Word for the Wise, June 2

[Uadzit]

Topic: Saint Elmo's fire

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Erasmus (or Elmo), the patron saint of sailors. What's the link between mariners and the third century Christian martyr? Believe it or not, scary meteorological phenomena.

According to legend, Erasmus was a man of incredibly strong faith. That faith kept him preaching even after a thunderbolt touched the ground at his feet; according to some versions, the lightning came perilously close to him while he was being tortured. Meanwhile, sailors, traditionally a superstitious lot, were occasionally confronted by the sight of a flaming phenomenon—sometimes bluish, sometimes reddish—at the masthead or yardarm—during stormy weather. Although meteorologists now know this discharge of electricity as a type of terrestrial plasma, an ionized gas that is a lively conductor of electricity skewing red when positively charged ions predominate and blue when negative ones do, back then it was simply frightening.

Perhaps because sailors were comforted by the idea of Erasmus standing tall while lightning bolts cracked around him, Erasmus (or Elmo) became the patron saint of sailors, and the flaming phenomenon was dubbed Saint Elmo's fire (or light). Saint Elmo's fire has another name, too, and we guess we can thank Portuguese sailors for it.

In Portuguese, corpo-santo literally means "holy body." Since the 1500s, corposant has been another name for Saint Elmo's fire.

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.  

[Dark Rider 414]

Uadzit

Topic: Saint Elmo's fire

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Erasmus (or Elmo), the patron saint of sailors. What's the link between mariners and the third century Christian martyr? Believe it or not, scary meteorological phenomena.

According to legend, Erasmus was a man of incredibly strong faith. That faith kept him preaching even after a thunderbolt touched the ground at his feet; according to some versions, the lightning came perilously close to him while he was being tortured. Meanwhile, sailors, traditionally a superstitious lot, were occasionally confronted by the sight of a flaming phenomenon—sometimes bluish, sometimes reddish—at the masthead or yardarm—during stormy weather. Although meteorologists now know this discharge of electricity as a type of terrestrial plasma, an ionized gas that is a lively conductor of electricity skewing red when positively charged ions predominate and blue when negative ones do, back then it was simply frightening.

Perhaps because sailors were comforted by the idea of Erasmus standing tall while lightning bolts cracked around him, Erasmus (or Elmo) became the patron sEdition.

 

[chessiejo]

there was also a deadly fire in the grand old Saint Elmo hotel in the quaint victorian Chautauqua Institute (a gated village with art, lecture, music and culture) on beautiful Chautauqua Lake is southwestern New York.

 

[Rosenfall]

wasn't it also a 1980s movie  

[chessiejo]

Rosenfall

wasn't it also a 1980s movie

yeppers!

by the same cast and crew as The Breakfast Club!  

[Eggy-Egg]

So that's what Saint Elmo's fire is all about. x3