Aquarius 23: A big bear sitting down and waving all its paws

T h e w o r d b i g a p p e a r s t o h a v e e n t e r e d t h e E n g l i s h l a n g ua g e i n t h e v e r y e a r l y 1 4 t h ce n t u r y a n d i n t h e n o r t h e rn E n g l a n d d i a l e c t m e a n t p o w e r f u l, s t r on g . W h i l e i t s o r i g i n i s u n k n o w n , i t m a y ha v e S c a n d i n a v i a n s o u r ce , p e r h a p s t he N o rw e g i a n

b u gge w h i c h m e a n s g r e a t m a n . T h e O l d
E n g l i s h us e d m i ce l t o c o n v e y t he s a me s e n se . 1 T h e w o r d b e a r d e sc e n d s f r o m t h e I n d o E u r o p e a n ( IE ) r o o t b h e r - 2 w h i c h m e a n s bright, brown and from which also descend b e r s e r k e r , b r u i n , bu r n e t , a n d bu r n i s h . 2 T h e w o r d s i t t i ng d e s c e n d s f r o m t h e IE r o o t s e d-1 w h i c h me a n s t o s i t . 3 A m o n g i t s p a r o n y m s a re s a n ce ,

s e di m e nt , s e s si o n , s e we r ( a m e d i e v a l s e r v a n t w h o s up e rv i s e d t h e s e r v i n g
o f m e a l s ) , a s se s s, as s i ze , di s s i de n t , ass i du o u s , res i de , s ub s i dy ,

s u p e rs e de , ca t h e dra l , si t, s ea t, s a ddl e , n i c k , n e st , n i c he , co s s e t , se da t e ,
a n d s e e ( t h e o f f i ci a l s e a t , c e n t e r o f a u t h o r i t y , j u r i s d i ct i o n , o r o f fi c e o f a b i s h op ) . T h e w o r d d ow n ha s t h r e e d i s t i n c t me a n i n g s de s c e n d i n g f r o m t w o d i f f e r e n t r o ot s . T h e f i r s t d e fi n i t i o n me a n s f r o m a hi g h e r t o a l o w e r p l a c e o r p o si t i o n 4 a n d i t d e s c e n d s f r om t h e I E r o ot d h e u e - , t o c l o s e , f i n i s h, c o m e f u l l c i r c l e . 5 A l s o d e s c e n di n g f r o m t h i s r o o t i s d o w n a s a n e x p a n s e o f r o l li n g , g r a s s y , t r e e l e ss u p l a n d u s e d f o r g r a z i n g . 6 T h e t hi r d s e n se o f d ow n i s a s f i n e , s o f t , f l u f f y f e a t h e r s f o r mi n g t h e f i r s t p l u m a g e

1 2 3 4 5 6

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=big Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 10 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 73 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/down Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 19 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/d ictionary/entry/down_3 Starling Hunter 2011 1

o f a y o u n g b i r d a n d u n d e r l y i n g t h e co n t o u r f e a t h e r s i n c e r t a i n a d u l t b i r d s a n d a s o f t , s i l k y , o r f e a t h e r y su b s t a n c e , s u c h a s t h e f i r s t g r o w t h o f a h u m a n b e a r d. 7 T h i s m e a n i n g d e s ce n d s f r o m t h e M i dd l e E n g l i s h d o u n a n d t h e O l d N o r se d u n n . T h e v e r b w a v e d e sc e n d s f r o m t h e I E ro o t w e bh - w h i c h me a n s t o w e a v e , t o m o v e q u i c k l y . 8 A m o n g i t s p a r o n y m s a r e w a f e r , w a f f l e , w a ve , w a ve r , w e b , w e e v il , w e a v e , w o b b l e , w e ft , a n d w o o f . F i n a l l y , t he w o r d p a w e n t e r e d t h e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e i n t h e e a r l y 1 4 t h c e n t u r y f r o m t h e Ol d F r e n c h p o w e a n d p o e b u t i t s m o r e r e m o t e o r i g i n s are unknown. TH EMES : O n e k e y t h e m e h e r e c o n ce r n s L O RDSH I P ( a m a n o f h i g h r a n k i n a fe u d a l s o c i e t y ; t o a c t l i k e a l o r d ; d o m i n e e r) . On e o f t h e m o r e ob v i o u s c o n t r a s t s i s t h a t o f t h e b u gge , t he g r e a t o r b i g m a n v e r su s t h e se we r , t h e r e l a t i v e l y l o w l y se r v a n t w h o s p e c i a l i z e d i n t h e s e r v i n g o f m e a l s. A t le a s t o n e c o mp o u n d w o r d c a n b e f o r m e d f r o m t h e a b o v e k e y wo r d s a n d p a r o n y m s , n a m e l y s i t - do wn w h i c h me a n s b o t h a me a l fo r p e op l e se a t e d a t a t a b le a n d a w o r k s t o p p a ge i n w h i c h t h e w o r k e r s r e f u s e t o le a v e t h e i r p l a c e o f e mp lo y m e n t u n t i l t he i r d e m a n d s a r e co n s i d e r e d o r m e t . T a k e n t o g e t h e r i t i s n o t ha r d t o i m a gi n e a s t o r y o r s i t u a t i o n w h e r e a b i g m a n , a b e a r o f a ma n , p e r ha p s a n o wn e r o f o n e o r m o r e e a t i n g e s t a b l i s h me n t s w h o s e w o r k e r s ( w a i t e r s , s e r v e r s) g o on st r i k e t o p r o t e s t m i s t r e a t m e n t a t t he h a n d s ( p a w s ) o f t h e i r be rs e rk b os s . T h e m i s t r e a t m e n t c o u ld i n c l u d e p a w i n g t h e s e r v e r s, i . e . se x u a l h a r a s s me n t a n d s o m e o f t h e w or k e r s c o u l d , q u i t e n a t u r a l l y, wa ve r i n t h e i r r e s o l v e t o c o n f r o n t t he i r t o r m e n t o r. N o t s u r p r i s i n g l y , s u c h a st o r y h a s b e e n t o l d i n t h e f o r m o f r a t he r p o o r l y r a t e d m o v i e e n t i t l e d, T h e Sl a mm i n Sa l mo n . T h e f i l m s W i ki p e di a p a g e s u m m a ri z e s t h e p l o t a s f o l l o ws :

7 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/down_2 8 http://web.archive.org/web/20080211183126/www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE550.html Starling Hunter 2011 2

"Slammin" Cleon Salmon, the former Heavyweight Champion of the world, a mean, hard, crazy, and sometimes infantile bull of a man, owes $20,000 to the head of the Japanese Yakuza and needs to come up with the money tonight. So he challenges the waiters in the restaurant that he owns, The Slammin Salmon, a high end, boxing themed seafood eatery in Miami, to sell more food than they have ever sold in their lives. Its going to be a contest between the waiters with some prizes and penalties: the top waiter gets $10,000 cash and the lowest waiter gets a "broken ribs sandwich" courtesy of the Champ.9

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slammin'_Salmon Starling Hunter 2011 3