The tragically short lives of all three Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) — and their alcohol and drug-addicted brother, Branwell — were portrayed in the TV miniseries…272 MORE WORDS
Monthly Archives: May 2015
Paranormal Quote of the Week
Mr. Darcy…đź’—đź’—đź’—Pride and Prejudice Zomies…can’t wait to see Lizzie kicking zombie butt.
Blogger of the Week 5.9.15
Every Saturday I’ll be featuring a different blogger on my page. After you read all about this weeks blogger and check out his page, make sure you read blow and find out how you can be a featured blogger of the week.
Part of my goal in doing this is to bring recognition to new or lesser known bloggers, but I also like to share with you blogs I think deserve to be read, even if they already have tons of followers. I figure if I enjoy this blog along with thousands of (ok, over 54,000) other bloggers, then it’s author deserves a place as My Featured Blogger of the Week. Besides, maybe there’s someone reading this who hasn’t heard of this weeks awesome blogger…
If you haven’t already guessed it, this weeks featured blogger is, none other than, Jason (Opinionated Man), over at Harsh Reality.
Jason blogs about anything…
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Nerdiest of Them All?
Amen
I wonder if Einstein knew his image would be everywhere.
Or, if a being travels at the speed of light and looks in the mirror, what will he see*?
It will come as no surprise to readers of a library blog, that people who work in libraries are nerds and darn proud of it. I would postulate further that if you are reading a library blog post, there is a high degree of probability that you, dear reader, are a proud nerd as well. I will define a nerd as someone who is a collector of knowledge and an active seeker of satisfying that intellectual itch.
My favorite thing about libraries is that materials for satisfying your curiosity are readily available and free.
My current obsession is particle physics and quantum mechanics (oh, I see your eyes rolling right now.) I mentioned this to a fellow music librarian, and he…
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Word of the Day on Dictionary.com yesterday
Monday, May 11, 2015
bibliomania
Definitions for bibliomania
excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books.
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Citations for bibliomania
Perhaps you are not familiar with the raptures of bibliomania : it is one of the strongest passions, when given its freedom…
Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky, Russian Nights, translated by Olga Koshansky-Olienikov and Ralph E. Matlaw, 1965
The tie that bound their hearts in kindred love was bibliomania.
Eugene Field, “The Minister and the Actor,” Chicago Daily News, September 10, 1892
Origin of bibliomania
French
1725-1735
Bibliomania derives from the Greek terms biblĂon meaning “book,” and manĂa meaning “madness.” It entered English in the early 1700s.
Dictionary.com and how the month of MAY got its name.
How Did the Month of May Get Its Name?
If you frequent our posts, you may detect a common theme: behind the everyday nature of common words, surprising meaning and history often lurk. Case in point: this very month of May.
The fifth month of the Gregorian calendar, May, is named after a goddess named Maia. But which goddess named Maia? There are actually two. The Greek goddess Maia was one of the Pleiades, the companions of Artemis. This Maia was the mother of Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. But the Romans had yet another goddess named Maia, who just happened to share a name with the Greek goddess. The Roman Maia was named for the Latin word for large, maius, and she was associated with growth and the spring. As the Romans adopted many elements of Greek culture, the two goddesses became conflated and gave their name to the fifth month.
However, there is another suggestion that the month is not named for these intertwined goddesses at all. The Latin poet Ovid claimed that the month may have been named after the Latin wordmaiores, ”elders,” to juxtapose it to the month of June, which was named after iuniores, the Latin word for youth.
The month of May entered English from the Old French in the 1000s. In Old English, the month of May and “mother may I” could not be confused because there was another name for the month of May. Sadly, we lost the Old English word for the fifth month of the year: þrimilce. It literally meant “three milkings” because it was the only month of the year when cows could be milked three times per day. May’s confusion with may (the verb) is a small linguistic coincidence, not a meaningful overlap. The verb may came from the Old English word magan meaning “to be able.”
What do you think of the two Maias? Could you go back to using the Old English word instead?
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