PDA

View Full Version : [Dixonary] New Word: fucus


Dodi Schultz
December 14th, 2006, 04:38 PM
John, one of the dictionaries on my shelf (M-W 10th Collegiate) mentioned
(in addition to the seaweed) the OBSOLETE definition "face paint" (not yet
marked "obsolete" in the Collegiate's "parent," Int'l Unabridged II of
1934), which apparently anciently referred to a dye obtained from lichens
and used as a rouge. (The 1864 gives "a paint; a dye; also, false show" as
the number one def, "a genus of alga" as the second.) It's not clear to me
what the connection was, but perhaps the dye, apparently a deep red, was
the color of some of the brown algae. Or maybe the seaweed genus was named
later, after the dye? My other main dictionary, Chambers 21st Century,
doesn't list the word at all.

--Dodi

Toni Savage
December 14th, 2006, 09:26 PM
Ah...Chambers knows! <g>

fu'cus (n.) (_obs._) paint for the face, cosmetic (_pl._ fuci, -si, fucuses); (cap.) the bladder-wrack genus of saweeds. -- _adj._ fu'coid, like, pertaining to, or containing bladder-wrack, or seaweed, or seaweed-like markings. -- n. a marking like a fossil seaweed. --adjs. fucoid'al; fu'cused, painted. [L. _Fucus_, orchil, rouge; Gr. _phykos_)



bonnyjars <bonnyjars (AT) yahoo (DOT) co.uk> wrote:
Dodi

I didn't mean to make my DQ public but the reason I did DQ is that fucus is the general word for "kelp" or any fronded brown seaweed
- although in fact not all of them are of the genus fucus. No-one knows if the meaning Toni gave is derivative in that face paint
was made from seaweed or derivative the other way round for greek phykos means lichen, or seaweed, or rock-paint and came to mean
rouge

JohnnyB


> -----Original Message-----
> From: coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com
> [mailto:coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com] On Behalf Of Dodi Schultz
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 6:18 PM
> To: coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com
> Subject: [Dixonary] New Word: fucus
>
>
> >> My AHD gives: fucus - Any of various brown algae of the genus
> >> _Fucus_, which includes many of the rockweeds.
>
> Yes, Chris, and M-W, Random House, and the Concise OED all
> pretty much agree with that, explaining John's DQ. It's from
> Greek (phukos or phykos), they say.
>
> --Dodi
>
>
>
>

Toni Savage
December 14th, 2006, 09:28 PM
Ah.. my quote was from Chambers 20th (given to me back in the 70's). None of those say the genus is capitalized?

Dodi Schultz <schultz (AT) compuserve (DOT) com> wrote:
John, one of the dictionaries on my shelf (M-W 10th Collegiate) mentioned
(in addition to the seaweed) the OBSOLETE definition "face paint" (not yet
marked "obsolete" in the Collegiate's "parent," Int'l Unabridged II of
1934), which apparently anciently referred to a dye obtained from lichens
and used as a rouge. (The 1864 gives "a paint; a dye; also, false show" as
the number one def, "a genus of alga" as the second.) It's not clear to me
what the connection was, but perhaps the dye, apparently a deep red, was
the color of some of the brown algae. Or maybe the seaweed genus was named
later, after the dye? My other main dictionary, Chambers 21st Century,
doesn't list the word at all.

--Dodi