Yes, I have decided to do away the Silly Sissy's Blog and rename it Sanquine Sissy's Blog. I think it better suits me. Here is the meaning of sanguine from the dictionary:
Word History: The similarity in form between sanguine, "cheerfully optimistic," and sanguinary, "bloodthirsty," may prompt one to wonder how they have come to have such different meanings. The explanation lies in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors or bodily fluids (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). The relative proportions of these fluids was thought to determine a person's temperament. If blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The source of the Middle English word was Old French sanguin, itself from Latin sanguineus. Both the Old French and Latin words meant "bloody," "blood-colored," Old French sanguin having the sense "sanguine in temperament" as well. Latin sanguineus was in turn derived from sanguis, "blood," just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, continues to refer to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament but no longer has any direct reference to medieval physiology.
I prefer to think of myself more as "cheerfully optimistic"....not "bloodthirsty" although I do have a tendency to have a reddish complexion especially when "thirsty" for Livermulch. I don't think this has the same meaning as "bloodthirsty" though....
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1 comment:
Well, hello Sanguine Sissy. I remember discussing the humors in English class. We were told that Hamlet had too much black bile. I believe this meant that he was melancholy.
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