Where Does The Word "Hermaphrodite" Come From?

OK, as I researched this I found that the answer isn't quite as dang interesting as I thought at first but it's still worth discussing.

The word at issue here is "hermaphrodite." First, let's make sure everyone knows what it means. Wikipedia defines the word as "an organism that possesses both male and female sex organs during its life." As to the origin of the word, they have this to say:

In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos (Greek ) was the child of Aphrodite and Hermes. Born a remarkably handsome boy, he was transformed into an intersexual being by union with the nymph Salmacis. His name is the basis for the word hermaphrodite.

My point, the thing I found interesting about it, is that the word is a combination of Hermes and Aphrodite: hermaphrodite. It seems obvious when you know it but it sure never occurred to me. Not a big deal, just an interesting factoid. That's what this blog is all about.

More "Jesus Was A Mushroom" Discussion

I'm still reading The Sacred Mushroom & The Cross, and it's kind of slow going. This is not a book you breeze through; it's a book you read if you're really interested in the ideas it presents. At this point, though, I've started keeping a sheet of all the interesting things I run across so I don't have to go searching back through the book for them.

Here are the latest:

According to John Allegro, the author, in the ancient languages and usages of the period 2,000 years ago, the word "sin" was essentially the same as "debt." This offers an interestingly different take on the Christian concept that "man is born in sin." As Allegro explains it, receiving the gift of life leaves one indebted to whatever power gave him or her life. Therefore, "man is born in debt to the creative power." Very different than saying you were born bad and forever must repent of your bad deeds.

This next item may seem obvious to some people but I had never thought of it. Why does the story go that Hell is underground and is blazing hot? Well, think about it. Volcanoes come out of the ground and spew blazing hot lava. Hot springs and geysers come up out of the ground with hot water. I guess the real question is, did the ancients place Hell underground because it is hot down there, or is Hell hot because it is underground?

I think I'll be getting into the meat of this book in my next post. Stay tuned.

Today's "Private" Used To Be A "Private Soldier"

You don't see it much today but apparently what we now call a "private" in the army was once universally known as a "private soldier." Which raises the question, was this in contrast to a "public soldier"? I don't think so, but it makes me wonder about the term.

I did some digging and I found out about the term "soldier." Here's what I found:

A Soldier is one who serves in the Army and fights for pay. The name originates from Latin word soldus, short for the classical Latin word solidus. Solidus was an ancient Roman coin used for paying soldiers.

But what about "private soldier"? I've seen this is in a lot of old writings, such as a book of the collected writings of George Washington and, more recently, the book Andersonville. Andersonville is the first-hand story of a Union soldier captured during the Civil War, and the full title of the book is:

Andersonville
A Story of Rebel Military Prisons
Fifteen Months a Guest of the So-Called Southern Confederacy
A Private Soldier's Experience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen Blackshear, and Florence

I found this:

Private - The earliest record of this word dates to 1384, derived from the classical Latin word privatus, meaning to "set apart, belonging to oneself" (rather than the state or feudal lord). The phrase Private soldier meaning "one below the rank of a non-commissioned officer" - also known as a common soldier - entered usage in 1579 when individual citizens gained the privilege of enlisting or entering private contracts to serve as private soldiers in army units. It later became known as privateer in 1664, from the term private man of war, as in volunteer or buccaneer.

So it seems that what was once a privilege—the choice to enlist and get paid for fighting—has been replaced with the simple usage of just being the grunt who is low man on the totem pole. And the term has been shortened to just "private" in the same way that "general officer" has been shortened to "general."

Pretty dang interesting how language evolves.

Those English Just Spell Differently Than We Do

We all know the English spell certain words differently than we do here in the U.S. What is "color" to us is "colour" to them. We "realize" things and they "realise" things. And let's not even get into the different meanings they have for words.

So I wouldn't make a point of pointing out a different spelling except that I recently ran into one that was new for me. And at the age of 56, if it's new to me I'll bet there are a lot of other people who have either never run across it, either, or never figured it out. Actually, now that I say that, it occurs to me I have seen it before but never knew the meaning.

OK, quite beating around the bush. What's the word?

Gaol

Is that a misspelling for the thing the English kick a soccer ball (excuse me, football) through?

No, that's something we know as a "jail." As in "jailbird/gaolbird," or "jail/gaol house rock."

I was reading a collection of pieces by Oscar Wilde and one was entitled The Ballad of Reading Gaol. And I was clueless. Fortunately, my wife lived in England for six months so she clued me in.

Just another "pretty dang interesting" bit of information I've run into.