CARMINA BURANA REVISITED
WHO ISN’T AWED by Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana? Its throbbing rhythm in O Fortuna/Velut luna/Statu variabilis (“O Fortune/Like the Moon/Changeable”). Its salacious lyrics composed for lusty 12th-century monks. And, for … Continue reading
JACOB REES-MOGG—ANOTHER BRIT, ANOTHER REAL PIECE OF WORK
THE NEW BRITISH prime minister, Boris Johnson has made Jacob Rees-Mogg leader of the House of Commons. I’d have thought a prime minister would be the leader, and historically often … Continue reading
HOW DO YOU SAY THAT IN ENGLISH?
A LETTER TO the London Review of Books got me thinking about words that don’t readily translate to English. Jem Thomas, Bristol, cited the Portuguese word saudade and the Welsh … Continue reading
ON-LOAN WORDS IN JAPANESE
MAKIKO ITOH HAS the online food blog justhungry.com, subtitled “Japanese recipes & more.” And, indeed, Maki, as she has been known since 2003, writes about so much more than food. … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: CAITIFF, VARLET PART 2
YESTERDAY WAS CAITIFF’S day; today, varlet exhibits the same sort of linguistic switcheroo: What originally had an innocent meaning evolved into a word rather less complimentary. Varlet. Varlet’s original meaning … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: CAITIFF, VARLET PART 1
CAITIFFS! VARLETS! WHAT rare but appropriate words describing too many politicians these days. Merriam-Webster lists “caitiff” as an adjective meaning “cowardly, despicable.” It defines the noun ”varlet” as “attendant, menial; … Continue reading
COMMUNICATION CADENCE
EACH LANGUAGE has a cadence. English, for example, has its noble example of classic iambic pentameter—five beats to a line, unstressed syllables followed by stressed ones. Consider Marlowe’s line from … Continue reading
WITH JOE MILLER, THE JOKE’S ON MOTTLEY
JOE MILLER, 18th-Century English Theatre tragedian, is remembered today. John Mottley, a contemporary of Miller, ends up as a false etymological hint. My inspiration for these tidbits arose from “The … Continue reading
SMALL LATIN, LESS GREEK… BUT CHURCHILL HAD A POINT TOO
Hi ENGLISH PLAYWRIGHT Ben Jonson wrote that his late colleague William Shakespeare had “smalle Latine, and lesse Greeke.” Well, come to think of it, me too. I was never encouraged … Continue reading
WELCOMING NEW (AND OLD) WORDS TO THE OED
I MUST confess that our family Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1971, is appearing smaller and smaller each month. The OED’s official website has cited “New Words in … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 