X's: x-ray, roentgen rays, roentgenogram

X:  The shortest segment of the dictionary with only one and one-half pages and 88 words.

     x-ray

     Xanadu

     xantho- 

     xanthic

     xanthochromic

     xeno-

     xenophobe

     xenophile

     xenon

     xeric

     xerox

     xerography

     xi

     xiphoid

     xylo-

     xylophone

     xylographer

     

Favorite x word: Xanadu

x-ray:  This term was coined by the discoverer of these rays, William Rontgen (or Roentgen) in 1895.  X was used due to his familiarity with mathematics and Cartesian theory (x and y on the Cartesian plane) and also since x was the unknown factor in mathematical formulae.

Some interesting facts:

     His contemporaries called these rays "Rontgen Rays" or "Roentgen Rays" but he discouraged this use of his name.  Despite his wishes, they are still called Roentgen Rays is many countries, such as Japan, Germany and Norway.  An x-ray is a roentgenogram.

     Similarly, he did not take a patent out on his discovery (just as Marie Curie didn't).  He wanted this knowledge to be of benefit to the world and available to all scientists.

     He was the first person ever awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (for this discovery), in 1901.

     He donated the money that he received for this Nobel prize.

     After  his death, he had all his personal and scientific notes destroyed per his will.

     When he first made this fortuitous discovery in his lab, he was so excited that he ate and slept in his lab for several weeks while investigating this phenomenon.

     How fast does the wave of an x-ray beat (the frequency or waves per second)?   

     One Herz (Hz) is one wave per second.  X-rays have 10 to the 16th  or 10 to the 18th (10       followed by 18 zeroes) waves per second (about a million x a million x a million).  

Yahweh, Yahwism, Yahwistic,yarmulke, year, Yiddishist, Yiddish, Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel

This ends the Y section...filled with Jewish and Yiddish words. 

Yahweh: []Hebrew, Yahweh]  the Hebrew God.

     Yahwism: the worship of Yahweh.

     Yahwistic: adjective, relating to Yahwism

yarmulke [Yiddish, jarmutka skullcap]   a skullcap worn by Orthodox Jews in the synagogue and at home.

year: the time it takes for the sun to return to the same, arbitrary fixed position in the sky. 

Yiddishist: an expert in the Yiddish Language.  A synonym: Semitist

  I recall reading a New York Times obituary about the demise of a famous "Yiddishist." 

Yiddish [a Yiddish word meaning Jewish] This is actually a High German language, not Hebrew, spoken by Jews largely in  Eastern Europe.

     Favorite Yiddish or Jewish writer?  Without a doubt, it is Bernard Malamud.  My favorite short story of his is The Magic Barrel (a short story and also a collection of the same name).  

     I imagine only aficionados of the written word can relate to this experience…I unexpectedly came across his obituary in The New York Times while I was working in the inner city in Paterson, N.J. around 1985. (Paterson, to my consolation, was the home of William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg.)  I felt such anguish and desolation, as if some one had kicked me in the stomach.  His writing, his gentle, perceptive and empathetic voice was gone forever.   I had the same experience years later upon seeing the same on James Herriott. 

Y: -y, -ish, yahoo, Yahoo, yoni

Y:

The Y section of the dictionary has five pages (vs the z's with four)... 

 y (suffix)

 Yahoo

 Yahweh

 Yahwism

 Yahwistic

 yalmulke

 year

 Yiddish

 Yiddishist

 yogh

 yoni

 yoyo

Other miscellaneous “y” words:

yeshiva

yin (feminine passive principle)

Ymir (Norse God)

Yom Kippur

yurt

Favorite Y word: Yiddishist

-y (suffix):  defined as "ish"

One of my favorite definitions, similar to ‘zig’ being defined as ‘the opposite of zag.’  

          What are other suffixes that denote having the same quality?  One would be the suffix “-esque” as in Romanesque.  The dictionary states that -esque is French, similar to the Italian -esco, the Germanic -isch, the Norse -iskr, Latin -iscus, the Greek -iskos… and of course the English -ish.   It will be fun to find some of these words in other languages. 

   

yahoo: an uncouth person, a brute, a humanoid race.  

