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Fortean Etymology

I always thought that fairies came from the same root as "fair folk" used as a respectful way of avoiding their malevolant attention.

I was thinking about the angels mentioned half a thread ago and I wondered about the Metatron, whose name seems really out of place compared with the others. Does anyone know where that comes from?
 
Breakfast said:
I was thinking about the angels mentioned half a thread ago and I wondered about the Metatron, whose name seems really out of place compared with the others. Does anyone know where that comes from?
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Gershom Scholem covers this in his history of Jewish mysticism. It's origin is unknown, and Scholem comes to the conclusion that it was a nonesense word chosen as a magical name, undoubtedly like many of the obscurer Gnostic demon and god names.

Originally from Hebrew texts, either Meytatron or Meetatron(lack of vowel dots makes it impossible to say which), was the highest angelic or demi-divine entity aside from Ha-Shem Himself.

A strained etymology from Greek, "*Meta thronion" for "Next to the throne(of God)" was current in Scholem's time, but this makes no sense historically or linguistically, and Scholem wastelays it in his analysis.
 
"wastelays"

is this real? what a wonderful word... I am going to adopt it AT ONCE!

Kath
 
Here is one that I really want to know about:

Sinister.

This came up in the left handed thread, as in people being labeled "sinister" if they were left handed.
 
hi inky!

it's latin for left....

I can always remember becuase when I was walking with my grandparents (both classics teachers) they used to make me laugh by marching to

dex dex dex sin dex


hey - it's really funny when you're five! :)


Kath
 
stonedoggy said:
hi inky!

it's latin for left....

I can always remember becuase when I was walking with my grandparents (both classics teachers) they used to make me laugh by marching to

dex dex dex sin dex


hey - it's really funny when you're five! :)


Kath
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Hi Stonedoggy!

So does this have to do with the word "sin" meaning a "sinner" in the biblical sense? Hence left handedness is theoretically eeeeeeeevil? :devil:
 
ha! as if I'd know.... ;)


we need Vitrius.... make a noise like chocolate or something!

Kath
 
inkedmagiclady said:
So does this have to do with the word "sin" meaning a "sinner" in the biblical sense? Hence left handedness is theoretically eeeeeeeevil? :devil:
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Unrelated

Sin, a transgression, especially of religious moral law, comes through Middle English from Anglo-Saxon syn, synne. This goes way back and has cognates throughout European langauges, one of which is Latin sons, sontis meaning "guilty." Originally the root meant "guilt."

Sinister, of malign intent or design, from Middle English sinestre, from Old French, from Latin sinister, meaning of the left side.

It was considered strange in many Old World cultures to be a leftie, so the modern meaning sprung directly out of sinsiter. An Old Norse proverb was "A left handed man can make oath with his right hand and hold his sword behind his back."
 
As the Basque language is of unknown origin (unless you believe the Atlantean legends) any words that have entered English via Basque will obviously retain their mysterious origin.

Bizarre (from Basque bizar meaning beard or bearded).

Star (from Basque izar)

Jingo ("by Jingo", "Jingoistic" ) possibly from Basque Jinko meaning god / deity.

Anchovy (from Basque anchu - dried fish).

There's also the Tolkeinesque name Bilbo, which is Basque for a small sword or dagger (possibly linked with Bilbao).
 
I've just caught up with this thread, thanks to Yith pulling it into the here and now. Fascinating stuff!

My big black cat started his life as a kitten called Abra-cat-abra, but has since morphed into Abraxus. No idea why. it was just the way that the names went - why does that happen? My big old dog was called Dylan, but we always called him Doodles (Doodle-Hound), yet the young dog, Teal, is always just called Teal.

Has anyone ever traced the pet names of their animals or children back to find the origins?
 
catseye said:
I've just caught up with this thread, thanks to Yith pulling it into the here and now. Fascinating stuff!

My big black cat started his life as a kitten called Abra-cat-abra, but has since morphed into Abraxus. No idea why. it was just the way that the names went - why does that happen? My big old dog was called Dylan, but we always called him Doodles (Doodle-Hound), yet the young dog, Teal, is always just called Teal.

Has anyone ever traced the pet names of their animals or children back to find the origins?
Click to expand...

We inherited a poor unwanted cat, who now 4 years on has become a much loved member of our family.
She was only ever called Puss (sometimes Puss Puss) so we kept the generic cat name, which apparently has a mysterious etymology.
Wiki suggests it's probably from middle Low German "puskatte" or the Dutch "poes" , but is ultimately of unknown origin. Just seems to be a sound that cats around the world will respond to.

Who would want to get rid of this?

PSX_20180518_202118.jpg
 
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