Thaumaturgist – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/06/2021

 Ready for a Wild Night Month?  

Our favorite spooky night is looming on the dark horizon! Wordplay Wednesday’s Halloween words traditionally applied to the mysteries of October each week. Now that it’s a monthly blog, rather than just one word, let’s conjure up a 2-fer for the price of one!

Abracadabra!

THAUMATURGIST (ʹthȯʹmɘ-,tɘr-jist; 1829) n. – a performer of miracles; esp. magician. [WW #310/1-M ~ Monthly Edition]

THAUMATURGY (ʹthȯʹmɘ-,tɘr-jē; ca. 1727) n. – the performance of miracles; spec. magic. [WW #310/2-M ~ Monthly Edition]

Magic performances have fascinated humankind for eons. Although the secrets to many tricks of thaumaturgy have been revealed over time, there are still thaumaturgists who manage to keep their magic mystical.

As Halloween month unfolds, more magicians will emerge from the shadows (of Covid!) to amaze and bemuse. Or maybe they’ll just wear the costume. Either way, thaumaturgists’ tricks seem even more profound and bizarre around Halloween—even those exposed as less than mystical, when performed with flare, can trick the unsuspecting mind.

Did you hear that? ♪ The wild night is callin’ …♪  around Halloween fifty years ago, Van Morrison sang of wild nights and crazy times. Get wild with our Monthly Song of Note* and create your own thaumaturgy spectacle in your writing, or your living room!

Word Challenge: THAUMATURGIST. Give this word and its bag of tricks, thaumaturgy, some comprehensive thought—its definition could apply to a saint or a sinner—as you fit them into your week of spellbinding writings and casual conversations.

* PFP’s Monthly Song of Note: “Wild Night,” by Van Morrison, quickly climbed to #14 on the KFRC/San Francisco music survey, October 4, 1971 50 Years Ago this Month.

Wordplay Wednesday is currently created for your literary pleasure every first Wednesday of each month. Thank you for stopping by! Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t harmful to your health! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

Cheers to learning a new word today!

@PenchantForPen
@Irishwriter

[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books in her Blast from Your Past series (of three) about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday and anytime Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]

LR Notes: 1) Dictionary definitions are quoted from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary – Eleventh Edition, unless otherwise noted. Yes, we sometimes present them out of “official” context—but that’s half the fun! Think of it as “creative context.” 2) a] Recent dictionary additions to definitions include a date of first use, if known; b] words in small caps indicate “see also.” 3) Neither I (LinDee Rochelle) nor Penchant for Penning are responsible for how you use information found here, that may result in legal action.
                And please note, I do not receive compensation from any company or person for commercial or commodity links I may include in my posts.

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz  

 

Abracadabra – Wordplay Wednesday™ 10/17/18

Mystics, Magic, and Mayhem – Halloween!

Halloween wouldn’t be our favorite scary and amazing Holiday of the year, without a little magic.

We’ve heard this spooky Wordplay Wednesday’s mystical expression since childhood, to naively open locked doors, conjure great magic, and create potent spells. None of which ever really worked.

However, there was a time, many centuries ago, when a wave of the hand with an ardent utterance invoked anticipation or hope, if not fear.

With cauldron boiling and dark night clouds roiling, three times I repeat loudly:

I write this spell

that all who read

shall join my mind

to plant a seed

That I may choose

with keen mind and most devout

big win lottery numbers

beyond a doubt

As I speak the final line for the third time, I raise my arms to the sky and shout … 

ABRACADABRA! (ab’rɘ kɘ dabʹrɘ) n. – 1) a word supposed to have magic powers, and hence used in incantations, on amulets, etc.; 2) a magic spell or formula; 3) foolish or meaningless talk, gibberish. (interj. used, as by a magician, to signify, or seemingly command, a sudden change or occurrence.) [SPOOKY / WW #186]  

From stage shows of unparalleled magic to campy witchy movies, we’ve exclaimed abracadabra in fun and frolic for at least the past two centuries. But Wiki gives us an interesting etymology, “The first known mention of the word was in the third century AD in a book called Liber Medicinalis (sometimes known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima) by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who in chapter 51 prescribed that malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of a triangle.”

Though of serious beginnings for a health “cure,” we know little about how abracadabra materialized into a word of generalized magical powers, able to pull a rabbit out of a hat.  

According to Phrases.org.uk, “Over time the belief in the power of 'abracadabra' receded and in the 19th century it came to mean 'fake magic'. Terms like 'legal abracadabra' were used to denote the flummoxing of juries by fast-talking lawyers. Stage conjurers then adopted it into their inventory of the 'magic' words they used to punctuate their acts and the first known usage of it in that context dates from 1819.”*

*But again, there is no concrete example that points to abracadabra’s stage performance origin. We can give it a strange twist, though, as it’s reported that abracadabra’s letters in Greek numerology, add up to 365—the number of days in a year. And while I haven’t confirmed this with my Greek friend, one must wonder what that has to do with anything, as the current span of a year didn’t pop up in history until creation of the Gregorian Calendar in OCTOBER 1582.

A coincidence? I think not. After all, it IS a magical word …

Word Challenge: ABRACADABRA. Ponder the mysteries of the season as you fit abracadabra into your week of magical writings.

Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.

Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle) 

Cheers to ROCKtober & Happy Wordplay Halloween!

                       

@PenchantForPen

@Irishwriter

LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books (of three) in her Blast from Your Past series, available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon, … The Psychedelic Seventies!

E-N-Dzzzzzzzz