A cognomen is a family
name in
ancient Rome which would be shared by a group of blood relatives. Cognomina often, but not always,
referred to a person's appearance or other characteristics. It was also common to have a cognomen
referring to a place of birth, a job, or some other thing which distinguished
the person (usually an ancestor) who first bore that cognomen. See types of cognomina and examples at: http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Cognomen
Typical Roman names of the late
Republic had three parts (the "tria nomina").
Example: Gaius Iulius Caesar
where:· Gaius is a praenomen ("given name", plural praenomina),
· Iulius is a nomen ("gens or clan name", plural nomina), and
· Caesar is a cognomen ("family name within a gens", plural cognomina).
Some names had no cognomen, but in other cases a second cognomen, (called an agnomen), was added. Female names could follow similar conventions, with a few differences. Additional elements such as tribal affiliation and "filiation" (parentage), were also sometimes used.
The Italiotes were the pre-Roman
Greek-speaking
inhabitants of the Italian Peninsula, between Naples and Sicily. Greek colonization of the coastal areas of southern
Italy and Sicily started in the 8th century BC and, by the time of Roman
ascendance, the area was so extensively hellenized that Romans called it Magna
Graecia, "Greater Greece".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italiotes
The saying “to call a spade a spade,” meaning “to call something by its real name, is the
English version of this ancient phrase is actually the result of a famous
error. Translating the saying from
Plutarch, the Renaissance scholar Erasmus mistook a Greek word meaning “bowl or
trough” for one meaning “spade.” So “to
call a spade a spade” should rightly have been “to call a bowl a bowl.” The other “spade” in English, first appearing
in the late 16th century, is the black spade-shaped mark that distinguishes one
of the four suits of modern playing cards. Apparently Italian playing cards of the
“spade” suit originally carried the mark of a sword, but because the “spade” of
playing cards was the same word as the digging tool in English, the shape of
the tool ended up on our cards. This new
“spade” was only used in this “card” sense until the late 1920s, when the
phrase “in spades” suddenly became slang in the US meaning “extremely, very
much, in abundance”
Canaries are small finches native to the Canary Islands that was named after the
Canary islands. The Canary Islands were
named Canaria because of the descriptions of the large numbers of wild dogs
roaming the islands. Canaria is derived
from the Latin canis meaning dog. Columbus
stopped in the Canary Islands on all four of his voyages to the New World as
did many other Spanish explorers. Claimed
by Portugal, the islands were recognized as Spanish possessions by a treaty negotiated
in 1479. Spanish conquest of the islands
was completed by the late 1490s. The
Canary group of islands consist of 7 larger islands (Gran Canaria,
Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, Hierro) and a few smaller
ones (Alegranza, Graciosa, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este, Roque del Oeste und
Lobos). All were similarly formed by
volcanic upheavals, creating dramatic mountains and craters and spectacular
scenery. Four of Spain's 13 national
parks are located in the Canary Islands, more than any other autonomous
community. http://petcaretips.net/canary-island.html
'Don't buy a pig in a poke' might seem odd and archaic language. It's true that the phrase is very old, but
actually it can be taken quite literally and remains good advice. The advice being given is 'don't buy a pig
until you have seen it'. This is
enshrined in British commercial law as 'caveat emptor' - Latin for 'let the
buyer beware'. This remains the guiding
principle of commerce in many countries and, in essence, supports the view that
if you buy something you take responsibility to make sure it is what you
intended to buy. A poke is a sack or
bag. It has a French origin as 'poque'
and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding 'ette'
or 'et' - hence 'pocket' began life with the meaning 'small bag'. Poke is still in use in several
English-speaking countries, notably Scotland and the USA, and describes just
the sort of bag that would be useful for carrying a piglet to market. A pig that's in a poke might turn out to be no
pig at all. If a merchant tried to cheat
by substituting a lower value animal, the trick could be uncovered by letting
the cat out of the bag. Many other
European languages have a version of this phrase - most of them translating
into English as a warning not to 'buy a cat in a bag'. The advice has stood the test of time and
people have been repeating it in one form or the other for getting on for five
hundred years, maybe longer. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-pig-in-a-poke.html
chicken-pecked
- persistent complaints and domination by a child
hen-pecked
- persistent complaints and domination by a woman
rooster-pecked
- persistent complaints and domination by a man
Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of iconic
treats such as Twinkies and traditional pantry staple Wonder Bread, said Nov.
16 it is shuttering its plants and firing about 18,000 workers as it seeks to
liquidate the 82-year-old business. The fate of the company's brands remains uncertain, set
to be decided by a bankruptcy court auction run by Hostess's investment bankers,
or perhaps determined by a group of liquidators. Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn has said he is unsure if all of the company's
brands—there are about 30, from Drake's to Ding Dongs—will sell or how much
they might fetch. On the one hand, the
names have decades of brand equity, and there is "pretty significant
demand" for the products, according to Mr. Rayburn. Hostess has revenue of about $2 billion
annually. But a competitor would have to ramp up production if it took on the
Twinkies or Ding Dong brands and give up valuable shelf space already devoted
to its own goods, Mr. Rayburn noted. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324556304578122632560842670.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
On Nov. 16 the bestselling author Tim Ferriss, whose book The
Four-Hour Chef will be published by Amazon’s New York
imprint on November 20, entered into a marketing promotion with BitTorrent.A BitTorrent blog post proudly proclaims: “It’s poised to be the most banned book in
U.S. history. The 4-Hour Chef is
one of the first titles underneath Amazon’s new publishing imprint; boycotted
by U.S. booksellers, including Barnes & Noble.” The same “banned book” point is repeated in
the materials sent to press, which include the following “points to consider”: “It’s a significant marketing partnership,
particularly in light of the ban of the book by Barnes & Noble and others.”
And “Similar promotions for recording
artists generated downloads in the tens of millions amongst BitTorrent users,
offering a significant lift in awareness and sales.” So is Barnes & Noble banning The Four-Hour Chef because of its
controversial content? Not so much. Ferriss’s book is simply one of several that
Barnes & Noble will not stock in its stores because it is published by
Amazon. As Barnes & Noble announced earlier this year, “Our decision is
based on Amazon’s continued push for exclusivity with publishers, agents and
the authors they represent. These exclusives
have prohibited us from offering certain ebooks to our customers. Their actions have undermined the industry as
a whole and have prevented millions of customers from having access to
content.” http://paidcontent.org/2012/11/16/hey-tim-ferriss-book-banning-isnt-a-marketing-gimmick/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=gigaom
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