#avdictionary

Words taken from Egyptian Myths by Eric Braun: 

Isfet (n.) injustice, violence; an ancient Egyptian term from Egyptian mythology used in philosophy, which was built on a religiously, socially, and politically affected dualism. It was thought to be the counterpart of the term Ma’at (meaning “order” or “harmony”). [x]

Maat, Ma’at the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, and cosmic order, daughter of Ra. She is depicted as a young and beautiful woman, standing or seated, with a feather on her head.

Khnum the ancient Egyptian god of fertility, associated with water and with procreation. Khnum was worshipped from the 1st dynasty (c. 2925–2775 BCE) into the early centuries CE. He was represented as a ram with horizontal twisting horns or as a man with a ram’s head. Khnum was believed to have created humankind from clay like a potter; this scene, with him using a potter’s wheel, was depicted in later times. [x]

Isis the ancient Egyptian nature goddess, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus. Her worship spread to western Asia, Greece, and Rome, where she was identified with many and varied local goddesses.

Seth, Setekh the ancient Egyptian evil god who murdered his brother Osiris and wounded Osiris’s son Horus. Seth is represented as having the head of a beast with a long pointed snout.

Osiris the ancient Egyptian god originally connected with fertility, husband of Isis and father of Horus. He was killed by his brother Seth but subsequently restored to a new life as ruler of the afterlife.

Nut the ancient Egyptian sky goddess, thought to swallow the sun at night and give birth to it in the morning. She is usually depicted as a naked woman, with her body arched above the earth that she touched with her feet and hands.

Geb the ancient Egyptian god of the earth, the physical support of the world. Geb constituted, along with Nut, his sister, the second generation in the Ennead (group of nine gods) of Heliopolis. In Egyptian art Geb, as a portrayal of the earth, was often depicted lying by the feet of Shu, the air god, with Nut, the goddess of the sky, arched above them. [x]

Tefnut the ancient Egyptian goddess of rain, water, and moisture. She was also at times a lunar deity, associated with the cycles and power of the moon. [x]

Words taken from The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje:

kerosene (n.) especially North American. a petroleum distillate widely used as a fuel and solvent.

linnet (n.) a small common Eurasian songbird related to the finches, Carduelis cannabina, with brown and grey plumage, formerly kept as a cage bird.

logician (n.) a person who is skilled in logic. [x]

descant (n.) literary. a melody; a song.

duomo (n.) an Italian cathedral. 

galvanize (v.) coat (metal, especially iron or steel) with zinc (usually without the use of electricity) as a protection against rust.

chorister (n.) a member of a choir.

bluebottle (n.) any of several large blowflies with a metallic-blue body, especially Calliphora vomitoria.

landform (n.) a natural feature of the earth’s surface.

Words taken from Bad Science by Ben Goldacre:

homeopathy (n.) the treatment of disease by minute doses of drugs that in a healthy person would produce symptoms of the disease.

deride (v.) be scornful of; mock.

reductionist (adj.) analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents. [x]

commodifiable (adj.) able to be commodified. [x]

detox (n.) = detoxification: the act of depriving of poisonous qualities, especially the elimination of poison from the body.

triptych (n.) a picture or relief carving on the three panels, usually hinged vertically together and often used as an altarpiece.

pseudoscience (n.) a pretended or spurious science.

toxin (n.) a poison produced by a living organism, especially one formed in the body and stimulating the production of antibodies.

stupefaction (n.) the state of being stupefied.

Words taken from The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper:

beaver hat (n.) historical. a hat made from beaver wool.

cursorily (adv.) in a way that is quick and not very careful. [x]

animadversion (n.) a critical and usually censorious remark. [x]

confederate (adj.) political. allied; joined by an agreement or treaty.

Zion (n.) one of the two hills and also the citadel of ancient Jerusalem. The name came to signify Jerusalem itself and, allegorically, the heavenly city or kingdom of heaven.

tide (n.) the alternate rising and falling of the sea, usually twice each lunar day in a given place, occurring due to the attraction of the moon and sun.

Canterbury gallop (n.) a gentle gallop such as was used by pilgrims riding to Canterbury; a canter. [x]

Yengeese (n. pl.) White people; specifically, English settlers in New England. James Fenimore Cooper suggested that [“Yankee”] was a corruption of “English” via the intermediate form “Yengeese.” [x, y]

yard (n.) a unit of linear measure equal to 3 feet (0.9144 metre).

Words taken from The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper:

disapprobation (n.) strong (especially moral) disapproval.

Thisbe Roman mythology. a Babylonian girl, lover of Pyramus.

