Lafayette, who lives on St. James in Fort Greene at Le Maison Chandeysson, has a taste for olives, so maybe he'll be my feline companion sometime when I go to Fairway. He did a really good job of decorating for this Holiday Party, didn't he?
My calender tells me today is Yule. Happy Yule, everyone, especially you Pagans and Wiccans! I hope the Yuletide is full tilt with Yule, whatever that is. I consulted Wikipedia:
The modern English word Yule likely derives from the word yoole, from 1450, which developed from the Old English term geōl and geōla before 899. The term has been linked to and may originate from the Old Norse Jōl.[1] The etymology of the name of the feast of Yule (Old Norse jól, Anglo-Saxon geohol and gehol) and the winter month (Anglo-Saxon giuli, geóla, Gothic fruma jiuleis, Old Norse ýlir) has not yet been completely explained, but the term may have originally meant something similar to "magic" or "feast of entreaty".[2] This word is also the root of the English word "jolly."[3]
Jól has alternately been theorized as deriving from Old Norse hjól, wheel, referring to the moment when the wheel of the year is at its low point, ready to rise again (compare to the Slavic karachun). This theory may be more based on similarities between the words jul and hjul (with a mute h) in modern Scandinavian languages, than on older cognates or historical sources. The Old English form Geohhol may connect to the word to Latin jocus.[4]
2 comments:
Some cats find olives to be positively crack-like; others have no receptors for them. Some relish only the Spanish variety, while a few of my acquaintance go beserk for the "ripe" or black ones.
I had no idea!
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