The Shadow Knows

Let’s cast some light on shadows. The Latin word for shadow was umbra, and the Greek counterpart was skia. Both roots contributed shady words to English.

Adumbrate now means to overshadow, shade, or obscure. The same concept was contained in the obsolete words obumber and inumbrate. It started life in English as an artist’s term: to shade a sketch to show light and dark surfaces.

At one point in history -- the 17th and 18th centuries -- there was a preoccupation with the way humans cast a shadow. The exotic was emphasized, and strange names abounded. Amphiscians was the name given to inhabitants of the torrid zone, whose shadows at one time of the year fall northward, at another southward. The Antiscii were those who lived on the same meridian, but on the opposite side of the equator, so that their shadows at noon fell in opposite directions; they were also called Heteroscians. The Ascians were inhabitants of the torrid zone, who twice a year had the sun directly overhead at noon, and then cast no shadows. The Periscii were inhabitants of the polar regions; their shadows revolved around them as the sun moved. These polar people were also called Macroscians because they cast a long shadow. Finally, the Sciapodes were a fabled people of Libya who were alleged to have feet so large that they could be used as sunshades. That’s analagous to the name given to the squirrel family: sciurinae, shadow-tails.

Sciamachy might be viewed as an exercise in futility: it means fighting with a shadow. To a boxer, however, it is a solo fight for exercise or practice. Shadow boxing is not as crazy as it looks.

Sciatherics was the art of constructing and maintaining a sundial, and the umber was the shadow of the pointer on a sundial. Sciomancy was divination by means of communication with the shades -- dead people. Taken to extremes, it could lead to sciotheism, a form of religion where ghosts took the place of gods.

I hope that no one takes umbrage at all of this.


SIDEBAR: The Shadow on radio



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The Dryden Code: A Language Conspiracy Unmasked

The Shadow Knows

Shade and shadow are linguistic brothers, both found in Old English and with relatives in the Teutonic language groups. Both express comparative darkness -- the lack of complete illumination. Later, in a figurative application, they came to mean spirits of the underworld.

Thanks to Latin and Greek roots, there are many words in English that lurk in the shadows. Here are a few.
• adumbrate: to overshadow, shade, obscure [L. umbra, shadow]
• macroscian: having a long shadow [Gr. skia, shadow]
• penumbra: a partially shaded area [L. umbra]
• sciamachy: fighting with shadows [Gr. skia]
• sciatheric: pertaining to a sundial [Gr. skia]
• sciomancy: divination by communication with the shades of the dead. [Gr. skia]
• sciurine: belonging to the squirrel family [literally, “shadow tail”]
• skiascope: instrument that measures refraction in the eye [Gr. skia]
• umbrage: displeasure, annoyance, offence, resentment [L. umbra]
• umbrella: portable shelter or protection [L. umbra]

Interestingly, in the 17th and 18th centuries, there seems to have been a preoccupation with fabled people in distant lands based on their shadow-casting characteristics.
• Amphisians: a name given to inhabitants of the torrid zone, whose shadows at one time of the year fall northward, at another southward.
• Antiscii: those who live on the same meridian, but on the opposite side of the equator, so that their shadows at noon fall in opposite directions.
• Ascians: inhabitants of the torrid zone, who twice a year have the sun directly overhead at noon, and then cast no shadows.
• Heteroscian: a name applied to the people of the two temperate zones in reference to the fact that, in the two zones, noon-shadows always fall in opposite directions.
• Macroscian: a person whose shadow is long, specifically an inhabitant of the polar regions.
• Periscii: the inhabitants of the polar regions, so called from the fact that their shadows revolve around them as the sun moves round.
• Sciapodes: a fabulous people of Libya “with immense feet which they used as sunshades” (Liddell & Scott). Move over, Emmet Kelly.

SIDEBAR: The Shadows

SIDEBAR: The sound of the Shadows

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