconut, Cuspidor, Marmalade, Potato, Sargasso, Zombie. (Blame them on the Portuguese.) Italian: Cartoon, Broccoli, Graffiti, Piano, Lagoon, Marina, Bank, Money, (those two would have to go together) Bandit, Casino, Balcony, Patio, Veranda, Stiletto, Gusto, Torso, Replica, Studio, Orange, Magenta, Sepia, Umber, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower and NOVEL!

***

Novel Quotes

(Isn't it interesting that novel can also mean new or unusual in an interesting way?)

“No one says a novel has to be one thing. It can be anything it wants to be, a vaudeville show, the six o’clock news, the mumblings of wild men saddled by demons.”
 Ishmael Reed

“Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.”
Flannery O'Connor

“I read anything that’s going to be interesting. But you don’t know what it is until you’ve read it. Somewhere in a book on the history of false teeth there’ll be the making of a novel.”
Terry Pratchett

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Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for a minor break in the heat. We're back to our more "normal" mid to high 90s. Between June and July we had 25 days where it was 100 degrees or more. 11 consecutive days in June, 13 in July. The hottest day was June 22, at 104. We wait with baited breath to see what August will bring. Hopefully rain.

Have you ever been conflicted about something you wrote? Did you do anything about it? What do you do to cool down when it's hot? Did you know that NOVEL came from Italian?

Who Really Invented Bar-B-Que and, Why Are Buccaneers involved? A Dribble for AOM and Being Thankful.

This is TWICE my posts have not been published on the date and time that I set them for!

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:  PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, Gwen Gardner, Pat Garcia, and Natalie Aguirre!

This month's question is: 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from? 

My stories have all come from my imagination. Often it's a single sentence that pops into my head, or it's a character that won't leave me alone that sets me on the path of discovering the rest of the story. My novel A Lizard's Tail, is a prime example. I was working for a friend who had a ceramics shop where she made wholesale souvenir items, like pirate mugs and stuff. In our spare time when we weren't busy pouring slip, glazing, and packing orders, we played with clay. One day I made a lizard. One of the guys who helped with deliveries was a funny young man who's name was Marvin. So that's how my little sculpted lizard got it's name. And he immediately had a story to tell. The sculpture was with me many years and I wrote many, many pages of notes of possible stories. Finally, some 30 years after I had made the sculpture, Marvin P. Tinkleberry, in all his vain glory, came into being. Unfortunately, as is the way of things, the little ceramic lizard lost it's battle with gravity and was broken beyond repair. However, his story now lives in print and I think he would be pleased.

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's words are BUCCANEER and BARBECUE:

It's July, what better month to talk about buccaneers and barbecue? But how could the two possibly be related? Places like Texas, Missouri, Georgia, North Caroline, and Tennessee (to name just a few) all think they not only have the best BBQ, but that they invented it. They are, of course, wrong.

Sit back and enjoy the story.

I bet you think of buccaneers as pirates. It comes from the French word boucanier. Boucaniers were 17th century hunters who lived in Haiti (the western half of the island of Hispaniola) hunting wild boar and cattle. A boucanier made barbacoa which is Spanish for barbecue. The boucanier cooked his meat on a boucan which is French for the Brazilian word buccan. A buccan was a kind of grill on which the indigenous peoples (ie Caribs) roasted human flesh and other meats. 

The island of Hispaniola. Haiti on the left,
Santo Domingo on the right. 

Eventually those French hunters must have gotten tired of barbecuing meat in the heat of the tropics, so they decided to try robbing ships on the high seas instead. Thus, from a buccan, a cannibal's roasting pit, we get barbecue and buccaneer. Now, at your next family BBQ see how many you can gross out with a story about cannibals and their buccans.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Today's loanwords come the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, the Taino. They were not the cannibals. Cannibalism has been attributed to the fierce and war-like Caribs, after which the Caribbean is named. However, there is no evidence that they were cannibles. I pronounce it CARE-ib-bee-an as the people were called CARE-ibs not ca-RIBs. Saying ca-RIB-be-an has never sounded right to me. Other loanwords are from indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South American. From the Taino we get: Canoe, Iguana, Guava, Hurricane, Manatee, Hammock, Maize, Cassava, Cay (pronounced kee), and Savanna. From the Indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South America we get: Moccasin, Chocolate, Caribou, Chipmunk, Hickory, Hominy, Moose, Opossum, Pecan, Persimmon, Racoon, Skunk, Squash, Chili, Tomato, and Jerky.

