mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Ho hum, another Thursday, another thingamajig. I bet you guys wonder sometimes: “How many thingamajigs can there be already?” You know what? I wonder the same sometimes. Yet, every Thursday here I am with another. It doesn’t take long to think of something to write about. I guess when it does, we’ll have to phase out the thingamajig. Unless, of course, you all have thingamajigs you’d like me to research and name. If so, just drop a suggestion down in the comments.
Meanwhile, today I’m naming the oval shield or scroll you often see used as an ornament bearing design or inscription on the front of an old buildings. It’s called a cartouche, which is a French word taken from the Latin, carta, or paper. Remember the Magana Carta (“great paper”)?
Here’s a bunch of photos so you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I believe cartouches are also the oval in which Egyptian names were written in heiroglyphs. Very similar-they are long ovals that look like they have feet.
posted by Katie on 1-11-2007 at 10:01 am
Cartouche, with the same meaning, is also used to describe a piece of greaseproof paper cut into a circle with holes punched in it.
It’s used to keep ingredients submerged in a pan when cooking in liquid.
posted by charlie on 1-11-2007 at 11:42 am
“cartouche” in French means “cartridge”. I was told by a teacher in middle school that the french gave the name to the oval around Egyptian names in heiroglphs because of the shape. However, the French cartouche, meaning cartridge, comes from Italian cartoccio “roll of paper”, the idea being a roll of paper containing a charge for a firearm.
posted by bob on 1-11-2007 at 8:11 pm