If capitalized as "Yahoo," this is from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels: a member of a race of brutes who are humanoid; they have the form and all the vices of man.

yoni:  [Sanskrit: vulva]  a Hindu religious symbol of the female genitalia

yo-yo: [from the Philippines]

zeugma, zeug, zugzwang, zilch, zoot suit, zymurgy

This is the last entry for the 4 1/2 pages of z's.  

zeugma: [Latin, a joining]  a word that modifies two words  (See Fowler's 

Modern English Usage.)

       i.e. "she opened her heart and her home to the homeless boy"

      zeug means "rubbish or junk" in German (sounds like 'soyg’)

    In chess, zugzwang means to force the opponent to make a bad move - they have no other moves available.  Zug in German means "move"  (sounds like 'zoog'); and zwang means 'to force'  (sounds like 

'svahng').

zilch: zero

zoot suit:  [derivation: sounds like the word 'suit'] from the 1940's; a long jacket, wide shoulders, pants that were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.  Lawrence Block: “he wore a reet pleat with a drape sheet."

zym-  [Greek, zyme, leaven]  fermentation  Example: enzyme 

zymology, zymurgy: the branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation, i.e. the study of wine

     Speaking of wine…other words that come to mind are:

     oenophile: (Greek oinos, wine) \ee’ noh file\  a connoisseur of wine

          oenophilist: same meaning

          oenophilic, adj.

          oenophilia, the love of wines

     sommelier: (French, sommier, a person in charge of transportation;)    somme, a burden)  \suhm uh l yey’\  a waiter in a restaurant or club in charge of wines

Of course, there is Homer’s Odyssey, with it’s many references throughout to “the wine dark sea.”   A book of great poetic description.

And…speaking of wine, how about vodka?  I recently met a couple from Poland (at the dog park, the scene of many good conversations).  We discussed my love of words and they explained the vodka was the diminutive of voda (Russian), which means “water.”  Adding the -ka to the end of the word makes it diminutive, i.e. “little water.”  Sounds like an AA meeting to me…I only drink a little water.  Similar to adding -ito in Spanish (zapatito for little shoes or zapatos; or adding -ina, such as Christina for ‘little Christ.”  

What is the last word in the dictionary?"  It is not ”zygote”…the last word is zymurgy.

other miscellaneous “z” words:

zaddic

zayin

zebroid

zed

zinnia

zizith

booster

zoysia

zucchini (diminutive of zucca)

zygodactyl (parrot), zygodactylous

zymurgy: the last letter of the dictionary

zenith, zenithal, Zephyrus, Chaucer, zest, Seattle, Washington

zenith: the highest point reached by a heavenly body

zenithal (adj) from zenith [zen' i thal] (short e sound)

zephyr: the west wind 

Zephyrus: the Greek god of the west wind. 

      See the beautiful prologue to Chauer's Canterbury Tales:

      

        Whan that aprill with his shoures soote

        The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,

        And bathed every veyne in swich licour

        Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

        Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth

        Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

        When April with his showers sweet 

        The drought of March has pierced unto the root

        And bathed each root with such liquor 

        by which is engendered the flower;

        When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,

        breathed in every holt and heath

  

zest: [French, zeste, orange or lemon peel fused as flavoring]  piquancy; a quality of enhancing enjoyment  (lively, interesting; or a spicy agreeable taste)

       A French phrase: donner du piquant (to add or give zest…)

       A cooking term, also French: to add the scrapings of the peel of a lemon or orange.

   These entries seem to have a common poetic theme that I can relate to…a striving for zest in my life, a piquancy.  Perhaps a spicy taste to my everyday existence.  To ‘be’ rather than to ‘exist.’  The most existential of journeys.  To have Zephyrus breath this ‘enhanced enjoyment’ into my being; to achieve the zenith, the zenithal aspect of my life.  

     I just took a nine day odessey to Seattle, Washington, nominally for a pediatric conference at the exquisite Seattle Children’s Hospital, but in actuality a search for this zest.  It was filled with these feelings.  A totally non-materialistic journey of discovered friendships from around the world (Ireland, Iran, China, Korea, Canada, Germany, Ukraine) in The Green Tortoise Hostel, with backpacking all day in the beautiful cold, rainy weather…Japanese gardens, museums, the U. of Washington campus with its music and art departments, cherry trees, and evenings of music, conversation and laughter.   A truly zenithal experience.  I will try to post my journal at a later date.   

zag, zig, zany, zeitgeist, Sonnets 30, 73

Z:  There are only four pages of z-words…the perfect place to start. 

Favorites: 

zany

zeitgeist

zenithal

Zephyrus

zest

zeugma

zilch

zoot suit

zugzwang

zym-

zymology

zymurgy

Favorite word: Zephyrus

zag: the line opposite the zig

zig: the line opposite the zag

zany: [Italian, zanni, a traditional masked clown] absurdly ludicrous

zeitgeist: [German, zeit time, geist spirit]  \zite geye st\  (long i in both syllables)  world view, literally 'spirit of the times' 

   Time…I took a philosophy course as an undergraduate on Heidegger and his main text, Sein und Zeit (Being and Time).  Looking back 45 years, I didn’t appreciate the fleeting nature, the beauty and pathos, of the passage of “zeit”  …which explains my passion for Shakespeare’s sonnets and the underlying poignant theme of so many of them of lost time (Sonnet 30 and 73).  

