Words Aplenty

4/365 "Maiden"

2009-01-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Emma Florence Harrison, circa 1910, "Maiden Song"
found at ArtMagick.com

"...The slope was lightened by her eyes
Like summer lightning fair,
Like rising of the haloed moon
Lightened her glimmering hair,
While her face lightened like the sun
Whose dawn is rosy white.
Thus crowned with maiden majesty
She peered into the night,
Looked up the hill and down the hill,
To left hand and to right,
Flashing like fire-flies to and fro.

Waiting thus in weariness
She marked the nightingale
Telling, if any one would heed,
Its old complaining tale.
Then lifted she her voice and sang,
Answering the bird:
Then lifted she her voice and sang,
Such notes were never heard
From any bird when Spring's in blow.

The king of all that country
Coursing far, coursing near,
Curbed his amber-bitted steed,
Coursed amain to hear;
All his princes in his train,
Squire, and knight, and peer,
With his crown upon his head,
His sceptre in his hand,
Down he fell at Margaret's knees
Lord king of all that land,
To her highness bending low.

Every beast and bird and fish
Came mustering to the sound,
Every man and every maid
From miles of country round:
Meggan on her herdsman's arm,
With her shepherd May,
Flocks and herds trooped at their heels
Along the hill-side way;
No foot too feeble for the ascent,
Not any head too grey;
Some were swift and none were slow.

So Margaret sang her sisters home
In their marriage mirth;
Sang free birds out of the sky,
Beasts along the earth,
Sang up fishes of the deep—
All breathing things that move
Sang from far and sang from near
To her lovely love;
Sang together friend and foe;

Sang a golden-bearded king
Straightway to her feet,
Sang him silent where he knelt
In eager anguish sweet.
But when the clear voice died away,
When longest echoes died,
He stood up like a royal man
And claimed her for his bride.
So three maids were wooed and won
In a brief May-tide,
Long ago and long ago."

-"Maiden Song" by Christina Rossetti

Maiden, adj.
a. Pertaining to a young woman or virgin; as maiden charms.
1. Consisting of young women or virgins.

Amid the maiden throng.

2. Fresh; new; unused.

He fleshed his maiden sword.
MA'IDEN, v.i. To speak and act demurely or modestly.
Maidenhood:
MA'IDENHOOD, n.
1. The state of being a maid or virgin; virginity.

The modest lore of maidenhood.

2. Newness; freshness; uncontaminated state.

1828 Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

3/365 "Virtue"

2009-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins."
-2 Peter 1:2-9

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."
-Philippians 4:8

"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:"
-2 Peter 1:3

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."
-Proverbs 31:10

VIRTUE, n. vur'tu. [L. virtus, from vireo, or its root. See Worth.] The radical sense is strength, from straining, stretching, extending. This is the primary sense of L. vir, a man.]
1. Strength; that substance or quality of physical bodies, by which they act and produce effects on other bodies. In this literal and proper sense, we speak of the virtue or virtues of plants in medicine, and the virtues of drugs. In decoctions, the virtues of plants are extracted. By long standing in the open air, the virtues are lost.

2. Bravery valor. This was the predominant signification of virtus among the Romans.
Trust to thy single virtue.
[This sense is nearly or quite obsolete.]

3. Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law. In this sense, virtue may be, and in many instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties merely from motives of convenience, or from compulsion, or from regard to reputation, is virtue, as distinct from religion. The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue and religion. In this sense it is true,
That virtue only makes our bliss below.
Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to truth.

4. A particular moral excellence; as the virtue of temperance, of chastity, of charity.
Remember all his virtues.

5. Acting power; something efficacious.
Jesus, knowing that virtue had gone out of him, turned - Mark 3.

6. Secret agency; efficacy without visible or material action.
She moves the body which she doth possess,
Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch.

7. Excellence; or that which constitutes value and merit.
- Terence, who thought the sole grace and virtue of their fable, the sticking in of sentences.

8. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.
Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.

9. Efficacy; power.
He used to travel through Greece by virtue of this fable, which procured him reception in all the towns.

10. Legal efficacy or power; authority. A man administers the laws by virtue of a commission.
In virtue, in consequence; by the efficacy or authority.
This they shall attain, partly in virtue of the promise of God, and partly in virtue of piety.

1828 Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

Catch-Up

2009-01-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will try to catch up on the days I missed at the very beginning of the year since I didn't experience the light-bulb moment to start this blog until today.

2/365 Harangue

2009-01-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

"...others think his [Romulus] disappearance was neither in the temple of Vulcan, nor with the senators only by, but that it came to pass that, as he was haranguing the people without the city, near a place called the Goat's Marsh, on a sudden strange and unaccountable disorders and alterations took place in the air; the face of the sun was darkened, and the day turned into night, and that, too, no quiet, peaceable night, but with terrible thunderings, and boisterous winds from all quarters; during which the common people dispersed and fled, but the senators kept close together. The tempest being over and the light breaking out, when the people gathered again, they missed and inquired for their king;..."

-"Romulus," Plutarch's Lives
Dryden Translation

ha·rangue

(hə-rāng')
n.

A long pompous speech, especially one delivered before a gathering.
A speech or piece of writing characterized by strong feeling or expression; a tirade.

v. ha·rangued, ha·rangu·ing, ha·rangues

v. tr.
To deliver a harangue to.
v. intr.
To deliver a harangue.

[Middle English arang, a speech to an assembly, from Old French harangue, from Old Italian aringa, from aringare, to speak in public, probably from aringo, arringa, public square, meeting place, of Germanic origin; see koro- in Indo-European roots.]

ha·rangu'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

http://dictionary.com

1/365 Calumny

2009-01-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

"These and the like were matters of small moment; but when he [Romulus] of his own accord parted among his soldiers what lands were acquired by war, and restored the Veientes their hostages, the senate neither consenting nor approving of it, then, indeed, he seemed to put a great affront upon them; so that, on his sudden and strange disappearance a short while after, the senate fell under suspicion and calumny."

-"Romulus," Plutarch's Lives
Dryden Translation

cal·um·ny

(kāl'əm-nē)
n. pl. cal·um·nies

A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation.
The utterance of maliciously false statements; slander.

[Middle English calumnie, from Old French calomnie, from Latin calumnia, from calvī, to deceive.]