Mastodon

A discussion of word histories and origins.
Brazilian dude
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Mastodon

Postby Brazilian dude » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:29 pm

Main Entry: mas·to·don
Pronunciation: 'mas-t&-"dän, -d&n
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin mastodont-, mastodon, from Greek mastos + odont-, odOn, odous tooth -- more at TOOTH
1 : any of numerous extinct mammals (genus Mastodon syn. Mammut) that differ from the related mammoths and existing elephants chiefly in the form of the molar teeth
2 : one that is unusually large
Knowing that mastos in Greek means breast and odontos means tooth, does that mean that the mastodon is an animal with a tooth on its breast? :?

Brazilian dude
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sat Feb 04, 2006 12:40 am

No, a bit more of the opposite! :D

From the Online Etymology Dictionary:
mastodon
1813, from Mod.L. genus name Mastodon (1806), coined by Georges Cuvier from Gk. mastos "breast" + odont- "tooth," so called from the nipple-like projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's fossil molars.
In 1953, an electrician working in the basement of a building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, unearthed a grey and white stone about the size of a large grapefruit. The basement was in a building that had belonged to one of the architects of American independence: Benjamin Franklin. The object was a fossilized mastodon tooth.
Picture: Benjamin Franklin's Mastodon Tooth.

More pictures.

And, an article on "Peale’s Mastodon: The Skeleton in our Closet."
Regards//Larry

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Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:51 pm

Well, I wasn't impressed by these tits. Oh, I know why, they didn't have boob jobs back then.

Brazilian dude
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tcward
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Postby tcward » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:23 pm

BD's always looking for topics like this he can sink his teeth into...

-Tim

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:25 pm

And topics that I can rub in people's faces.

Brazilian dude
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Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:27 pm

Which reminds me of Vic VapoRub. When I was kid (and didn't know English), I never understood why they had come up with such a nonsense name: VEE-kee vah-poh-ROO-bee. Only now do I get it. :wink:

Brazilian dude
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Slava
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Re: Mastodon

Postby Slava » Tue Jan 30, 2024 1:42 pm

Digging deep into prehistoric times, dredging this one up. The word was mentioned in Alexandra Petri's live chat with readers, so I looked for it here. It's a great one for treatment, I'd say, so I'm suggesting it.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

bbeeton
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Re: Mastodon

Postby bbeeton » Thu Feb 01, 2024 11:08 pm

The link to the article, "Peale's Mastodon: The Skeleton in Our Closet", is broken. But the article can be found at https://commonplace.online/article/peal ... ur-closet/.

I "grew up" with Peale's painting, "Exhumation of the Mastodon", being taken frequently to the Peale Museum in Baltimore by my schoolteacher mother, and was fascinated. Imagine my shock when, attending a conference in Darmstadt and visiting the natural history museum, I came face to face with ... Peale's very own mastodon! (Well, the skeleton anyhow.) Images of the painting and the story of the skeleton's progression from upstate New York via Philadelphia to Darmstadt are easily findable online. It's a good story.


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