Word of the Day

[Augustine2004]

camelopard


Essay: Camelopard is an archaic term for "giraffe." It is also the term in heraldry for a bearing resembling a giraffe with long curved horns. I selected camelopard as today's WotD because the giraffe's head is thought to resemble a camel's head and the giraffe's body bears spots like a leopard's. Are you not glad because my body does not have leopard spots? Gusopard . . . [shudder]

[Augustine2004]

Cambridge



Essay: Today's WotD because of a fact that is probably little known but interesting. Cambridge is the name of two university towns (or maybe more), one in England and the other in America. England's Cambridge is known for its university, which dates back to 1284. America's Cambridge (possibly more than one?) in Massachusetts, opposite Boston on the Charles River, is home to Havard, which was established 1636, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, established 1861.

Does anyone know about mystery novels set in Cambridge, like the Inspector Morse books, which are set in Oxford?

[Augustine2004]

Cameron, Julia Margaret


British pioneer in artistic portrait photography.



Julia Margaret Cameron took pictures of Tennyson, Darwin, and (actress) Ellen Terry, see here.

[Augustine2004]

Camlan



The legendary battlefield where King Arthur was wounded.




The spelling may be rather Camlann. It is not known where the Battle of Camlan is. Mordred also died there, possibly slain by Arthur.

[Augustine2004]

Correction: killed (not wounded). I guess I was squeamish.

[Augustine2004]

camorra


capitalized a Neapolitan secret society quite similar to the Mafia and organized 1820.
An unscrupulous, clandestine group.



Camorra is the Italian for a kind of smock traditionally worn by Camorra members. Hmmm, what do you know, Wikipedia doesn't quite agree on when the Camorra started. The 17th Century? The 18th Century?

[big]Camorristi[/big]

They don't look menacing, do they? Why, they could be your neighbors, easy to live with.

[Augustine2004]

Campania
campanile
campanology
campanula
campanulate or campaniform



Essay: All these words are related. Campania is a tourist spot. Originally it was Kingdom of Naples; it became part of Italy 1861.

--------purloined from Wikipedia

Bells were made of metal produced in Campania; eventually Italians called their bells campana (I guess!)

Campanile = bell tower near but usually not attached to a church.

Hoover Tower, Stanford University campus (I think it's called a campanile?)

--------purloined from Wikipedia

Campanology = the art or study of bell ringing. (I think a Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel involved campanology).

Campanula = any of various plants of the genus Campanula, including the bell flowers.

Campanulate or campaniform = bell-shaped.

[Augustine2004]

Camus, Albert


Essay: What made me make Albert Camus today's WotD is his World War II service. He edited the French Resistance magazine Combat. Afterwards he became a famous existentialist novelist, winning the 1957 Nobel Literature Prize for such works as The Stranger and The Plague.

[Augustine2004]

Canaletto


Venetian painter whose views of Venice and London influenced landscape artists for generations. More here, including many pictures

[Augustine2004]

candent


having a white-hot glow; incandescent.



Teaboil stared in amazement at the candent brush. He suddenly wondered if he was going through the same sort of experience Moses had as told in the Bible.

[Augustine2004]

canescent


hoary.
Turning white or gray.



Lady Asquintworthy became upset after seeing her canescent hair in her boudoir mirror.

[Augustine2004]

canna


any of various tropical plants of the genus Canna, grown for showy flowers.



More here, including many pictures of various Canna flowers or leaves.

[Augustine2004]

Cannizzaro, Stanislo


Italian scientist who rendered chemistry a valuable service by insisting on the distinction of molecular weight from atomic weight. He made other contributions; see here



Stanislo Cannizarro was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 1891.

[Augustine2004]

cannula
canula
cannular
cannulate



Essay: Cannula is Latin for the diminutive of canna, a reed, tube, cane. Now it is used to designate a tube inserted into a bodily cavity to drain fluid or insert medication. Pictured below is a nasal cannula

---------purloined from Wikipedia

Canula is an alternative spelling.

Cannular = tubular; hollow

Cannulate = adjective cannular; transitive verb: to insert a cannula into.

[Augustine2004]

canon (musical term)


a composition or passage in which the same melody is repeated by one or more voices, overlapping in time in the same or related key.



Teabolix thought "the books of the Bible officially recognized as Holy Scripture" when he first heard Lady Squirmish say "canon." He then realized his error when he recalled that she said she was going to lecture on musical theory in the afternoon. Indeed, her pupils soon demonstrated her points by playing a canon.