Word of the Day: Cauldron
There are many legends about cauldrons. The infamous Black Cauldron of Celtic myth (and Disney appropriation via Lloyd Alexander) which spawned undead warriors was once the healing cauldron of Diancecht, physician of the gods. A cauldron brewed knowledge, divination, mysteries. A cauldron was used for brewing potions, elixirs, draughts of magical power. A Chinese legend holds that the same cauldron has been brewing the same soup for centuries in a certain village; the villagers just top it up with water when the level drops or add more fuel if it's getting cold. But a cauldron can be all of that because of its origin.
The word 'cauldron', like Spanish calderon or Italian calderone comes from Latin calor ('heat'), to calidus ('warm', 'heated'), to calidarium ('hot bath', 'heat sink'). The word 'scald' comes from Latin excaldare — 'to seethe, to immerse in hot water'. A cauldron is therefore a large vessel where things are immersed and left to cook as their essences diffuse and mix within fire-heated fluid. A cauldron is a melting-pot, a mixing-pot, a messing-pot.
My head feels like that sometimes. Right now, on my desk, are books I am currently reading. I don't know how my brain works, but it's restless and its menu of the moment consists of
The word 'cauldron', like Spanish calderon or Italian calderone comes from Latin calor ('heat'), to calidus ('warm', 'heated'), to calidarium ('hot bath', 'heat sink'). The word 'scald' comes from Latin excaldare — 'to seethe, to immerse in hot water'. A cauldron is therefore a large vessel where things are immersed and left to cook as their essences diffuse and mix within fire-heated fluid. A cauldron is a melting-pot, a mixing-pot, a messing-pot.
My head feels like that sometimes. Right now, on my desk, are books I am currently reading. I don't know how my brain works, but it's restless and its menu of the moment consists of
- Garry Kasparov's On Modern Chess: Part 3 — Kasparov vs Karpov 1986-87
- Diane Ravitch's The Death and Life of the Great American School System
- Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman edited by Wagner, Golden and Bissette
- Peter Kreeft's illuminating commentary on Pascal, Christianity for Modern Pagans
- a bunch of papers I'm supposed to read and integrate into my thesis by tomorrow
- a long delayed notice of dental appointment
- the latest issue of Science
etched with acid at 12:39:00 am
3 Comments:
There was a game, once. It was called Mechwarrior. There was a mech. Called the Cauldron-Born.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Ebon_Jaguar_(Cauldron-Born)
/Sorrows
MechWarrior is a really old game! Are you sure it isn't from before your time? :)
Bleh... I started with Mechwarrior 2. Then Mechwarrior. 2: Mercenaries. And, of course, Mechwarrior 3. Back then we actually still played games with a joystick, just like flying planes with a joystick.
I've never played the tabletop game before, though.
I am a strange blend of old/new.
/Sorrows
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