Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Seif

Meaning: a dune which elongates parallel to the prevailing wind; from the Arabic sayf, meaning sword.

Usefulness: 2 (depending on geography, although I suppose it could be re-adopted as a simile: "Like the seif, her tendencies follow the strongest influence.")

Logofascination: 2 (It's a beautiful word, possibly due to some mysterious Arabian-nights style glamour; a simple entry to ease back into it after all that nebrundiation.)

In the wild: They have a wikipedia entry.

Degrees: 2

Connections: seif - sword

Which is used in: G&P, First Book, VIII: How they apparelled Gargantua.
His sword was not of Valentia, nor his dagger of Saragossa, for his father could not endure these hidalgos borrachos maranisados como diablos: but he had a fair sword made of wood, and the dagger of boiled leather, as well painted and gilded as any man could wish.
I'll have to get back to you on that Spanish.



2 comments:

  1. Apparently, his father could not endure drunk-as-hell members of the Spanish minor nobility. What this has to do with the sword not being from Valencia and the dagger not being from Saragossa, I'm unable to fathom.

    I also couldn't figure out what maranisados means - the best answer as anointed by Yahoo Answers is "No idea."

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  2. Hmm... maranisados is quite interesting; I'm writing it up for Friday's post.

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