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Pack your oxygen tank, we're going to space. There’s a lot of etymology up there.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
“Ymir’s name means ‘Screamer’ (from the Old Norse verb ymja, “to scream”). The scream, the wordless voice, is the raw material from which words are made.”
“For the first time using modern technology we recorded conclusive proof that the earliest known use of iron by Egyptians was from a meteorite.”
A cool word I have never had occasion to use (yet): apojove, “The point in an orbit around the planet Jupiter where the orbiting body is farthest from the planet.” In contrast, there is ‘perijove’, “the point in the orbit of a satellite of Jupiter nearest the planet's center”.
I stumbled upon the new-to-me term ‘ubi sunt’ while messing around writing the Squarespace ad, of all things.
And if that ad piqued your curiosity about the poem ‘The Wanderer’, here it is with parallel translation…
…“the brevity of the hopeful message in these few lines seems insufficient to balance the overwhelming sorrow attending the loss of the things and people of the meadhall” ok I’ll stop going on about ‘The Wanderer’ now.
Otherlusionists: Uranus about the name of that planet; Craters on the naming and renaming of those features; the Tranquillusionist about ex-constellations; Technobabble about space language; Behave about how cognitive behavioural therapy works;
Links to the good things I mentioned by pallusionists: Nikesh Shukla’s pamphlet Hope Must Be Held In A Clenched Fist, and Eleanor McDowall’s polyglot audio project Radio Atlas.
The show is taking a little break, and will return early April 2026.
To keep in touch in the meantime, head over to theallusionist.org/donate, where from as little as $2/month, or as much as $infinity per month if you prefer, you get written bonus content including behind-the-scenes info about every episode; you also get membership of the charming and nurturing Allusioverse Discord community, where we hang out and keep each other company; we have watch parties, coming up will be Chungking Express, Belle and The Ice Storm, and the current season of Great Pottery Throwdown; AND you get more regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-growing collection of dictionaries. AND you're keeping this independent podcast going, so thanks very much for doing that and sparing it from going to the farm upstate. You can also sign up for a free account to get occasional email updates.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
scuncheon, noun: the inside face of a door jamb or window frame.
Origin Middle English: shortening of Old French escoinson, based on coin 'corner'.
CREDITS:
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
The score and singing is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social.
Back in April with new episodes - HZ.
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