Sagittarius 8: Rocks and things forming therein

T h e n o u n r ock i n t h i s c o n t e x t r e f e r s t o relatively hard, naturally f o rm e d m i n e r a l o r p e t r i fi e d m a t t e r ; s t on e . 1 I t s u l t i m a t e o r i g i n i s u n c e r t a i n . A m on g i t s more recent p r og e n i t o r s are t he Old E n g l i s h ro c c i n t h e w o r d s t a n ro c m e a n i n g s t on e r o c k o r o b e l i s k , t h e V u l g a r L a t i n

ro c c a . T h e O n l in e E t ym o l o gi c a l D i c tio n a ry
indicates that the word used in Middle English principally for rock f o r m a t i o n s a s op p os e d t o i n d i v i d u a l st o n e s. 2 T h e w o r d t hi ng de s c e n d s f r o m t h e I n d o - E u r o p e a n ( IE ) r o o t t e nk -1 w h i c h m e a n s t o s t r e t c h a n d f r om w h i c h a l s o d e s c e n d t he w o r d s

A l t h i n g , h us t in gs , a n d di n gu s . 3
T h e w o r d f or mi n g d e s c e n d s f r o m t he I E r o o t me rph - w h i c h m e a n s f o r m . 4 P a r o n y m s i n c l u d e t h e p r e f i x m o rp h o - , t h e s u f f i xe s f o rm a n d

m o rp h , a s w e l l a s t h e w o r d s m o rp h e me , f o rm at i o n, f o rma n t, f o rm a t, f o rm u l a , c o n f o rm, in f o rm , p la t f o rm , ref o rm , t ra ns f o rm , a n d u n i f o rm .

T h e w o r d t h er ei n i s a c o m p o u n d f o r m e d f r o m d e r i v a t i v e s o f t w o I E r o o t s . T he f i r s t i s t o - w h i c h i s t h e b a se o f m a n y d e m on s t r a t i v e p r o n o u n s s u c h a s t he , t h it h er, t h e m, t he re, t h ese , t h i s , a n d t h o s e . O t h e r w o r d s d e s c e n d i n g f r o m t hi s r o o t i n c l u d e le s t, t an de m , t a le s, a n d t a n ta m o u n t. T h e w o r d i n d e sc e n d s f r o m t h e I E r oo t e n w h i c h m e a n s i n . 5 P a r o n y m s i n c l u d e t he w o r d s in n , i nn e r, e s ot e ri c, e p is o de , i nt ro - , i nt e r, i n t ra - ,

i n t e ri o r, i n te rn, i nti m a t e, e n do - , a n d in t e st i ne .
TH EMES : O n e t h e me h e r e c on c e r n s t he L E GA L A ND PA RLI AMENTA RY I NSTIT UT IONS . Re c a l l t h a t o n e o f t h e p a r o n y m s o f t hi n g i s t he A l t h in g
1 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/rock 2 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=rock 3 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 90 4 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 55 5 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, p. 23 Starling Hunter 2011 1

 t h e p a r li a m e n t o f I c e l a n d t h e o l de s t a s s e mb l y i n E u r o p e , f i r st c o n ve n e d i n 9 3 0 a n d p i c t u re d a b o v e .
6

A n o t he r p a r o n y m i s t he w o r d h u s t i n gs

w h i c h h a s se v e r a l r e l e v a n t d e f i n i t i on s . I n t h e U K i t m e a n s a p la t f o rm o n w h i c h c a n d i d a t e s fo r P a r l i a me n t f o r me r l y s t o o d t o a d d r e s s t h e e l e ct o r s , t h e p r o c e e d i n g s of a p a r li a m e n t a r y e l e c t i on a n d a c o ur t f o r m e r l y h e l d i n s o m e E n g l i s h ci t i e s a n d s t i l l h e l d i n f r e q u e n t l y i n L on d o n . 7 I n t h e U S t h e t e r m c a n re f e r t o s o m e l o ca l c o u r t s i n t h e st a t e o f V i rg i n i a , a n e l e c t i o n p l a t f o rm , a n d t he a ct i v i t i e s i n v o l v e d i n p o l i t i ca l c a m p a i g n i n g , e s p e c i a l l y sp e e c h m a k i n g . 8 A s w e s a w a b o v e , t h e w o r d p l a t f o rm i s o n e o f ma n y c o mp o u n d p a r o n y m s o f t h e k e y w o r d f o rmi ng . A m o n g i t s d e fi n i t i on s i s a h o r i z o n t a l s u r f a c e r a i se d a b ov e t h e le v e l o f t he a d j a c e n t a r e a , a s a s t a g e f o r p u b l i c s p e a ki n g o r a la n d i n g a l o n g s i d e r a i l r oa d t r a c k s . 9 I n p o l i t i c s i t c a n m e a n a f o rm a l d e c la r a t i o n o f t h e p r i n c i p l e s o n w h i c h a g r o u p , s u c h a s a p o l i t i c a l p a r t y, m a k e s i t s a p p e a l t o t he p u b li c. 10 O n e o f t he p a r o n ym s o f t he re i n i s t he w o r d t a l e s w h i c h m e a n s p e r s o n s a d d e d t o a j u r y , c o m m on l y fr o m t h o s e i n o r a b o u t t h e c o u r t h o u s e , t o m a ke u p a n y d e f i ci e n c y i n t he n u mb e r o f j u r o r s r e g u l a r l y s u m m o n e d . 11 F i n a l l y , t he b ri e f hi s t o r y o f t he A l t h ing p r o v i d e d b e l o w e x p l a i n s h o w roc ks fi g u r e i n t o a n a l y s i s o f t h i s s y m b o l : The Althing is the oldest parliamentary institution in the world still extant. Its establishment, as an outdoor assembly held on the plains of ingvellir from about the year 930 AD, laid the foundation for an independent national existence in Iceland. To begin with, the Althing was a general assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth, where the countrys most powerful Leaders met to decide on legislation and dispense justice. Then, all free men could attend the assemblies, which were usually the main social event of the year and drew large crowds of farmers and their families, parties involved in legal disputes, traders, craftsmen, storytellers and travelers. Those attending the assembly
6 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/Althing 7 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/hustings 8 http://onelook.com/?w=hustings&ls=a; http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hustings 9 http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/platform 10 ibid 11 http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=tales Starling Hunter 2011 2

dwelt in temporary camps during the session. The center of the gathering was the Lgberg, or Law Rock, a rocky outcrop on which the Lawspeaker took his seat as the presiding official of the assembly. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time. It was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of Althing to those attending the assembly each year.12 T h u s , n ot o n l y i s t h e A l t h i n g b u i l t o f roc ks b u t i t s f i r st m e e t i n g p la c e w a s a p la c e w h e re roc ks w e re a c on sp i c u o u s l y p r o m i n e n t f e a t u re o f t h e l a n d s c a p e . A s e c on d a n d r e l a t e d t h e me i s U PON TH IS ROC K .

12 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing#Foundation Starling Hunter 2011 3