AOM, America's Only Marsupial

Opossum rummaged around in the canoe looking for something to eat. Iguana watched from high in a tree while eating a guava. Opossum found plenty of food but the tomatoes were too mushy, the jerky too hard, the chili too hot. But then he discovered the chocolate.

***

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for a slight backing off of the heat. 11 days of it being 100 degrees or better was a bit much. The highest it got was 106. We've even had a little much needed rain!

***

So, where do your story ideas come from? Are you surprised by the origin of any of the loanwords? And how about those Caribs giving us barbeque?

Here's to that Yankee Ingenuity, IWSG, Being Thankful,

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:    Patrcia Josephine, Diedre Knight, Olga Godim, J. Lenni Dorner, and Cathrina Constantine!

This month's question is: If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with?

Well I'm not that prolific a writer to begin with so...  there are lots of things I'm interested in, lots of things to do, reading being one. Drawing, coloring, putting puzzles together. Was a time I played guitar and sang, tatted, did some sewing. Then there's always weeding. I do like to weed...

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Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: YANKEE

This word has quite a story. To begin with it's Dutch and has several possible origins. One is that it could have begun as the nickname, Janke, which literally means "Little John." Or, it could come from the name Jan Kes a form of "John Cornelius." Or, it could be the name Jan Kaas, which means "John Cheese" a nickname the Flemish used on Dutchmen. 

Originally it was used by the English to insult the Dutch (particularly the freebooters) of New Amsterdam, the colony established on the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in 1624. However the Dutch were not phased and quickly turned it around and used the term to describe the English. But it didn't stick. It wasn't until the American Revolution that Yankee became the insult the English used to refer to all American natives and colonial inhabitants. 

The Americans naturally took the word on as their own and even reworked a derogatory song. Hence Yankee Doodle Dandy, a "popular tune of the American Revolution, apparently written c. 1755 by British Army surgeon Dr. Richard Schuckburgh while campaigning with Amherst's force in upper New York during the French and Indian War. The original verses mocked the colonial troops serving alongside the regulars, and the Doodle element might have been, or hinted at, the 18c. slang term for 'penis.' The song naturally was popular with British troops in the colonies during the Revolutionary War, but after the colonials began to win skirmishes...in 1775, they took the tune as a patriotic prize and re-worked the lyrics. The current version seems to have been written in 1776 by Edward Bangs, a Harvard sophomore who also was a Minuteman." On Line Etymology Dictionary

And now you will never think of Yankee Doodle Dandy the same way again!

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. 

Today's loan words are from Dutch. Some of these were a surprise.

Cookie, Aardvark (which means earth pig!) Avast (ye maties. It means, STOP!) Bazooka, Blink, Booze, Cruise, Dollar, Foist, Frolic, Geek, Golf!!!

Holster, Kink, School, Hooky, Puss (as in cat), Skate, Sled/Sleigh, Slim, Sloop, Snack, Stove, Waffle (my favorite breakfast food) Yacht.

The Aardvark and the Gofer

or

(Bill Murry Would Not Be Pleased)

The golfer eyed the lay of the golf course. He knew there was slim chance of making the long putt. But then he saw the aardvark. “Avast, you earth digger!” She had an idea. The gofer agreed. She dug a hole closer in return for a cookie.

Being Thankful

Today I am thankful that all went well with my sister's first checkup since having her heart valve replacement a year ago. She is already back home in the islands safe and sound.

A Penguin by Any Other Name is Still a Penguin

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts:   Joylene Nowell Butler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Meka James, Diane Burton, Victoria Marie Lees, and M Louise Barbour!

This month's question is: When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

Hmmm. When I'm working on a story, the story inspires me. The characters, the setting, the scene.

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's word is: PENGUIN!

I bet you don't know the origin of this word. It certainly came as a surprise to me. It's... Welsh! 

Back in the 1570s it was the name given to the great auk of Newfoundland which became extinct in 1844. Birds that looked similar to the great auk were seen by Sir Francis Drake in Magellan's Straits in 1578 and he may have contributed to the Antarctic birds being called penguins as it was in use by the 1580s.

Penguin is believed to come from pen, meaning "head", (a word found in Penzance, pendragon and Pennsylvania) and the word gwyn (as in Gwendolyn) meaning "white, shining." As you can see from the preserved specimen at the right, it does look rather like the birds we now call penguins, like the Chinstrap, below.

 

Just to confuse things, there is also the possibility that the word penguin comes from the Latin word penguis, which means "fat, juicy" and figuratively refers to something "dull, gross, or heavy."

I like the Welsh origin story better.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. 

