Category: Uncategorized

The word “apothic”

apothic crush

My friend Dan, always with a question, writes:

Apothic: A mysterious word. Searching Google, apothic is used for a lot of commercial enterprises, particularly a cheap red California wine that appears to be popular. It also pops up as a scent, as an alternative medicine peddler, a carpentry shop, etc. But mostly the wine.

Urban Dictionary gives “beautiful or stunning,” but there’s only one entry which makes that definition highly suspect. The word “apoth” appears to have nothing to do with it, that is an archaic derogatory term for someone who is an apothecary, plus apoth is also a Northern English local word meaning “silly.” Not to be confused with aphotic, which means “unfathomable depth.” My spell checker keeps trying to make the word apothem, which is a line drawn in a polygon from the center to one of the sides.

So in desperation I checked the wine maker’s site, and found Apothic Red Wine is put out by Gallo. (Urp.) On their site I found, “Inspired by “Apotheca,” a mysterious place where wine was blended and stored in 13th century Europe…” So I find Wiktionary which defines apotheca as a warehouse or repository. But then I see “apotheca” appropriated as a coffee house and as another herb peddler, flower seller, a hair shop, etc.

So finally I zeroed in. It seems that an apotheca, back in ancient Greek times, was a storeroom usually in the upper part of a house used particularly for storing wine. So I’m guessing that “apothic” is a modern made-up word that has not been copyrighted (although it appears that someone tried to claim copyright) that is supposed to sound like something technical to do with wine. But, judging by the variety of commercial names, the use of the word is scattered all over the place.

Perhaps a Librarian can help me out here. Am I missing something? Or is this too tedious to bother with? Is this what I do when I get up early?

“So I’m guessing that ‘apothic’ is a modern made-up word” – well, all words are ultimately made up. And my best guess is someone made an adjective out of apotheca, which is the antecedent to boutique and bodega.

To your last sentence: I think you already have the bulk of your answer, a variation of apothecary: Mid-14c., “shopkeeper, especially one who stores, compounds, and sells medicaments,” from Old French apotecaire (13c., Modern French apothicaire), from Late Latin apothecarius “storekeeper,” from Latin apotheca “storehouse,” from Greek apotheke “barn, storehouse,” literally “a place where things are put away,” from apo- “away” (see apo-) + tithenai “to put, to place” (see theme). Same root produced French boutique and Spanish bodega. Cognate compounds produced Sanskrit apadha- “concealment,” Old Persian apadana- “palace.”

Surely THE answer you seek may be derived by the right librarian or linguist. But I’m hitting the same references as you are. I DO agree that the “beautiful” definition is suspect.

The only reference I found you did not mention is the Thesaurasize definition, “Of, or relating to the eye or to vision,” which I find even more puzzling. Maybe this was confused with aphotic, “being the deep zone of an ocean or lake receiving too little light to permit photosynthesis.”

I looked at the USPTO.gov website. Yes, E. & J. GALLO WINERY CORPORATION has a lot of trademarks that are LIVE (active), Apothic, Apothic Brew, Apothic Dark, Apothic Fire, and Apothic Smoke. Two of them they have even trademarked not just the name but the logo design:

APOTHIC CRUSH (pictured)
The color(s) red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a red label with a letter “A” surrounded by various swirl designs centered at the top. Centered below is cursive lettering spelling out CRUSH in what appears to be fabric, and directly below that are printed capital letters spelling APOTHIC CRUSH. Forming a rectangle around the border of the label are swirl designs.

APOTHIC RED
The color(s) red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark. The mark consists of a three dimensional configuration of a glass bottle for the goods, namely, a bottle with a round circumference and vertical sides that gradually curve in at the neck; the bottom of the bottle is concave. Around the middle of the circumference of the bottle it is shaded darker than the rest of the bottle, and at the top of the shaded section on one side of the bottle is a label, which consists of the red letter “A” surrounded by various red swirl designs. Directly underneath the label are the words APOTHIC RED in capital letters, with APOTHIC in white lettering and RED in red lettering. The top of the bottle is covered by red sealing material that goes halfway down the neck of the bottle and covers the cork at the top of the bottle.

