Deus Mundus (Latin) World God; the maker and ruler of the world. In one sense, the esoteric hierarchical head of the present world order; and in another, the divine aspect of this world order, as shown clearly by the word mundus, of which the primal etymological significance is clean, neat, orderly -- corresponding with the Greek term kosmos, signifying orderliness and neatness in cosmical arrangement. It is thus both the world-divinity itself, abstracted from the more material plane in which it works, and this divinity identified with the hierarchical world-system through which it works.

(See also: Deus Mundus, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kadosh (Hebrew, Jewish). Consecrated, holy; also written Kodesh. Something set apart for temple worship. But between the etymological meaning of the word, and its subsequent significance in application to the Kadeshim (the "priests" set apart for certain temple rites) - there is an abyss. The words Kadosh and Kadeshim are used in II. Kings as rather an opprobrious name, for the Kadeshuth of the Bible were identical in their office and duties with the Nautch girls of some Hindu temples. They were Galli, the mutilated priests of the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived "by the house of the Lord". Curiously enough the terms Kadosh, etc., were appropriated and used- by several degrees of Masonic knighthood.

(See also: Kadosh, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Transformism Adopted from the French, it is the process of evolution as understood by Lamarck and Darwin, as distinguished from evolution in its true etymological sense as used in theosophy. It means the supposed transformation of one kind of organism into another kind of organism, by purely physical processes.

Evolution means that a living monad or soul unfolds itself from within outwards, thus producing the forms by which it manifests itself on the physical planes; and clothing itself in a graduating and constantly improving succession of forms, according to changes in its own growth and requirements.

(See also: Transformism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

MARS

Planet of energy and courage. The ability to initiate and complete a task. The indicator of how we oppose and challenge the world. The word probably does not derive from Mavors, "War, destruction", but from Martulus, Marcus, etc. i.e. the "Hammer of the Thunder God" and related to Mer - shine" (Sun and Lightning), referring to the spring storms and planting. We can see the latter etymology paralleled in the Teutonic connection of Thor to his hammer, which was called Mjolnir . (Linguistically, "r" and "l" are the same letter).

(See also: MARS, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

The design and use of a dictionary of Chinese characters presents interesting problems. Dozens of indexing schemes have been created for the Chinese characters. The great majority of these schemes — beloved by their inventors but nobody else — have appeared in only a single dictionary; only one such system has achieved truly widespread use. This is the system of radicals. Chinese character dictionaries often allow users to locate entries in several different ways. Many Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dictionaries of Chinese characte ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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The question of how many characters there are is still the subject of debate. In the 18th century, European scholars claimed the total tally to be about 80,000. This number, however, is thought to be exaggerated as the character count varies by dictionary and its comprehensiveness. For example, the Kangxi Dictionary lists about 40,000 characters, while the modern Zhonghua Zihai lists in excess of 80,000 (the most comprehensive Japanese kanji dictionary Daikanwa Jiten lists 50,000 entries). One reason for the overwhelming number ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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Chinese characters or Han characters (Traditional: 漢字; Simplified: 汉字; Hanyu Pinyin: Hànzì) are logograms used in the written forms of the Chinese language, and to varying degrees in the Japanese and Korean. Use of Chinese characters has disappeared from the Vietnamese language — where they were used until the 20th century — and from Korea, where they ha ...

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Chinese character - Origin Chinese character - Styles Chinese character - Radicals Chinese character - Classification
Chinese character - By etymology Chinese character - Radical system
Chinese character - Orthography Chinese character - Reforms
Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities Chinese character - Japanese Kanji
Chinese character - Dictionaries Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters
Chinese character - Chinese Chinese character - Japanese Chinese character - Korean Chinese character - Vietnamese
Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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A dictionary is a list of words with their definitions, a list of characters with their glyphs, or a list of words with corresponding words in other languages. In some languages, words can appear in many different forms, but only the lemma form appears as the main word or headword in most dictionaries. Many dictionaries also provide pronunciation information; grammatical information; word derivations, histories, or etymologies; illustrations; usage guidance; and examples in phrases or sentences. Dictionaries are most commonly found in ...

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Dictionary - Word order Dictionary - Pronunciation Dictionary - Coverage Dictionary - Special-purpose dictionaries
Dictionary - Bilingual dictionaries Dictionary - Specialized dictionaries Dictionary - Character dictionaries Dictionary - Glossaries
Dictionary - Variations between dictionaries
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Dictionary - History Dictionary - Miscellaneous Dictionary - List of major dictionaries
Dictionary - Arabic Dictionary - Catalan Dictionary - Chinese Dictionary - Dutch Dictionary - English Dictionary - French Dictionary - German Dictionary - Italian Dictionary - Japanese Dictionary - Norwegian Dictionary - Portuguese Dictionary - Romanian Dictionary - Spanish Dictionary - Swedish Dictionary - Urdu Dictionary - Publishers
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Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the catholic or orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. By extension, [heresy is an] opinion or doctrine in philosophy, politics, science, art, etc., at variance with those generally accepted as authoritative." Heresy - Etymology. The word "heresy" comes from ...

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Heresy - Etymology Heresy - Religious heresy
Heresy - Christianity Heresy - Heresy in Judaism Heresy - Heresy in Islam
Heresy - Contemporary heresy

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The human larynx rests in a frame of cartilage bound by ligaments and muscles. At the front is the thyroid cartilage, creating the lump at the front of the neck, known as the laryngeal prominence or more commonly as the Adam's apple. The etymology of the term "Adam's apple" is unclear: Webster's 1913 dictionary states that the term "... is so called from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit, (an ...

