And Now, a Few Words From Our Guild Quiz

Answer: Cleft

Cleft (or cloven) is the past tense of "cleave", which can mean "To divide by or as if by a cutting blow; split". A cleft palate is a congenital anomaly of the palate which affects the speech. A cloven foot (or hoof) is a feature of certain animals, such as sheep and goats (also the Devil, according to folklore). Other related words are cleaver, cleavable, and the ever-popular cleavage.

Cleave, however, has an entirely different meaning; according to Webster, it also means "To adhere firmly and closely, or loyally and unwaveringly". In this sense, it is used in two well-known Biblical passages- in Psalm 137: "Let my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not" (verse 6), and the quotation, beloved by feminists, from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: "A woman shall cleave unto her husband." (1 Cor. 7:10)

Jouen58 traded cleft in for a new word. Low mileage! Clean!

Answer: Sri Lanka (previously Ceylon)

According to the On-line Etymology Dictionary (www.etymonline.com), "serendipity" was coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Sir Horace Mann (dated 28 January 1754). Walpole said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." Serendip is an old name for Sri Lanka, also known as Ceylon. It means "Dwelling Place of Lions Island." Sri Lanka has also been known as Teardrop of India, Resplendent Island, Island of Dharma, and Pearl of the Orient

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Answer: A short linen kilt?

David, we're told, danced before the Ark of the Lord clad only in an ephod (much to the disgust of his wife Michal). An ephod is a very brief linen kilt-like loin cloth affair. Conjures up interesting mental images, doesn't it! Who says the Bible is dull?

Cymruambyth told us that since ephod is an antique, we should get a better price for it, but we're letting it go for a song!

Answer: Sister Carrie

In "Sister Carrie" by Theodore Dreiser, Carrie's new gentleman friend, a drummer (i.e. salesman) tells her about various places he has been in city of Chicago, exclaiming at one point, "It's out of sight!" The novel was written by Dreiser in the early 1900s, but takes place in the 1870s. The seemingly anomalous utterance is never repeated in the novel, nor have I been able to find it used again in the same way in other literary works of the same period.

Gretas brought us this truly one of a kind word! This is just one of the millions of unique words you'll find here at Guilder's!

Answer: Pledge of death

Coming from the Latin words 'mort' (death) and 'gage' (pledge) this word has been recorded in the English language as far back as the 14th century.

Apparently, once you get a mortgage, you're going to be stuck with it until you die! The actual origin is a bit more obscure, but basically you pledge your property against the loan of money that you receive. If you cannot make the payments on your loan, the property will transfer ownership to the creditor. Back in England of the Middle-ages, it was unsure whether you could actually pay off your debt before passing away, so your property was given as security for the debt.

Unlike LeoDaVinci's mortgage, the finance terms here at Guilder's are very reasonable! Come on down!

Answer: A combination of contradictory or incongruous words

As Gaelic as the word might sound, it is actually Greek in origin, derived from the words 'Oxy', which means sharp and 'moros', which means dull. Oxymora are fun because the contradictory pairing of the words is often deliberate in intent. They are usually created when one of the pair of words is a homonym ('two or more words that have the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings') and the wrong meaning of the word is taken. For example, the expression 'pretty ugly' is an oxymoron when you interpret 'pretty' as meaning 'attractive or aesthetically pleasing', which makes it the opposite of ugly. However if you use the second definition of pretty, which is 'to some degree, or moderately', then the expression 'pretty ugly' is no longer an oxymoron. 'The use of a word intended to be an imitation of the sound' is the definition of onomatopoeia, and 'a word or a sentence that reads the same backwards or forwards' is a palindrome. All definitions are taken from 'The Penguin Concise English Dictionary'.

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Answer: ETHEREAL

The origin of ethereal is Greek, (of course) for aitherios or upper air. Technology has used this name for a network protocol analyzer or 'sniffer'. The world of gaming has used this to name a race of aliens in the game called X-Com: UFO Defense. Religion uses this for obvious reasons for heavenly music or text.

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Answer: Cyan

"Cyan" was one of those ubiquitous Bronze Age western Mediterranean culture words. In Hittite it was "kuwanas," and in Mycenaean Greek it was "kuwanos," which actually referred to a sort of dark blue glass inlay material. In historical times the word came to be used for just the color "blue." Isn't it weird to think that you're using a word whose meaning has remained basically unchanged for that long?

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Answer: Pique

The Indo-European root "peku" refers to movable wealth or property. That which is "peculiar" is uniquely one's own. "Pecuniary" and "fief" are connected to property. But what of "fellow" and "pique"? In Norway a "felagi" was a "fellow" member of a group that shared ownership of property, and it is from this Old Norse word that "fellow" is believed to have originated. "Pique" derived from a Vulgar Latin root meaning "pricked".

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Answer: all of these

Typically, origins of Australian slang are often obscure and difficult to determine. As far as I can ascertain, a "squiz" seems for some inexplicable reason to have originated from the word "quiz" or more possibly "quizzical". Dekko is another colloquialism that seems to have more definite roots in the Hindi "dekho" meaning "to look". "Butcher's" is of course rhyming slang and is short for "butcher's hook" rhyming with "look". While rhyming slang is almost certainly Cockney in origin, its usage was readily seized upon by convicts in colonial Australia. Using only the first word in a pair such as "apples and pears = stairs", "apples" would then be taken to mean "stairs". The use of this rhyming language was used widely to confuse prison guards and other superiors in the young colony.

All three words discussed in this question are still in common usage in Australia today.

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Thank you for your visit to Guilder's World of Words! We hope you have enjoyed your time here, and that you will consider Guilder's for all your future word needs.

This quiz was a joint effort of the Quiz Makers' Guild. To find our other quizzes, search for "Guild". Many thanks to all Guild writers!
-- Guilder