GALLO has abandoned the trademarks for Apothic Frost, Apothic Ice, Apothic Lust, and Apothic Spice.

The only other company that has trademarked the word apothic is LUX BEAUTY GROUP, West Hollywood CALIFORNIA 90069.

This title is DEAD (abandoned) – ROYAL APOTHIC INVISIBLE SKIN: Cosmetics, toiletries, non-medicated skin care preparations, non-medicated bath and body gels and lotions, body washes, and soaps for personal use

But this is LIVE (in use) – ROYAL APOTHIC: Non-medicated bath and body gels and lotions, non-medicated skin care preparations; soaps for personal use; perfumes; and scented room sprays.

Variations on the name Richard

“Around the 16th century Dick started to be synonymous with ‘man’, ‘lad’, or ‘fellow’, sort of a general name for any ‘Tom, Dick, or Francis”.

richard nixonRegarding my post of March 8, the Windy City Kiwi, Arthur@AmeriNZ, wrote:

HUGE props to you for doing a post relevant to International Women’s Day without making it about it. I tend to think the most powerful feminism from men is when it’s not about being feminist. Maybe that’s just me.

But I want to challenge you a bit. You wrote that you object to “the C-word” in part because of the “the reduction of a woman to a body part”. But, do you similarly object to a man being called a “dumb prick” or, more simply, a “dick”? That’s reducing a man to a body part, after all, but no one—ever—says “the D-word” or similar. Is it really any less objectionable and, if not, why not?

An “Ask Roger” question without being prompted!

Obviously I agree with the gist of your post, and I challenge myself far more than I challenge others. But I do wonder sometimes if we have cultural blinders on, and so, don’t see oppressive language in all its manifestations.

I suppose I didn’t think about this side of the equation very much, maybe because this is still a male-centric culture. It’s usually men that I hear using these terms, surely far more often than I hear women sharing them.

Perhaps others use the term because of the cliche – which may be true – that men sometimes (often?) seem to think to think with their “little heads”, that men are, as a whole, a less evolved species.

I will say that these aren’t words that I would use, personally. Indeed, there are a whole slew of terms for male body parts that I tend not to choose to describe the whole man. But is that a function of sensitivity or just me being a prude? The only time I use the word prick is when I get blood drawn and they prick my finger, which, BTW, hurts more than one would think.

The only people named Richard that I regularly referred to as Dick were Nixon and Cheney.

My father-in-law is named Richard. My mother-in-law calls him Dick, as do most of his friends in his age range, but I call him Richard. This is, undoubtedly a reaction, when I was a kid, to some poor boy named Richard being verbally tortured for his nickname.

And there are so many other choices for Richard: Rich, Richie, Rick. I wondered how How Dick Came to be Short for Richard:

Due to people having to write everything by hand, shortened versions of Richard were common, such as ‘Ric’ or ‘Rich’. This in turn gave rise to nicknames like ‘Richie’, ‘Rick’, and ‘Ricket’, among others. People also used to like to use rhyming names; thus, someone who was nicknamed Rich might further be nicknamed Hitch. Thus, Richard -> Ric -> Rick gave rise to nicknames like Dick and Hick around the early 13th century.

This s also how William became Bill, Robert became Bob, et al.

While few today call Richards ‘Hick’, the nickname ‘Dick’ has stuck around, and of course has come to mean many other things as well. Its persistence as associated with Richard is probably in part because around the 16th century Dick started to be synonymous with ‘man’, ‘lad’, or ‘fellow’, sort of a general name for any ‘Tom, Dick, or Francis” (which by the way appears in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, written in the late 16th century, with Dick at this point firmly established as an “every man” name). It may well be that this association with ‘man’ is in turn how ‘dick’ eventually came to mean ‘penis’.

But the more vulgar reference is much later, from the last quarter of the 19th century.

The etymological roots of the word Dick, as a replacement for an everyday guy, which somehow segued into something more vulgar, makes me no less eager to use the term, but it was something I learned that I did not know.

Justification for Ask Roger Anything

You can ask me ANYTHING, and I will absotively, possilutely answer.

Absolutely no one has written to me saying: “Roger, why are you such a lazy blogger, asking your readers to do the heavy lifting by coming up with topics for your blog FOUR times a year?”

