Difficult Words Beginning with "H"; Second Essay

5. The OED lists ten word built off the word hebdomad--such as hebdomadarian, hebdomadally, hebdomadary, etc. If we take the time to understand the basic concept of "seven," we have these ten words immediately in our pocket. The Greek word hebdomas, taken over into Latin in exactly that form, means "the number seven, a period of seven days." You might be saying to yourself, "Well, I thought the prefix 'sept' related to seven," and indeed it does. But Latin had both the "native" and the "borrowed" term to express seven (also with six--"hex" and "sex"). Let's see the word hebdomad at work. From 1678: "The Tetrad is an arithmetical mediety betwixt the Monad and the Hebdomad." Or, from 1837: "Like the hebdomad, which profound philosophers have pronounced to be..a motherless as well as virgin number." At little reading around has left me confused as to whether a motherless and a virgin number were different things. I think they were, and that the explanation is as follows. It all goes back to Pythagoras and has to do with numbers 10 or less which divide into each other or are multiplied to produce another number within 10. I think I can be more specific. In Pythagorean philosophy 7 was a perfect number because it was made up of 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, both of which are "perfect" figures. But 7 was called virginal because it could "mate" (i.e., be multiplied with) with no number and produce a number of 10 or less and it was "motherless," because no two numbers below 10 could be multiplied to produce it (except, of course, 1 and 7, which would be ignored). 1,2,3,4, and 5 all can "link" with another number to produce a number less than 10; 6,8,9,10 are all produced by the product of two numbers less than 10, not including the product of one and the number. Thus, 7 is a 'unique' number. Ancient philosophers found this more than fascinating--it was an opening into or revelation of the profound structure of the universe. But we must leave the mystery here, unless you are inspired to pursue it further.

So, a hebdomadal practice is one done every seven days; hebdomadary means "doing duty for a week." John Donne penned a 1631 sermon in which he said: "Hebdomadary righteousnesse, a Sabbatarian Righteousnesse is no righteousnesse..." But hebdomadary had an earlier signification going back to the 15th century, which referred to a member of a chapter or convent who took his/her weekly turn in the performance of the sacred offices of the Church. "While engaged in such services as they performed by weekly turns, monks were called 'Hebdomadaries.'" Why not refer to doctors, National Guardsmen or others who are "on call" one week per month as our modern "hebdomadaries"?

6. That is far too much time on hebdomad/hebdomadally, and so let's go to another relatively easy and useful word: hebetude/hebetate. The Latin word behind it, hebetudo is the "quality of hebes." Hebes had two meanings in classical antiquity: (1) a blunt sword or obtuse angle; or (2) weak (eyes) or dull (senses). When the word hebetude came into English in the 17th century, it has lost its physical or material association and had adopted a figurative meaning: dullness, bluntness, obtuseness, lethargy. From 1621: "Motion as well as health...drives away all lassitude, hebetude, and indisposition." A 19th century moralist could write of "A hebetude, if it may be so termed, of the moral sensibilities." Ezra Pound could write in 1918: "There is something in his [sc. Jules Romains's] work. It is not the hebetude of a lignified cerebrum." Isn't that last phrase a cutie? A "lignified cerebrum" would be similar to our phrase--the person is "dead from the shoulders up..."

So, the word hebetude illustrates the way that many English words journeyed from being a visible concept to a figurative idea as time passed (we see that in "gall," also). But before leaving this word I have to register my opinion of all this. Even though it may be "natural" to develop figurative meanings of words; even though it may be good to "verbalize" nouns (such as "task," originally a nount, which became a verb in the 16th century; or "mammock," originally a noun, which Shakespeare make a verb in Coriolanus I.iii.65), I think the further we get away from concretized objects as we speak, the greater the possibilities of misunderstanding and unclarity emerge. Indeed, does hebetude now mean the same thing as acedia? Is it laziness, lack of energy, a general wanness, stupidity, lack of understanding? Let's let the dogs sleep as we move on.

A Plethora of Other Words

Rather than stretching these essays interminably, let me just list the rest of the "he"-words which I think are worth knowing. I may define a few to close this essay. We have: (7) hebona; (8) hechima; (9) hechsher; (10) hechtia; (11) hedebo; (12) hediondilla; (13) hedychium; (14) heemraad; (15) heiau; (16) heitiki; (17) heliciform; (18) helicteres; (19) helladoantherium; (20) helleri; (21) helobious; (22) helotiales (pro. hel o SHEE a lees); (23) helshoes; (24) hemachate; (25) hematocryal; and one I forgot, (26) hecogenin.

Hebona is spelled one way in the Unabridged, but it rendered hebenon, hebon, hebona in the OED. Great. It is the name given by Shakespeare and Marlowe to a substance having a poisonous juice. I always quote S here; let's do Marlowe (1592) for a change: "In few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane, The juice of hebon, and Cocytus' breath..." Sounds like some people in the morning, I suppose.... Hechima is a Japanese loan-word meaning the "sponge-gourd." Picture is here.

I need to pause on hechsher for a moment. It was one of the few words in the Kids' bee in which it was spelled correctly but the judges said was incorrectly spelled. The judges said it was spelled "hechscher," which would be the natural Germanic spelling. But, they were wrong--and they quickly saw their error. The word isn't in the OED, but it appears in the Unabridged to describe a rabbinical endorsement that food products conform to Jewish dietary laws. So it is a Jewish "stamp of approval."

Conclusion

I think I violated my principle by defining every word, but what is better than understanding? So, let's close with two more: hechtia and hecogenin. A hechtia is a genus of Bromeliads, mostly native to Mexico. Here are pictures of the Hechtia lundelliorum, Hechtia caerulea, and Hechtia rosea. The word isn't in the OED but it does appear in the Unabridged. Finally, hecogenin is a steroid glycoside actually made from hechtia, extracted from sisal waste and was used commercially as a precursor in the manufacture of cortisone and other steriod hormones. From 1943: "We first isolated from Hechtia texensis a new steroidal sapogenin having the composition C27 H42 O4, which we have named "hecogenin.""

I can hardly wait to continue these thoughts.

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