happy may second

If I had managed to write yesterday it wouldn't have been Happy May First. It would have been May Day May Day May Day because I needed help. I still do.  

May Day is supposed to derive from "m'aidez",, French for "help me". Is that true?  What about SOS?  Those are the Morse Code letters, the easiest to tap out in an emergency, just coming into use at the time of the Titanic disaster when this plea for help was not readily recognized. 

How do I know all this? Fact or fiction?  Books have been published refuting what has been "common knowledge".  Like posh.  It was supposed to mean "port out, starboard home", describing the best situated cabins on cruise ships - in the South Pacific? - but we are told now that it's cute, but not true.

It's 25 to 4 in the morning and I will write some more when I wake up.

Anon.

Here I am, with more words, mostly from Black Eagle, Grey Falcon, because that's all I have time to read these days.

hellebore |ˈhɛlɪbɔː| noun: a poisonous winter-flowering Eurasian plant of the buttercup family, typically having coarse divided leaves and large white, green, or purplish flowers.

●Genus Helleborus, family Ranunculaceae: several species, including the Christmas rose..

ORIGIN Old English (denoting various plants supposed to cure madness), from Old French ellebre, elebore or medieval Latin eleborus, via Latin from Greek helleboros .

 

moustache |məˈstɑːʃ| (US also must ache), noun: a strip of hair left to grow above the upper lip.

• (moustaches) a long moustache. a clergyman with long grey moustaches   [Why the plural???]

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French, from Italian mostaccio, from Greek mustax, mustak- .

kolo |ˈkəʊləʊ|, noun, (pl.kolos): a Slavic dance performed in a circle.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: Croatian, literally ‘wheel’.

subfusc |ˈsʌbfʌsk, sʌbˈfʌsk|, adjective literary: dull; gloomy: the light was subfusc and aqueous.

noun [ mass noun ] Brit. the dark formal clothing worn for examinations and formal occasions at some universities.

ORIGIN early 18th cent.: from Latin subfuscus, from sub- ‘somewhat’ + fuscus ‘dark brown’.

parataxis |ˌparəˈtaksɪs|, noun [ mass noun ]: Grammar, the placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination, as in Tell me, how are you? Contrasted with hypotaxis.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Greek parataxis, from para- ‘beside’ + taxis ‘arrangement’ (from tassein ‘arrange’).

anamnestic |ˌanəmˈnɛstɪk|, adjective Medicine: denoting an enhanced reaction of the body's immune system to an antigen which is related to one previously encountered.

semiology |ˌsiːmɪˈɒlədʒi, ˌsɛmɪ-|, noun [ mass noun ]:another term for semiotics.

ORIGIN 1920s: from Greek sēmeion ‘sign’ (from sēma ‘mark’) + -logy.

semiotics |ˌsiːmɪˈɒtɪks, ˌsɛmɪ-, plural noun [ treated as sing.}: the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.

ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek sēmeiotikos ‘of signs’, from sēmeioun ‘interpret as a sign’.  [Think Naom Chomsky]

exordium |ɪgˈzɔːdɪəm, ɛg-|. noun, (pl.exordiums or exordia |-dɪə| ) formal: the beginning or introductory part, especially of a discourse or treatise.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Latin, from exordiri ‘begin’, from ex- ‘out, from’ + ordiri ‘begin’.

 There are some words I can't find in the online dictionary. I have a lot of dictionaries but I don't have a lot of time, so they can wait.