My answer would be that when the bloggers I know, such as Jaquandor – like clockwork in the beginning of February and August – and SamuraiFrog and Arthur the AmeriNZ ask for questions, I always oblige them.

In fact, this time around, I was chomping at the bit  to ask Jaquandor about Mario Cuomo vis a vis other New York State governors, and about the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

My assumption is that, by doing this exercise on a regular basis, I can inspire your meanest, nastiest, rottenest questions to me. Since that actually hasn’t actually happened, I’m left with the conclusion that you are all rather swell people, which is also nice.

Last time out, I found questions from Melanie to be the most difficult because they were the most philosophical.

I feel throwing the floor open to youse folk – ah, the flaw of the English language – helps me as a writer, and a thinker, and a person. If this were a Nicholas Sparks novel, I’d write, “You fulfill me!” But it’s not. So I won’t.

The rules remain that you can ask me ANYTHING, and I will absotively, possilutely answer. Swear to whatever deity you follow, and relatively soon, within the month.

I promise to respond to your questions to the best of my ability and memory. Naturally, memory is a tricky thing – self-selecting, imprecise; ask Brian Williams. As always, a little obfuscation is allowed, because it’s more fun for me.

You can leave your comments below, or send them to me on Facebook (I’m the Roger Green as the duck) or Twitter (@ersie). If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s OK; you should e-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, and note that you want to remain anonymous. Otherwise, I will cite you, or give you a citation, or…

Consider this a late birthday present to me. I LOVE presents.

Lenten music Friday: Handel Messiah, Part II (continued)

George_Frideric_Handel_by_Balthasar_DennerHey, this year is the 430th anniversary of Georg Friedrich Händel’s birthday. He was born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany.

All of the text of the next part of Messiah by Handel, Part II is from the book of the prophet Isaiah, mostly from chapter 53. Invariably, when any of the text of Messiah are part of the scripture reading during church, the musical iterations come rushing to mind.

(23) He was despised – air, alto
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. . . Isaiah 50:6 [He]gave [His] back to the smiters, and [His] cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: [He] hid not [His] face from shame and spitting.

Performance by ORQUESTA Y CORO AD LIBITUM, Cristina Faus, contralto

(24) Surely He hath borne our griefs – chorus
Isaiah 53:4,5 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:the chastisement of our peace was upon him,
(25) And with His stripes we are healed
Isaiah 53:5b …and with His stripes we are healed
(26) All we like sheep have gone astray
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Performance by ORQUESTA Y CORO AD LIBITUM

Usually, I’m used to the fuller sound of a large chorale, rather than the dozen singers, but this is surprisingly effective.

Compare with:
The Emek Hefer Chamber Choir.

Insomnia-writing post

insomniaA study suggested that 7, not 8 hours of sleep, is optimal. Less than that, for most people, is suboptimal.

I know Dustbury sometimes has trouble going to sleep. He once wrote: “For some reason, around 10 pm, when I should be shutting down the brain for the night, I seem to start new projects. It’s almost like I’m daring insomnia to descend upon me. Somehow this seems counterproductive.”

Probably true; most of those advice columns suggest getting away from the TV, computer, or electronic device of your choice 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. Almost never happens with me.

I got this from SOMEWHERE:

If, as researchers report, people with insomnia could not turn off a “mind wandering” region of the brain irrelevant to tasks of working memory, then is it possible that this mind wandering function in the sleep deprived person is 1. A compensatory “dream while awake” mechanism; and 2. A possible compensatory strength in cognitive fluidity and creativity? Are some tasks better approached on a full night’s sleep, while others on vapors? And can you surmise on what basis this is written?

So, it’s 3:30 a.m., and I’m looking through ideas for blog posts that I never used. Or maybe I DID use them and forgot. It’s 3:30 – too tired to check!

Did I use this? Religious People Tend to Be More Racist, Study Finds. This is TOTALLY believable, unfortunately. (And when it’s really early in the morning, I tend to repeat myself. Such as the use of the word TOTALLY. I’d not allow that when I’m wide awake!)

I need to rant about how stupid changing the clocks is, I believe, but too tired for that.

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