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The Fog
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fog (n.1)
"thick, obscuring mist," 1540s. probably from a Scandinavian source
akin to Danish fog "spray, shower, snowdrift,"
Old Norse fok "snow flurry," fjuk "snowstorm."
Cf. also Old English fuht, Dutch vocht, German feucht "moist."
Figurative phrase in a fog"at a loss what to do" first recorded c.1600.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=fog
mist (n.)
Old English mist "dimness (of eyesight), mist"
(earliest in compounds, such as misthleoðu "misty cliffs,"
wælmist "mist of death"), from Proto-Germanic *mikhstaz
(source also of Middle Low German mist, Dutch mist,
Icelandic mistur, Norwegian and Swedish mist),
perhaps from PIE *meigh- "to urinate"
(source also of Greek omikhle, Old Church Slavonic migla,
Sanskrit mih, megha "cloud, mist;" see micturition).
Sometimes distinguished from fog, either as being less opaque
or as consisting of drops large enough
to have a perceptible downward motion. [OED]
Also in Old English in sense of "dimness of the eyes, either by illness or tears,"
and in figurative sense of "things that obscure mental vision."
- www.etymonline.com/?search=mist
mystery (n.1)
early 14c., in a theological sense,
“religious truth via divine revelation,
hidden spiritual significance, mystical truth,”
from Anglo-French *misterie,
Old French mistere “secret, mystery, hidden meaning”
(Modern French mystère), from Latin mysterium
“secret rite, secret worship; a secret thing,”
from Greek mysterion (usually in plural mysteria)
“secret rite or doctrine,”
from mystes “one who has been initiated,”
from myein “to close, shut” (see mute (adj.));
perhaps referring to the lips (in secrecy)
or to the eyes (only initiates were allowed to see
the sacred rites).
The Greek word was used in Septuagint for
“secret counsel of God,”
translated in Vulgate as sacramentum.
Non-theological use in English,
“a hidden or secret thing,” is from 14c.
In reference to the ancient rites of Greece, Egypt, etc.
it is attested from 1640s.
Meaning “detective story” first recorded in English 1908.
mystery (n.2)
“handicraft, trade, art” (archaic), late 14c.,
from Medieval Latin misterium “service, occupation, office,
ministry” (see ministry),
influenced in form by Medieval Latin mysterium
(see mystery (n.1)) and in sense by maistrie “mastery.”
Now only in mystery play,
in reference to the medieval performances,
which were often staged by craft guilds.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=nystery
For as God was the help of our reason to illuminate us,
so should we likewise turn it every way,
that we may be more capable of understanding His mysteries;
provided only that the mind be enlarged,
according to its capacity,
to the grandeur of the mysteries,
and not the mysteries contracted to the narrowness of
- Franc. Bacon
a disordered brain,
wandering about in a fog.
- James Churchward
The Lost Continent of Mu, Motherland of Man
the secret protects itself
- Idries Shah
The Sufis
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A ghostly fog enshrouded The Brew D’Agon as she lay becalmed near the Juan Fernandez Islands, approximately 360 nautical miles off the Pacific coast of South America. The Brew D'Agon’s crew – at least, those who weren’t on watch – passed their free time in a plethora of occupations. Some members of the crew simply slept in their hammocks. The more literate read books or kept journals. More than a few gambled and played games while filling the air with conversation; laughter, shouts, and curses. The on-board Tea, Rum & Coffee Haus always did a brisk business whenever the ship was caught in the notorious doldrums of the Horse Latitudes, and, during this sojourn, those who chose to imbibe or find refreshment there were rewarded with a rare treat.
Standing on the small stage, a blinded fiddler plucked at heartstrings, tapping his toes in time as he played a haunting song upon vibrating catgut. Whether simple musician or incognito magician, his every note felt enchanted and overflowed with visions and memories of joy and pain and life and death. A fiery haired boy sat at the minstrel’s side, playing a fierce rhythm upon a tam-tam, and rocking his head rigorously to the beat.
A select crewe danced in a cleared circle, their feet shuffling as they clapped their hands in time with the song. In the middle of their circle, Benny Rumba danced and performed acrobatics. He jumped and spun, flipping backwards and stood on one hand. He thumbed his nose, and stuck out his tongue. A perceptive observer might note a passion play (more of a joke, really) being acted out in his movements. Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t.
Most who heard the music, couldn’t see the show, they could only listen to the minstrel troupe from afar as they lay enraptured in their hammocks or stood watch entranced, swaying with the rhythm of the waves and the sounds, moved to smiles or tears – sometimes, both at once.
