Thursday, April 17, 2008

365 New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing) 12/29/7: tartar

tartar n 1 often capitalized : a person of irritable or violent temper 2: one that proves to be unexpectedly formidable
"Originally, their name was Tatar, not Tartar. The tatar hav lived inAsia and Eastern Europe since at least the 1200s, and they were among the fiercest fighters of he Golden Horde of the Mongols. In the 13th century, they rode with Genghis Khan and became the terror of their day The name Tatar is believed to come from Persian or a Turkic language, but in Europe it was associated with Tartarus, the Latin name for he part of hell reserved for the punishment of the wicked." Tartar sauce is thusly named after the Tatars. Rating 8/10 steaks tartare.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"