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Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the Germanic pagans. In Germanic Neopaganism it is one of the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, where Yule is celebrated on the winter solstice: in the northern hemisphere, circa December 21, and in the southern hemisphere, circa June 21. "Yule" and "Yuletide" are also archaic terms for Christmas, sometimes invoked in songs to provide atmosphere. Indeed, this is the only meaning of "Yule" accepted by either the full Oxford English Dictionary or the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and peopl ...

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Yule - Etymology Yule - Traditional Yule Yule - Connection to modern Christmas Yule - Neopagan Yule Yule - Secular Yuletide Yule - Reference

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Aphorism (From the Greek αφοριζειν, to define), literally a distinction or a definition (See the Online Etymology Dictionary entry), is a term used to describe a principle expressed tersely in a few telling words or any general truth conveyed in a short and pithy sentence, in such a way that when once heard it is unlikely to pass from the memory. Specifically, an aphorism is a statement which defines a perspective by illustrating or describing the horizon of that perspective. Instead of standing outside a viewpoint and ...

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Aphorism - Aphorism and literature Aphorism - Poetics of the aphorism Aphorism - Aphorism and society Aphorism - Legal aphorism Aphorism - See Also Aphorism - Aphorists

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Main article: radical Each character has at least one fundamental component, or radical (部首 bù shǒu, lit. "part and initial"), and this design principle is used in Chinese dictionaries to logically order characters in sets. The number of radicals is commonly recognized to be 214. Full characters are ordered according to their main radical, and are then subcategorised by their total number of strokes. ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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cf. is an abbreviation for the Latin word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult." It is commonly used in common and statute law contexts, as well as in academic writing. It is sometimes used (primarily in dictionaries) to offer insight into the preceding word's etymology - that is, to suggest how one term obtained its particular naming convention (perhaps from another phrase). For example, the phrase "Big Whack (cf. Big Bang)" suggests to the reader that the usage of the simplified moniker Big Whack, used i ...

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Since the late 1800s, the word paradigm (IPA: /pæɹɘdaɪm/) has referred to a thought pattern in any scientific discipline or other epistemological context. Initially the word was specific to grammar: the 1900 Merriam-Webster dictionary defines its technical use only in the context of grammar or, in rhetoric, as a term for an illustrative parable or fable. Also, in linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure used paradigm to ...

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Paradigm - Paradigm shifts Paradigm - Other uses Paradigm - Etymology Paradigm - Quote

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Mannaz or Manwaz is the Proto-Germanic term for "man", in the gender-neutral sense of "person, human being". The word developed into Old English man, mann "human being, person," (cf. also German Mann, Old Norse maðr, Gothic manna "man"). It is derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *man-, with a variant *mon- (cf. Sanskrit/Avestan manu-, Russian muzh "man, male"). Some etymologies treat the root as an independent one, as does the American Heritage Dictionary. *Manus in Indo-European mythology w ...

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Brownie points are a hypothetical currency, which can be accrued by doing good deeds on or off the net or earning favor in the eyes of another, often one's superior. Brownie points - Origins. The Oxford English Dictionary conjectures that this expression could also have derived from US military slang for sycophants, "brownnosers", while mentioning the less-likely but popular etymology that derives it from the awards system of the Brownies Girl Guides/Girl Scouts. "Brownie" itself in the sense of "bro ...

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Brownie points - Origins

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Usually Chinese characters each take up the same amount of space, due to their block, square nature. One of the easiest ways for beginners to ensure a proper push-off is, hence, to practise writing with a grid as a guide, which is indeed standard practice in primary schools for both normal exercises and calligraphy training. In addition to strictness in the amount of space a character takes up, Chinese characters are written with very precise rules. The three most important rules are the strokes employed, stroke placement, and the order in w ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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Although most often associated with the PRC, character simplification predates the 1949 communist victory. Caoshu, cursive written text, almost always includes character simplification, and simplified forms have always existed in print, albeit not for the most formal works. In the 1930s and 1940s, discussions on character simplification took place within the Kuomintang government, and a large number of Chinese intellectuals and writers have long maintained that character simplification would help boost literacy in China. Indeed, this desire ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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Besides Korean and Japanese, a number of Asian languages have historically been written with Han characters, or with characters modified from Han characters. They include: Khitan language (ja:契丹文字) Miao language Nakhi language (Geba script) Tangut language (fr:Tangoute, zh:西夏文, [1], [2]) Vietnamese language (Chữ nôm) Zhuang language The Jurchen language (ja:女真文字) used a ideographic script consisted of original characters with a few Han borrowings. In addition, the Yi scrip ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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Often a character not commonly used (a "rare" or "variant" character) will appear in a personal or place name in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (see Chinese name, Japanese name, and Korean name respectively). This has caused problems as many computer encoding systems include only the most common characters and exclude the less oft-used characters. This is especially a problem for personal names which often contain rare or classical, antiquated characters. People who have run into this problem include Taiwanese politicians Wang Chien-sh ...

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Chinese character, Chinese character - Origin, Chinese character - Styles, Chinese character - Radicals, Chinese character - Classification, Chinese character - By etymology, Chinese character - Radical system, Chinese character - Orthography, Chinese character - Reforms, Chinese character - Southeast Asian Chinese communities, Chinese character - Japanese Kanji, Chinese character - Dictionaries, Chinese character - Derivatives of Han characters, Chinese character - Number of Chinese characters, Chinese character - Chinese, Chinese character - Japanese, Chinese character - Korean, Chinese character - Vietnamese, Chinese character - Rare and complex characters

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