Today's loan words come to us from Irish, Scottish, and Gaelic. Bob (as in short hair), Cairn, Clan, Crag, Galore, Glen, Pet (as in a domesticated or tame animal), Paid, Whiskey (of course!) Hubbub, Shanty, and Smidgen. 

Such great words!

Dribble to a Still

There was a hubbub going on in the shanty. He opened the door, just a smidgen, and peeked inside. What a mess! The still was broken apart and most of the whiskey bottles, so carefully corked, were broken. In the middle of the carnage a giant penguin reeled.

***

Being Thankful

Today I'm thankful for my sister, who is coming to visit this month for her first annual checkup since her heart valve replacement. Yes, it's been a year already! 

NEWS FLASH! BARBARIAN THUGS GO BERSERK AND VANALIZE IWSG!

Posting the First Wednesday of every month, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. YOU can sign up HERE to participate.

Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.

Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Jemima Pett, Nancy Gideon, and Natalie Aguirre!

This month's question is: Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you're at the start of the journey, what are your goals?

I wrote many, many partial and incomplete novels all through my teens, but my first completed novel was written in my mid-20s. I still have it. I haven't looked at it in at least 30 years. I know parts of it are ok, but most of it is a steaming hot mess of you know what. I worked hard to get better and to write and publish the three books I did. I'm happy with what I've done. If I get any other books published, I'll let you know!

Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.

Today's words are: Berserk, Vandalize, Thug, Barbarian, and Babbling.

I know, I know. FIVE words? But they're all kind of related and I couldn't separate them, they would have been traumatized.

                                         

This may depict a one-eyed Odin
guiding a berserker.

Berserk comes for the Old Norse words bjorn, meaning "bear" and serkr, meaning "shirt." It literally means bear shirt. Old Norse was spoken before 1350 CE. At some point someone mistook bear shirt to mean bare shirt, as in "without clothes." Ancient Scandinavian warriors were known to "go berserk" in battle, the confusion is whether they fought naked, weren't wearing any armor, were wearing bear skins instead of armor, OR were magically transformed into bears. Whatever they did, when they went berserk, the warriors were filled with a mad and wild frenzy and it was believed they couldn't be wounded. Apparently women could go berserk, too.

The Vandals sacking Rome.

Vandals, on the other hand, were an ancient Germanic people. They went berserk and overran Spain, North Africa, and Gaul - present day France. In 455 they arrived in Italy and sacked Rome, destroying many buildings and monuments as they went and bringing about the final end of the Roman Empire. Hence we have the verb "to vandalize."

I wonder if there were any thugs among those berserk vandals? Thugs were professional robbers and murderers in India. Their trademark was to strangle their victims. Thug comes from the Hindu word thag which means "thief." Thag comes from two Sanskrit words, sthaga, meaning "rogue" and sthagati, meaning "to cover" or "conceal." Translated that means sneaky thief. Thugs were finally put out of business by 1840. By the way, Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world.

Those thugs can be real barbarians. Barbarous comes from the Greek word barbaros, which means, "foreign, rude, or ignorant." It's similar to another Sanskrit word, barbara (not to be confused with the name) meaning "to stammer." In this case the stammer is used for a person speaking a language in which they are not fluent. They are speaking unintelligibly, which is another way to say they are "babbling" incoherently.

So there you have it, babbling barbaric thugs go berserk and vandalize IWSG.

LoanWord: A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.

Today's loan words are from Hindi and Sanskrit. Loot, Pajamas, Bungalow, Shampoo, Khaki, Bandana, Bangle, Cot, Cushy, Dinghy, Dungaree, Punch (as in a drink) Veranda, Basmati, Avatar, Guru, Cashmere, Chintz, Deva, Jungle, Jute, Tank (as in a cistern/water catchment) and Ganja (a word the Rastafarians have pretty much claimed as their own.)

Being Thankful

Today I am thankful for another couple of Dribbles being accepted by Vine Leaves Press. I recommend subscribing to their Dribble a Day. The stories are so varied and unique. I'm also thankful that I was inspired to write a story (well actually to rework an old story) for a contest called Fractured Fairy Tales put on by the Institute for Children's Literature (now called The Institute for Writers) - I took all their courses years ago and learned SO much about writing for children! Years ago I won first place in one of their contests with my Anansi story "Why Dogs Beg" which led to the eventual publishing my book Anansi and Company. Lastly I'm thankful that I got the second round of edits finished on my grandmother's cookbook and sent it off to my cousin and sister for their second reading.

What are you thankful for today? Do you remember writing your first book? Was it terrible or what?