Hello everyone! As I study for the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee, there are certain words that naturally catch my attention. I am particularly intrigued by words that contain my name. I didn’t realize that tara could be found in so many words originating from different languages.
Tarantism (tarən‧ˌtizəm) is an uncontrollable urge to dance, and tarantella (tarən‧ˈtelə) is an Italian folk dance. Both these words are named after Taranto, a city in Italy. A taradiddle (tarəˈdidəl) is a small fib. No one knows where this word originates from, but it was first used around 1796.
One of my favorite words is taramosalata (tärəˌmōsəˈlä-tə). This is a Greek fish spread and it originates from Greek. A tuatara (tüəˈtärə) is a large reptile commonly found in New Zealand. This word originates from Maori, a Polynesian language.
The word tarantara is an imitative word that mimics the sound of a bugle. This is actually a variation of the Latin word tantara (tan‧ˈtarə).
Tara means star not only in Sanskrit, but also in many other Indian languages, such as Hindi and Telugu. So there you have it, a post all about my name! I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you will indulge my narcissism especially since I recently celebrated my birthday!
Congrats on your perennial trip to the Scripps Spelling Bee! In our mind, you are SUPER TARA = SUPER STAR. We are pretty sure you will do us very proud this year at the Bee. Wish you good luck!
Thanks for your encouragement and congratulations to Anuk, our future Blue Devil!
This was a fun post! I am interested where the word taradiddle was used in 1796. We are always looking for slang for 1816 Louisville, and this would be fun to use!
According to Merriam-Webster online, “taradiddle” was found in a colloquial dictionary in 1796, indicating that the word was probably used long before this. It must have been a very popular word at the time to show up in the dictionary!