SONNET 30 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past,  I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,  And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste: Then can I drown an eye, unus'd to flow,  For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,  And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:  Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,  And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er  The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,  Which I new pay as if not paid before.  But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

    SONNET 73

    That time of year thou may'st in me behold 

    When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

    Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 

    Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. 

    In me thou see'st the twilight of such day, 

    As after sunset fadeth in the west, 

    Which by-and-by black night doth take away,

    Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. 

    In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire 

    That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 

    As the death-bed whereon it must expire 

    Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by. 

    This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
    To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Introduction to readingthedictionaryztoa

Reading the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary Backwards

readingthedictionaryztoa.blogspot.com
glennlouisfeole@gmail.com

   I was a philosophy major in college but my true love was literature and words.  As a physician, I have always been drawn to the rich history and etymology of words and meanings.  To deepen my knowledge and also, I admit, to have fun, I desired...I wanted...I yearned to read every word in the Webster's Dictionary.  So...the natural, logical and rational place to start was a letter that had, say, 1 1/2 pages of words, i.e. the letter "x," as opposed to 81 pages ("t").  Maybe, just maybe, my brainpan (to quote Don Quixote) could handle that.  As a compromise, I thought that starting with the letter "z" (4 pages) instead of "x" would demonstrate some moral fiber and innate character...courageousness perhaps.  

     This first blog entry will show some miscellaneous aspects of this endeavor and will be updated as time goes by (Favorite Words, Last Words, Eclectic Etymology, Unknown Etymology, New Yorker Vocabulary, Word Journeys, Tautologies, Interesting Word Facts, Interesting Tables in the Dictionary and, lastly, page counts for each letter). 

    I hope people will feel free to make comments and corrections, addendums other ephemera.  Please email me with your views, thoughts and experiences.  I hope you find much to be enjoyed here.  As James Herriot said in one of his beautiful books, "An afficionado is interesting, but a fanatic is irresistible."

    Glenn Feole, M.D.

    glennlouisfeole@gmail.com

Favorite Words for Each Letter

Z: zephyr  

Y: Yidishist

X: Xanadu

W: Wyvern

V: vespertine

U: umlaut

T: tsutsugamushi

S: syzygy and spoondrift

R:

Q:

P:

O:

N:

M:

L:

K:

J:

I:

H:

G:

F:

E:

D:

C:

B:

A: 

The last word in each alphabetical section

z: zymurgy

y: yurt 

x: xylotomy

w:  wyvern 

v:   vying

u: Uzbek (Turkish people of Turkestan)

t: tzitzis (zizith, tassels) 

s: 

r:

q:

p:

o:

n:

m:

l:

k:

j:

i:

h:

g:

f:

e:

d:

c: Czech

b:

a: 

Words of eclectic etymology:

Afrikans

Taal  

Arabic/Persian

salaam 
   sitar

Chinese

tycoon

sampan 

Eskimo

  umiak  

Finnish

sauna

Flemish:

   spatter

French:

   soiree

toile de Jouy

torsade
   suede (Swedish)

German

weltenschauung

weltschmerz

Thursday

umlaut

  Hawaiian:

     ukulele

  Hindu:

seersucker

shakti

sitar

     Veda

     Veranda

Upanishad
     Krishna
     Rama

Icelandic:

    squeeze

Italian:

titian

tondo

Japanese:

tatami

tempura

satori
    tsutsugamushi

Maori:

tiki

Native American:

sagamore
     Ute (Utah)

Norwegian: (Norse)
   Wednesday
   Thursday

Persian: see Arabic, above

Russian:

troika

samovar

czar (tsar) 

Scottish Gaelic:

trousers

 Swedish:

      tungsten

skin
      Svedberg Unit
      suede (French for SwedishH)

Turkish:

turquoise

Ur:

Urdu:

Words of unknown etiology:

     wingding

sedan
     rampike

New Yorker vocabulary

gnomic 

     (“We are left with a gnomic remark remark that he reportedly made in 1860, eight years before his death,” p. 76, Nov 7, 2016, about Rossini, the author of the opera William Tell.)

 titular  

(“The titular hero…” Nov. 7, 2016, p. 76, about the hero of the opera “William Tell” by Rossini.)

