On hiatus, not resting on laurels

I took a few days off recently, and I decided to call it a hiatus. I had time to look up the word "hiatus."

Today, one definition is an interruption in events. But the word meandered a little.

Hiatus appeared in the 16th century as an anatomical definition. It meant "a break or opening" somewhere on the body. The opening in the diaphragm is called the hiatus.

Soon after, the word came to mean "to yawn" or stare openmouthed.

By a century later, the current meaning of an "interruption" or a "break'' had developed. When TV show reruns bore you, it's because the program is on hiatus. (Or maybe it's just a bad show.)

My favorite meaning for hiatus is related to linguistics. That small pause you make when you pronounce two vowels next to each other is a hiatus. Think of how you say "naive," "cooperate" and "reality.''

Best of all, when you pronounce the word "hiatus," you make a hiatus.

SPENDING SOME TIME ON TIME

People with 9-to-5 schedules may think of noon as lunchtime. It's also 12 p.m. Although it happens at 12, it comes from the Old English and Latin phrases for "the ninth hour." Sounds strange. In the 12th century, noon was at 3 p.m. because it was the ninth hour from sunrise. Prayers and a meal occurred then.

By the 14th century, those prayers and meals had migrated to 12 p.m., which was the sixth hour. I don't know Latin, but I relied on Google Translate to tell me that the "sixth hour" in Latin is "horum sextum."

I guess if the name had not changed, you'd commonly hear the phrase, "I'm hungry. Is it sextum yet?"

The naming of "midnight" is more straightforward, despite interference from the daylight saving time contingent. Night starts about 6 p.m. Morning comes about 6 a.m. Midnight is midway.

TRY, TRY AGAIN

When you redouble your efforts, you try much harder than before. I couldn't think of a time when I didn't see "efforts" as the thing being redoubled. But I found other things on the pages of The Washington Post. "Actions" and "sacrifices" get redoubled.

But why isn't redoubling called quadrupling?

TOILET WATER. NOT THAT KIND!

I can remember, as a kid, being alarmed to find tiny bottles on my mother's dresser labeled "toilet water." I was relieved when my brother explained that the water did not come from any toilet.

Toilet water is a weaker form of perfume or cologne. The scent is less fragrant because it's less concentrated.

Yes, toilet comes from the French word "toilette," the process of washing and dressing yourself.

But, years later, I still think some U.S. marketer could have found a better name for the bottled splash.

UNDERBELLY

Underbelly is a word that I love but can't ever remember using. We can thank British statesman Winston Churchill for helping to popularize the word.

In World War II, Churchill spoke of the Allies invading North Africa to reach the underbelly of the Axis forces, Italy.

He meant that Italy was the most vulnerable. Some people dispute whether he said "soft underbelly" in the original quotation, but he did use the "soft" later on.

Underbelly is also the unpleasant or gross side of something. I find it funny when the same adjective is used over and over with a particular noun. "Seedy" is often used to describe this poor underbelly. I searched The New York Times website and found dozens of uses of "seedy underbelly." "Sordid underbelly" is also popular.

RESTING ON LAURELS

I was never positive what laurels were, but resting on them seemed painfully prickly. Laurus nobilis is the scientific name for the sweet bay or bay laurel tree.

According to myth, the Greek god Apollo saw a nymph named Daphne and moved to embrace her. She wasn't happy about this, and she asked her mother, Gaea, to help her get away. Daphne vanished and, in her place, a laurel tree appeared. That was one awkward first date.

Apollo then took some leaves from the tree to make a wreath for his head. Apollo was a sort of trendsetter, because laurel wreaths first were awarded to the best athletes and later were worn by distinguished, high-ranking people in the Greek and Roman cultures.

And that laurel wreath, in time, came to represent past achievements and implied laziness. Maybe you stop trying once you have those laurels. People defend themselves by shouting testily, "I'm not just resting on my laurels." The listeners don't always believe them, but are perhaps impressed by the historical reference.

The term "poet laureate" has a related origin. That's an accomplished poet. And a Nobel laureate is what we call the winners.

We got all that from a resistant nymph.

Sources: Merriam-Webster, American Heritage Dictionary, Online Etymology Dictionary, Mayo Clinic, The Phrase Finder, Google Translate, Academia.edu, Greek-Gods.info, Oxford Academic, The Churchill Project

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ActiveStyle on 07/15/2019

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