Olga has posted the second part of her exploration of the Sea, written with her usual élan. I particularly liked the phrase “novel knowledge”. Invisible alliteration!
A word that jumped out at me was “sea-loathing”. I’ve never needed an antonym for “sea-longing” before, but if I need one in the future, I know now what to say. Then I got to wondering if anyone has ever used that word before, so I asked my research assistant in Mountain View, CA. The response was entertaining.
- From the entry on St. Andrews in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1888: “The golf links, which are considered the best in Scotland, and sea–loathing attract many residents and visitors.”
- From 1801, a book entitled Hints Designed to Promote Beneficence, Temperance, & Medical Science by John Coakley Lettsom, teaches us that “The great and opulent continually acknowledge the efficacy of Sea loathing.”
Umm, what? Here’s the snippet from the Encyclopedia:
Mystery solved! Scanning those old books, sometimes a “b” looks like an “lo”. Have pity on the poor scholar who one day tries to get that one straight in her head.
Let us close out this scholarly excursion with this thought from Lewis Carroll:
[The Snark has a] fondness for loathing machines,
Which it constantly carries about,
And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes —
A sentiment open to doubt.
tom hillman
Joe, you have a future in this line of work, provided only you keep your day job. 😉
Joe
I’m totally keeping my day job. My company has a JSTOR subscription!
Tom hillman
Aha!
Olga
Sir, this is wonderful! Thank you very much for this!