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The kingly Sugar Pine, towering aloft to a height of more than 200 feet, offers a fine mark to storm-winds; but it is not densely foliaged, and its long, horizontal arms swing round compliantly in the blast, like tresses of green, fluent algæ in a brook; John Muir – A Wind-Storm in the Forests
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The world’s largest sugar pine, in Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest, reaches a height of 255.44 feet. See a video of it here:

http://video-embed.oregonlive.com/services/player/bcpid1949055967001?bctid=2767098132001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAPLpuSqE~,a1DdoZJH5WQo4iWaJj1w_CktvJfhQVVG

A fine mark: an easy target.

Tresses are locks of hair: Muir is being a little poetic here.

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This is VITO ANDOLINI, who is
to become The Godfather. The Godfather (Film) – The Godfather 2 Scene 1
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Who is to become played by Robert De Niro, in a role that would win him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor:

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on the rugged buttresses of the icy peaks, John Muir – A Wind-Storm in the Forests
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Rugged buttresses!

“Buttress” is typically an architectural term, referring to a projecting support structure, but it can also mean “a projecting part of a mountain or hill.”

Rugged buttresses.

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For this is the secret of successful sauntering. Henry David Thoreau – Walking (Full Text)
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Craving a good saunter? June 19th is “World Sauntering Day,” invented in the 1970s by someone named W.T. Rabe.

Not W. T. Rabe

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SAUNTERING, which word is beautifully derived Henry David Thoreau – Walking (Full Text)
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Sauntering means walking in a leisurely manner. Thoreau’s etymologies are plausible, but the word according to the Collins English Dictionary is “of obscure origin.” The Online Etymology Dictionary gives the following note:

late 15c., santren “to muse, be in reverie,” of uncertain origin. Meaning “walk with a leisurely gait” is from 1660s, and may be a different word entirely. Some suggest this word derives via Anglo-Fr. sauntrer (mid-14c.) from Fr. s'aventurer “to take risks,” but OED finds this “unlikely.” The noun meaning “a leisurely stroll” is recorded from 1828. Related: Sauntered.

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85a8e5393768f0f83c65026a432f3313

1,419,287

9 years

We should definitely have a list of words that famous people have improperly given etymological histories to. I think there may even be something to re-evaluate in that list.

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the Holy Land, Henry David Thoreau – Walking (Full Text)
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i.e. the land now encompassing modern-day Israel and Palestine, destination for many pilgrims of the Abrahamic faiths.

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The Library of Babel Jorge Luis Borges (Ft. James E. Irby (trans.)) – The Library of Babel
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“The Library of Babel” (from Ficciones, 1941) is one of Borges’s most famous fictions. Its narrative elaborates the concept of an infinite library, and has been interpreted as an allegory of our own universe.

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And untouched by Noon— Emily Dickinson – Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
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The “meek members of the Resurrection” (the dead in their underground tombs) are touched only by night.

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Diadems—drop—and Doges—surrender— Emily Dickinson – Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
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The rise and fall of royalty and powerful clergy (diadems and Doges)–and by extension, the coming and going of historical eras–pales in comparison to the long timescale of death.

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Austin Allen Austin Allen
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Austin Allen’s first poetry collection, Pleasures of the Game, won the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize and was published in 2016 by The Waywiser Press.

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