October 3, 2014 Friday
blog address: Readingthedictionarybackwards.blogspot.com
email: ishmaelish36@blogspot.com
You can find my other blog of pediatric anecdotes, poetry, artwork and literature at ishmaelish36.blogspot.com
vanilla: [Latin, vagina sheath; in Spanish, a diminutive of vaina sheath]
If you look at a picture of the vanilla plant, you see large pods or 'sheaths' that house the vanilla bean.
I have come across other words in botany that use the term 'vagina' to refer to a sheath, which seemed surprising until I saw this etymology.
venetian blinds:
I am not sure if anyone has seen venetian blinds in Venice, Italy, but the thought is intriguing. I am looking at some right now as I write this.
The French call venetian blinds "les Persienes" (the Persians). Evidently, the idea for this kind of blind was brought to Venice (an important trading center) from Persia. Freed Venetian slaves then brought the idea to Paris, hence "les Persienes." The blinds made their introduction to the USA in the 1700's, and are depicted in a painting in 1787 about the Constitutional Convention ("The Visit of Paul Jones to the Constitutional Convention" by J. L. Gerome Ferris).
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