stoutfellow: Joker (Joker)
stoutfellow ([personal profile] stoutfellow) wrote2011-03-16 09:28 pm
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Greek Rooms

The word "attic", meaning a small room below the roof of a building, is derived from "Attica", the ancient name of the region around Athens. I didn't quite understand the explanation in the dictionary, but it has something to do with Athenian - that is, Attic - architecture.

I did not know this.

(The Robin Hobb novel I'm currently reading mentions a "tiring maid". I looked up "tiring", learning that it was derived from "attire"; I followed the lead there, where I found that "attire" is a Germano-Latin hybrid, with the prefix "a[d]-" being attached to a Germanic root. While on that page, I noticed "attic"....)