seersucker, self, selenium, selenology, self, semaphore, Nuclear Disarmament

seersucker: [Hindu, shir milk,  shaker sugar] a light fabric of linen or cotton, usually striped and slightly puckered.

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

    Very intriguing…

selenium:  [selene  \seh lee nee\  moon]  an element

   Yet another beautiful word from Swedish (indirectly) origin...it was discovered by the Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzeliua.  He noticed that it was similar to another new element that had been discovered call tellurium (the name meaning 'Earth'). 

   Selenium is vital for human functioning, being found in infant formula.  I use if for various skin conditions.  I used to joke with my residents if they were having a difficult time finding the correct diagnosis to 'check the selenium level' since it seemed so esoteric.

     selenology: the study of the moon.

self: the word 'self' is incorporated into 402 words and other derivatives which containing the word self 

     In contrast, the word 'sex' has 40 such words 

semaphore [Greek sema sign, Greek phoros carrier]  a system using two arms or flags in each hand to visually signal letters; often used in ship to ship communication.

    The letter N is both hands held downwards at 30 degrees from the waist; the letter D is one hand straight up, the other straight down.  The combination  of these two letters makes one of my favorite signs, especially on an ancient VW bus: the peace sign.  It consists of N and D  combined, signifying “Nuclear Disarmament”.  Ahh…the beautiful music and thoughts of peace and community of the ’60’s and 70’s.  The drummer in the band I was in during the ’70’s owned a light blue VW bus that we would jam our equipment (and each other) in and tour central NJ going to various gigs.