Monday, November 12, 2012

Word of the Day -- Codex

Today's word is Codex.  Seems appropriate because we have been discussing the Codex Celtarum of late.  I got to wondering about the origin of the word, as I'm likely to do.  So I looked up it's meaning first and that gave me a big clue as to its origin:  A manuscript book especially of scripture, classics, or ancient annals.  That much I knew, or at least had the idea of.  But what I didn't know was the word codex comes from Latin caudex, meaning "trunk of tree" or "block of wood".  That's when the light bulbs went off.  You put wood and words together and you were almost always talking about a book in the past.  Even today, of course if we are actually holding a book in our hands (and not reading digitally like you are now) we have wood and words together in paper and ink.  It's a wonderful word, codex.  And the study of ancient bookbinding crafts is called codicology.  Also a very good word.  So be on the lookout for ancient manuscripts, they might be worth something.  And when you pick up your copy of Codex Celtarum, you'll be a little wiser.  

1 comment:

Brian N. Young said...

I study ancient Celtic manuscripts in my field all of the time, so I am familiar with them very well! As for the Codex Celtarum...yay!

Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds: An Introduction

For several weeks now, we’ve been hyping up the Gygaxian Fantasy World series on various platforms, Facebook, X, Instagram, and Twitch. It ...