Saunterer
From Plastic Tub
Saunterer in Hungarian is õdöngõ, õgyelgõ, lézengõ, and is a word used by Stimes Addisson to denote an egg.
[edit]
Extrapolation
- "Sanctus" (Latin for "holy") was an early Christian mantra; it crept into music as a chant, a device that lingers to this day ("Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty..."). Generalized, a sanctus is any such hymn.
- More interesting is the Black Sanctus, which, per the OED, is "a kind of burlesque hymn; a discord of harsh sounds expressive of contempt or dislike (formerly used as a kind of serenade to a faithless wife)." Organ grinders and accordion squeezers pump out black sancti on the streets of Italy to this day.
- The word eventually devolved into the English "saunter," which, long ago, referred to one touched by the muse, wandering in a reverie, bringing forth an incantation. The magical components of the word were later lost, and it came to be more-or-less synonymous with "meander."
- Curiously, the neutral form of sanctus (sanctum) came to mean a holy place; though saunter and sanctum share a common root, they have branched into completely opposite meanings of place/non-place, though they share inexplicit connotations of solitude and purpose.
- --Sanctuary. Dubord, Elysius. 1954.
- "Sanctus," that mantra, that chant; I moan into your tender ear, "holy, holy, holy."
- But you groan, burlesque; your discord, your Black Sanctus, it serenades this faithless wife. Organs grind and squeeze.
- "Saunter"; I care not; wandering in reverie, my incantation ensares. Your sanctum is mine; place/non-place: we share solitude and purpose.
[edit]
Usage
"...and quit the Life of an insignificant Saunterer about Town, for that of an useful Country-Gentleman..." -- Berkeley. "Giant brains, or machines that think." 1735.
[edit]
