Wordplay Wednesday™ July 15, 2015 – UNDINE: defines Ariel

Do you know that Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” is about an UNDINE? It’s true! (Get your minds out of the gutter – not undies.) 

undine (un dēn) – n. coined by Paracelsus for a water spirit in his alchemical system; a wave; folklore: a female water spirit who can acquire a soul, by marrying and having a child by a mortal. [Human soul of course, as opposed to a fish-soul; do fish have souls?]

Mermaids, Nereids and *naiads, are all species of undines and enjoy the legends of nymphs *“… living in and giving life to springs, fountains, rivers, and lakes,” says Webster.

Apparently life underwater, swimming with Flipper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, causing the undines to desire a human soul. But relinquishing those cool mermaid tails for legs – well, is that such a great idea? Consider ...

Wordplay Wednesday™ July 8, 2015 – CARK: Worry not

Worry not lexicographers … it’s all in how you say it!

Do you wonder why certain words lose popular favor and fall into the “Archaic” category?

Language is mutable and transient by decades, fads, cultures, and eras. Sigh. Nothing ever stays the same. So, what’s changed in your vocabulary?

You're not thinking fourth dimensionally!

Is today’s language making you long for a back to the future trip? There’s a word for that …

Ah, don’t CARK your pretty little head about it … yep, this week’s word is rarely used. Even dear ol’ Webster calls it archaic.

CARK (kärk) – (archaic; vt., vi.) to worry or be worried; n. distress; anxiety. [Worry not!]

Why do archaic words continue to hang out in current dictionaries, taking up space? Good question – Mr. Webster, are you reading this?

For obvious reasons, Noah Webster is one of my heroes. Not only was he the epitome of lexicographers, but he was considered a fringe Founding Father of the United States. (Appropriate for one of this month’s Wordplay Wednesday entries, right?)

A teacher following the American Revolution, Webster abhorred how outdated the school system had become. Children still read primers from England, with books’ text “… often pledging their allegiance to King George. Webster believed that Americans should learn from American books, so in 1783, he wrote his own textbook: A Grammatical Institute of the English Language.” Do you know it by its nickname? ...