Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
9 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Spartan - origin
|
Spartans survived on simple food and the barest minimum of clothing and shelter. Their daily routine included vigorous exercise and military training.
|
|
|
Gadfly - origin
|
Socrates thought he was the wisest man, so he went around asking people questions and testing their own knowledge. He annoyed people so much, he called himself the gadfly, and Athens the horse.
|
|
|
Homage - origin
|
Feudalism was a military and political system in medieval Europe in which a warrior swore loyalty to his lord and in turn would be protected by the lord. He had to swear to use his hands and weapons only for his ruler. this warrior honored and respected his lord. Although we are no longer in the Middle Ages, we still par homage to anyone we greatly respect or admire.
|
|
|
Spurn - origin
|
Old English spurnan meant 'kick'. It is now used to express rage and resentment.
|
|
|
Pedigree - origin
|
During the Middle Ages, noblemen had to substantiate their claims too an inheritance or title by proving their ancestry. Scholars compiled genealogical charts or family trees that used a wavering three-line symbol to show descent. It looked like the imprint of a crane's foot, pied = 'foot, de = 'of', grue = 'crane', so it was called pied de grue. After a while, it turned into Pedigree.
|
|
|
Pittance - origin
|
It derived from pietas ("piety", "devotion") Originally, a rather large and generous offering, the pittance dwindled until barely enough to provide crumbs for the monks. This shrunken pittance thus became synonymous with any small, inconsiderable, or inadequate amount.
|
|
|
Preposterous - origin
|
From the ancient Romans, we get the expression 'to put the cart before the horse', meaning 'to be mixed up' or 'do things in the wrong order'. The Latin word conveying the sense of this expression was praeposterus. Pre = before, post = after.
|
|
|
Macabre - origin
|
The Middle ages produced morality plays in which abstract qualities like good deeds, poverty, wealth and sin were represented by actors. In a play, Death debates with humans, wins the arguments, and leads the victims offstage in a weird danse macabre (Dance of death). With it's horrid heritage of deaht, 'macabre' most fittingly describes weird and terrifying events.
|
|
|
Farce and Bombast - origins
|
Since most people in the middle ages were illiterate, one way for them to learn about the bible and religious events was through watching religious plays, however, the audience was bored whenever the actors took time to change costumes, so the preformers started to fill these gaps with funny sketches called farces (from latin's farcire = stuff). Bombast also derives from stuffing since men's court costumes were padded with cotton, this padding being called bombace.
|
