The Allusionist 182. Siblings of Chaos
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Sep 24, 2023 The podcast covers topics such as the etymology of words related to forests and nature, the evolution of word meanings, the Roman superstition of dismal days, nautical origins of words and phrases, and copyrighting words. The speakers discuss the concept of happiness and share lovely words for sad moods. They also mention sponsors and a randomly selected word of the day
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How Chaos Became 'Gas'
- Jan Baptiste van Helmont coined 'gas' from a Dutch-inflected variant of 'chaos' after burning oak and puzzling over missing mass.
- He called the invisible product 'gas' and linked it to the ancients' 'chaos' as a volatile spirit.
Cattle, Money And Visceral Metaphors
- Susie Dent traces money words to cattle: 'fellow' and Latin pecunia (from pecus) link finance to livestock.
- She also notes culinary 'pluck' once meant animal guts and later became a metaphor for courage.
Dismal Days Were Calendar Warnings
- 'Dismal' comes from Roman 'dies mali' — unlucky days that medieval Christians scheduled as dangerous.
- People once avoided marriages, travel and births on 24 dismal days per year due to superstition.