Thesaurus Thursday: “sea”
Thesaurus Thursday is just a week old, and already I am making a few changes. I received a few comments from loyal readers that encouraged me to add a few comments to last week’s inaugural post on the word mountain, which I did.
Thinking more on those comments, I have decided to go in yet another direction. After looking at the word, meditating on it, each week I am going to try to post a draft of a poem I have started based somehow on the word of the week. How well this will work, I do not know. I do know that it is something that makes me tremendously uncomfortable and hence must be good for me as a writer.
For you as a reader, perhaps it may provide a bit of a glimpse into the poetry workshop… into the way a poem can be started. The poems will be “rough outlines” and will no doubt feel that way to both of us. The right words will not all be there… or at least not all in the right place. It is an experiment for both of us. We will have to see how it goes.
This week on Thesaurus Thursday we will be examining the word: sea.
Word Origin
According to Online Etymology Dictionary the origin of the English word sea is:sea
O.E. sæ ”sheet of water, sea, lake,” from P.Gmc. *saiwaz (cf.O.S. seo, O.Fris. se, M.Du. see),
of unknown origin, outside connections ”wholly doubtful” (Buck).
Gmc. languages also use the general IE word (represented by Eng. mere),
but have no firm distinction between ”sea” and ”lake,” either by size or by salt vs. fresh.
This may reflect the Baltic geography where the languages are thought to have originated.
The two words are used more or less interchangeably, and exist in opposite senses
(e.g. Goth. saiws ”lake,” marei ”sea;” but Du.zee ”sea,” meer ”lake”).
Cf. also O.N. sær ”sea,” but Dan. sø,usually ”lake” but ”sea” in phrases.
Ger. See is ”sea” (fem.) or”lake” (masc.).
Meaning ”dark area of the moon’s surface” isattested from 1667 (see mare (2)).
Phrase sea change”transformation” is attested from 1610, first in Shakespeare(“The Tempest,” I.ii).
Sea legs is from 1712; sea serpentattested from 1646;
sea level first recorded 1806. At sea in thefig.
sense of ”perplexed” is attested from 1768, from lit. senseof ”out of sight of land.”
First Draft of a Poem Using the Word Sea
Far from the Sea
by Mark Hinton
in the North Country
we seem far from the sea
far from even memories of the sea
for that matter
far from everything that matters
mountains
sea
history
yet maybe not so far
turn the world upside down
upside down the earth becomes a boat
the trees oars
the sky sea
a light-blue sea
curving toward distant horizons
Some Poetical Lines with “sea”
Crash on crash of the sea,straining to wreck men; sea-boards, continents,raging against the world, furious,stay at last, for against your furyand your mad fight,the line of heroes stands, godlike….~(cf. “Sea-Heroes” by H.D.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.~(cf. “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.Men were deceivers ever,One foot in sea, and one on shore,To one thing constant never.Then sigh not so, but let them go….~(cf. “Sigh No More” by William Shakespeare)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,The maker’s rage to order words of the sea,Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,And of ourselves and of our origins,In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.~(cf. “The Idea of Order at Key West” by Wallace Stevens)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The sea-wash never ends.The sea-wash repeats, repeats.Only old songs? Is that all the sea knows?Only the old strong songs?Is that all?The sea-wash repeats, repeats.~ (cf. “Sea-Wash” by Carl Sandburg)
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