Working by the light streaming through an open gun port, Seaman Stan paused to wipe his misty eyes on his sleeve before resuming this latest session on One-Eyed Willy’s tattoo — a kraken, of course, with arms and tentacles that would one day twist and wrap around Willy’s limbs. Seaman Stan was almost finished with one of the eyes of the monstrous creature. It leered back at him as he used a rag to wipe away the obscuring cloud of ink and blood from Willy’s chest.
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"the black liquor with which men write"
[Johnson], mid-13c., from Old French enche, encre "dark writing fluid" (12c.),
earlier enque (11c.), originally enca,
from Late Latin encaustum, from Late Greek enkauston.
This is the neuter of the past-participle adjective enkaustos "burned in,"
from the stem of enkaiein "to burn in,"
from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + kaiein "to burn"
- www.etymonline.com/?search=ink
tattoo (n.2)
"pigment design in skin," 1769
(noun and verb, both first attested in writing of Capt. Cook),
from a Polynesian noun (such as Tahitian and Samoan tatau,
Marquesan tatu "puncture, mark made on skin").
Century Dictionary (1902) describes them as found on sailors and uncivilized people
or as a sentence of punishment.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=tattoo
taboo (adj.)
also tabu, 1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"),
"consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed,"
explained in some English sources as being from Tongan
(Polynesian language of the island of Tonga)
ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark" + bu "especially." But this may be folk etymology,
as linguists in the Pacific have reconstructed an irreducable Proto-Polynesian *tapu,
from Proto-Oceanic *tabu "sacred, forbidden"
(compare Hawaiian kapu "taboo, prohibition, sacred, holy, consecrated;"
Tahitian tapu "restriction, sacred, devoted; an oath;
" Maori tapu "be under ritual restriction, prohibited").
The noun and verb are English innovations first recorded in Cook's book.
- www.etymonline.com/?search=taboo
tattoo (n.1)
"signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," 1680s,
earlier tap-to (1640s), from Dutch taptoe,
from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (n.1)) + toe "shut, to,"
from Proto-Germanic *to (see to (prep.)).
"So called because police formerly visited taverns in the evening
to shut off the taps of casks" [Barnhart].
In 17c. Dutch the phrase apparently was used
with a transferred or figurative sense
"say no more."
- www.etymonline.com/?search=tattoo
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Laying on the small bunk in Phoenix's cramped cabin, a foolish grin on his face, Louis de Lyon barely heard the song at all. The sound blended seamlessly into the ambient noise around him as his thoughts wandered. His eyes absentmindedly traced the wood-grains of the low ceiling.
The roof of the cabin was barely high enough to allow a small woman like Phoenix to walk upright, and even she had to crouch a little as she passed under one of the support beams. Despite her cabin’s lack of space, Louis realized it was far larger than Phoenix's apparent station merited. His curiosity piqued, he began to wonder about this beautiful and mysterious woman. What is her rank? What are her duties aboard The Brew D'Agon?
He’d seen her act as a hostess his first time aboard The Brew D’Agon. And she’d been a server at the Jonestown Brew D’Agon. But he suddenly realized he hadn’t observed her perform any duties during this voyage. She was often in the company of the only youth on board: Adam, the young ward of the first mate, Mr. Love, and the ship’s chef, Momma. Maybe she's his nursemaid? Whatever she does, she is certainly not a normal member of the crew, Louis decided.
That's for certain.
Phoenix purred contentedly as she dreamily stroked Louis’ bared sternum with her fingertips, one of her legs draped languidly over his own, a carelessly tossed sheet exposing her upturned ass. His moisture still clung to her like morning dew on a bush. She sighed happily, but left the thought unspoken. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, sweetly, almost innocently. The sultry look in her heavy-lidded eyes as she pulled away – the promise in the way she bit her lip – bespoke passions even more esoterically erotic to come. Her mysteriousness mesmerized him. Louis grabbed for her, tried to pull her back into his embrace, but she danced away, ever coquettish.
"Where are you going?"
"Trim your sails, beloved. You'll enjoy this."
She knelt down in front of a large, wooden locker, and winked over her shoulder as she caressed the sea-trunk’s thick bands of iron. Her fingers fondled the lock playfully. His view was suddenly obscured, but not unpleasantly. Her wiggling, pert butt captured his undivided attention as she slithered hypnotically to some silent song. It was at that moment he finally heard the minstrels’ song floating down muffled from somewhere beyond the walls. He felt caught in a spell. He couldn’t look away. His fixation on that ass ended only when she stood up and turned around, when that object of his desire was removed from his view. Louis found her front side evermore desirable. Her eyes….
