Saturday, December 04, 2010

City, in my words + cities

ciste : city

The Illunse word for city is ciste. Ciste is a rare last name. In Scottish Gaelic ciste means chest, box. Ciste Dhubh is a mountain situated in the Scottish Highlands. In Italian ciste can mean cyst.

This word is a mixture of the Latin word for city civitas (community / city / town / state; citizens), and the Old English word for city ceaster (a city, fort, castle, town; used as a general term, or applied to foreign towns).

cista : cities

The Illunse word for cities (nominative plural) is cista. Cista is a rare last name. In Latin cista means a trunk, a chest. A cista mystica was a basket or chest used to house sacred snakes in the initiation ceremony of the cult of Bacchus (Dionysus). Cista is the name of cities in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia.

Cities in Latin is civitatis. Cities in Old English is ceastra.

By the way, I haven't been stuck. I've been sick.

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