Word Journeys (how the definition of the first word leads to successively unknown, interesting words)

1. from quetzal to altricial

(quetzal…trogan…nonpasserine…altricial)

 2. from an African mammal to a Gothic arch

         see definition of pangolin 

(pangolin...imbricated…pantile…ogee…arches)

 3. seven words that start with "cz"

          Czech, czar, czarina, czaritza (wife of the czar)

 4. from wolf saliva to Catholicism (see definition of "W") 

    (W…Tungsten…Wolfram…wolf saliva…George Agricola…metalurgist…philology…a devout Catholic apologist)

 5. from Wednesday to marital bliss  (See definition of Woden)

...Woden, Oden, Wednesday, Wednesday, Oden’s wife Frigga, goddess of home and marital bliss.

 6. from Persian slaves to the U. S. Constitutional Convention  (See definition of venetian blinds)

     ...Persian slaves, Venice, venetian blinds, Paris, painting of The Constitutiona Convention showing Venetian blinds.

7.  from the triangular part of the external ear, goats, Greek tragedies

8. from redivide to Flintstone vitamins.  See definition of "reduviids." 

...reduviid, hemipterous, lac bug, Southeast Asian word for 100,000, shellac, Flintstone vitamins…

    Reduviid’s also have something to do with children’s vitamins…   I was looking at the label of Flintstone vitamins at work and one of the ingredients was shellac.  Unknown to me is the fact that shellac is a product of insects: the lac bug (a reduviid).  This bug sucks the sap from the bark of a tree and excrete a shellac precursor.  The bark is scraped off and heated in canvas tubes over a fire, the liquid shellac dripping out.  It takes about 300,000 bugs to produce 2.2 lbs of shellac.  The Southeastern Asian word for 100,000 is “lac.”  The word shellac derives from French for ‘shell’ and ‘lac,” laque en ecailles (lac in thin pieces).  

     Shellac as been used for over 3,000 years…for example, on valuable pieces of furniture and precious dowry items and as a paint or varnish.  In the 1920’s and 30’s, most records were made of shellac until the invention of vinyl in 1949.  It is used on fine violas and pianos as well.

    Lastly, since shellac is edible, it is used as a glaze on pills (Flintstone Vitamins) and sweets (Jelly Bellys). 

Word derived from Greek and other mythologies

     syrinx
     

Tautologies, definitions

wood nymph: a dryad;  dryad: [Latin dryad  tree]  a wood nymph

uptown: the section of the town located uptown

wettability: the quality of being wettable

Diminutives

   -ka: in Polish, adding -ka, i.e. vodka (the 'little' water of life)
   -ina: vagina,
   -ita or -ito: Spanish, zapattio for zapato (little shoe)
   -us: uterus
   -etti, Italian: spaghetti

interesting Word Facts

1. A word that has the letters "yzy" 

     syzygy

2. Socrate's shrewish wife

     Xanthippe

3. definition of whoops

     Oops

4. "a word with increasing and decreasing pitch"

     Wow

5. How many words start with "cz”?

seven:

czar

czarina

czaritza

czarism

czarevitch

czardas

Czech

6. a synonym for crepescular

     vespertine

7. What does ”fiole" means in Middle English?

     vial

8. Good news for some heirs

     Ultimogeniture  (the youngest child inherits everything)

9. "usus et fructus"

     a legal term: to have the “use and enjoyment “ of

10. heat seeking

     thigmotaxis

11. measuring turbidity

     turbimeter (perhaps of use in analyzing conversations)

    

12. enjoying other’s misfortunes

     Schadenfreude 

13. y'all

     sparchgefuhl

14. how to whet a scythe

     use a trickle

15. a dance, perhaps that Queequeg would do

     a squeg

16. an STD

     a Sacred Theological Doctor

17. 10 trillionth of a second

     a Svedberg Unit

18. Oden's wife

     Frigga, the goddess of marital bliss

19. words derived from Flemish, Swedish and Icelandic languages?

     Flemish: spatter

     Swedish: Tungsten

     Icelandic: squeeze

20. a word with no definition

     selah: a word of uncertain meaning from the Hebrew psalms.  It is untranslatable into English.

21.  A word spelled with two “u’s”  (uu)

     Weltanschauung

22. Two words that begin and end in the letter x?

      Xerox, xanax.  

Interesting Tables in the Dictionary

Language

Alphabet 

flowers, patterns of growth, inflorescence

Page counts for the letters of the alphabet:

The least number of pages: x (1 1/2 pages, 88 words)

The most number of pages:

A close tie: y and z, 4 and 5 pages

z 4

y 5

x 1 1/2 (88 words)

w 43

v 24

u 23

t 81

s

r

q

p