Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #15

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

15.) Mappa Mundi
-noun, (plural mappae mundi)

a.) a general term used to describe medieval European maps of the world.*

[Origin: from Medieval Latin, mappa (sheet, cloth, or chart) and mundi (of the world).]

*Prior to its destruction in World War II, a highly intricate 13th century marvel known as the Ebstorf map was the largest surviving mappa mundi (measuring 11 feet across). In the upper right-hand corner of the map, its creator (most likely Gervase of Tilbury) writes: “it can be seen that [this work] is of no small utility to its readers, giving directions for travelers, and the things on the way that most pleasantly delight the eye.” Delights abound indeed, for also included in its great wealth of geographical details are many zoological marvels along with several “monstrous races” thought to inhabit distant lands. Curiously, this cosmological world-picture is depicted as superimposed on a background of the figure of Christ crucified, with his head at the top (east), his feet at the bottom (west) and his hands on the left and right sides (north and south). This orientation, with east at the top (the direction thought to lead to paradise) was traditional in medieval European cartography.

Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #14

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

14.) Mandorla
-noun singular

a.)  An almond-shaped halo or aureola surrounding the head of holy figures in traditional Christian art, e.g. the area of light surrounding Christ or the Virgin Mary.

b.)  A pointed vertical oval shape framing the representation of a figure in art.

c.) An ancient symbol of two circles coming together, used to describe the coming together of heaven and earth known as the vesica piscis.*

[Origin: From Late Latin amandula, alteration of Latin amygdala, from Greek amugdalē and late 19th century Italian mandorla, almond.]

*The mandorla or vesica piscis is formed from the intersection of two circles of the same radius intersecting in such a way that the center of each circle lies on the circumference of the other.  The literal translations from Italian and Latin are “almond” and “bladder of the fish.”  The shape (quite obviously yonic in nature, especially with a little figure inside) has led many scholars to maintain that it represents the image of a vaginal birth or a uterus containing a fetus.

Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #13

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

13.) Ouzel
-noun singular

a.) One of several species of European thrushes, especially the blackbird (Merula merula, or Turdus merula), and the mountain or ring ousel (Turdus torquatus).*

b.) A water ouzel or dipper.

c.) A dark-haired person.

[Origin: Middle English osel or osul, from Old English ōsle "blackbird,"  related to Old High German amsala, Latin merula "blackbird," Welsh mwayalch "blackbird, thrush," and Breton moualch "ouzel."]

*Up until about the 17th century, the name for blackbird was ouzel, ousel or wosel.  Another variant of the name occurs two centuries earlier in Act 3 of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where Bottom (while enchanted by the faeries) refers to the woosell cocke, so blacke of hew, with orenge-tawny bill.  The usage of the word ousel survived later in poetry, and still occurs as the contemporary name of the closely related ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus), and in water ouzel (Cinclus mexicanus), an alternative name for the unrelated but superficially similar white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus).

Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #12

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

12.) Rhabdomancer
-noun singular

a.) One who uses a divining rod, wand, twig, stick, arrow, or branch especially for discovering underground water or ores.*

b.) A dowser, diviner, or water witch.

[Origin: Late Greek rhabdomanteia, from Greek rhabdos, rod + -manteia, -mancy.]

*Early rhabdomancers traditionally practiced their art using a rhabdos, or magic wand of hazel wood (an artifact which featured prominently in biblical and Celtic lore). However, any other sort of appropriately shaped object could be used. It seems to me that really all boys have one, but only some seem to know how to use them to magical effect.