She skipped across the small cabin and hopped lightly onto the feather mattress beside Louis. He gazed up into her gigantic crescent moon of a smile, which promptly vanished behind a billowing cloud in a manner not unlike that of the Cheshire Cat. He coughed and sputtered as the pungent smoke hit him in the face. She laughed and produced an apparatus that looked to Louis something like an exotic oil lamp with a length of tube protruding from it. She pursed her lips suggestively as she slowly slid the tube’s mouthpiece between his teeth. His need for her overcame his completely normal human fear of the unknown.
"Relax, Louis, breathe the smoke into your lungs. Trust me, this is both pleasurable and medicinal."
Louis did what he was told. The habit of puffing on a pipe was not new to him, and the leaf here set afire was far milder tasting than the tobacco he had smoked in the past, so he inhaled deeply at her urging.
“Hold it in. Don’t breathe out, yet. Do you feel that?”
He nodded an affirmative.
“Good. Now, let it go.”
The thick cloud he exhaled reminded him of battle and the haze that accompanied cannon and musket fire. Louis watched the smoke twist as it hung in the air. His thoughts followed, rapidly shifting and turning before dissipating. Who are you?
Who are you?
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Karathen: Who are you?
- Aquaman (movie, 2018)
The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time
in silence:
at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out
- Lewis Caroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
hookah (n.)
also hooka, 1763, via Hindi or Persian
or directly from Arabic huqqah "small box, vessel"
(through which the smoke is drawn),
related to huqq "a hollow place."
Extended in Urdu to the whole apparatus.
- https://www.etymonline.com/word/hookah
smoke (n.1)
late Old English smoca, related to smeocan "give off smoke,"
from Proto-Germanic *smeukanan (cf. Middle Dutch smooc,
Dutch smook, Middle High German smouch, German Schmauch),
from PIE root *smeug(h)- "to smoke" (cf. Armenian mux "smoke,"
Greek smykhein "to burn with smoldering flame,"
Old Irish much, Welsh mwg "smoke").
- www.etymonline.com/?search=smoke
The ultimate origins of the use of such substances remain obscure,
but Louis Liebenberg has suggested that
the practice of smoking
could perhaps be traced back
to the domestication of fire by early man.
Many tribal peoples traditionally transported fire
in a small container such as a shell or wooden tube.
Perhaps the burning of fragrant grass
or other plant in such a container
led to the development of the smoking pipe
in some remote period of prehistory.
It therefore seems likely that the deliberate inhalation of smoke
is a very old habit indeed
and may even be as old as the human control of fire.
- Richard Rudgley
The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age
To be sure, no such incident has been found in the records.
But it is a poor history that fails
to reach beyond the scattered documents
that chanced to withstand the stinginess of time.
Historical witnesses do not put everything to pen.
Nor does all that they write survive.
- Tom Jones
The Xoc, the Sharke, and the Sea Dogs
There is a reason these volumes survived, while others vanished.
- Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol
As a scholar of faith, Dean Galloway had always found it astonishing
that the ancient spiritual texts – the most studied books on earth –
were, in fact, the least understood.
Concealed within those pages, there hides a wondrous secret.
- Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol
One day soon the light would dawn,
- Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol
transforming fragmented impressions
of extant documents into vivid and compelling episodes
of human endeavor
- Tom Jones
The Xoc, the Sharke, and the Sea Dogs
and mankind would finally begin to grasp
the simple, transformative truth of the ancient teachings . . .
and take a quantum leap forward in understanding
his own magnificent nature.
- Dan Brown
The Lost Symbol
You’re the fire
and the flood
- Vance Joy
Fire and the Flood
At the lesser mysteries, the teachings were given
in which the true meanings were hidden.
All of this was to prepare those few who were going forward
to the Greater Mysteries,
where the inner meanings of the stories would be revealed
- www.ancient-origins.net/ sacred-sex
The Lesser Mysteries would end
with a water baptism,
while the Greater Mysteries climaxed
with a fire initiation.
- www.ancient-origins.net/ sacred-sex
it is obvious that there was a much more profound purpose
behind these sacred passion plays
than merely material abundance on the earthly plane.
- www.ancient-origins.net/ sacred-sex
What is it?
It’s it!
- Faith No More
Epic
That and this
These and those
No one knows
- Queens of The Stone Age
No One Knows
who
- The Who
Who Are You?
things will change.
- Machen in The Fog (2005)
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