Lenape (n.) an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. [x]

scrimmage (n.) a rough or confused struggle; a brawl.

incontrovertible (adj.) indisputable, indubitable.

Balaam Bible. a non-Israelite prophet who, on being summoned by the Moabites to put a curse on Israel, is first rebuked by the ass he is riding when he is unable to recognize an angel, and then prophesies great blessings for Israel (Num. 22–24).

forbearance (n.) patient self-control; tolerance.

marquisate (n.) the rank or dignity of a marquis. [x]

espouse (v.) adopt or support (a cause, doctrine, etc.).

Words taken from The Singer from Memphis (2016), the Athenian Mysteries, Gary Corby:

ammonium (n.) the monovalent ion NH4+, formed from ammonia.

gastraphetes (n.) a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century AD by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his work Belopoeica, which draws on an earlier account of the famous Greek engineer Ctesibius (fl. 285–222 BC). Heron identifies the gastraphetes as the forerunner of the later catapult, which places its invention some unknown time prior to c. 420 BC. [x]

Memphis an ancient city of Egypt, whose ruins are situated on the Nile about 15 km south of Cairo. It is thought to have been founded as the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt c.3100 BC. It is the site of the pyramids of Saqqara and Giza and the Sphinx.

nauarch (n.) in ancient Greece, an admiral or supreme commander of the navy, used as an official title primarily in Sparta in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC. [x]

Naukratis a city of ancient Egypt, on the Canopic branch of the Nile river, and 72 km southeast of the open sea and Alexandria. It was the first and, for much of its early history, the only permanent Greek colony in Egypt; it was a symbiotic nexus for the interchange of Greek and Egyptian art and culture. [x]

Ptah Egyptian mythology. an ancient deity of Memphis, creator of the universe and god of artisans, who became one of the chief deities of Egypt; he was identified by the Greeks with Hephaestus. 

Saqqara an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate known for its vast, ancient burial ground of Egyptian kings and royals, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, including the world-famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb, and a number of mastaba tombs. [x]

Siwa Oasis an urban oasis in Egypt between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert, 50 km east of the Libyan border and 560 km from Cairo. About 80 km in length and 20 km wide, Siwa Oasis is one of Egypt’s most isolated settlements with about 33,000 people, mostly Berbers, who developed a unique and isolated desert culture and a language called Siwi; they are also fluent in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic, which is called “Masry,” meaning Egyptian. Its fame derives primarily from its ancient role as the home to an oracle of Ammon, the ruins of which are a popular tourist attraction, which gave the oasis its ancient name Oasis of Amun Ra. [x]

trierarch (n.) the commander of a trireme. [x]

Words taken from The Song of Achilles (2011), by Madeline Miller:

changeling (n.) a child or thing believed to have been secretly substituted for another.

kithara / cithara (n.) an ancient Greek and Roman stringed musical instrument similar to the lyre.

Vimba (n.) a genus of cyprinid fish that is found in Europe and western Asia. There are currently four described species.

loach (n.) any of numerous small slender freshwater cyprinoid fishes of the family Cobitidae, found in Europe and Asia.

chiton (n.) a “dress is often seen in Roman or Greek art. The Doric version was made by draping material over the body and fastened at the shoulder by clasps. The Ionic chiton version was draped about the body and pinned at the waist.” [x]

halyard (n.) nautical. a rope or tackle for raising or lowering a sail or yard etc.

charnel house (n.) a house or vault in which dead bodies or bones are piled.

macerate (v.) make or become soft by soaking.

clangour (n.) a prolonged or repeated clanging noise.

Words taken from Children’s Encyclopedia of Rocks and Fossils (2019) by Claudia Martin:

ammolite (n.) the brilliantly coloured opalescent fossilized shell of an ammonite, found only in southern Alberta, used as a precious gem.

chatoyant (adj.) having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light. [x]

conchiolin (n.) a scleroprotein forming the organic basis of mollusk shells (as mother-of-pearl). [x]

moganite (n.) an oxide mineral with the chemical formula SiO2 (silicon dioxide). [x]

orthorhombic (adj.) mineral. (of a crystal) characterized by three mutually perpendicular axes, which are unequal in length, as in topaz and talc.

tarnish (v.) lessen or destroy the lustre of (metal etc.).

continental crust (n.) the two-layered, hard portion of the earth’s surface, which underlies and forms the large land masses and continental shelves.

oceanic crust (n.) the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that is found under the oceans and formed at spreading centres on oceanic ridges, which occur at divergent plate boundaries. [x]

subduction zone (n.) geology. a long narrow region containing a trench through which a descending plate of the earth’s crust is assimilated into the mantle during subduction.