THE PEACE BOOK

beck n. 1. A gesture of beckoning or summons.

chapbook n. 1. A small book or pamphlet containing poems, ballads, stories, or religious tracts. [ chap(man) book ( so called because it was originally sold by chapmen) ]

Hebe n. Greek Mythology 1. The goddess of youth and spring, cupbearer to the Olympian gods.

Hek;a;te n. Greek Mythology 1. Variant of Hecate .
Hecate or Hekate : Greek Mythology 1. An ancient fertility goddess who later became associated with Persephone as queen of Hades and protector of witches.

hoecake n. Chiefly Southern U.S. 1. See johnnycake . See note at johnnycake . [Possibly because it was sometimes baked on the blade of a hoe]

johnnycake also jonny cake n. New England 1. Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle. Regional Also Called ashcake Regional Also Called battercake Regional Also Called corn cake Regional Also Called cornpone Regional Also Called hoecake Regional Also Called journey cake Regional Also Called mush bread Regional Also Called pone Regional Also Called Shawnee cake . [Perhaps by folk etymology from jonakin]
Notes: When the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to cook with maize, they must have taught them to make johnnycake, a dense cornmeal bread whose thick batter is shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle. Johnnycake, also spelled jonnycake and also called journey cake and Shawnee cake, is still considered a New England specialty, especially in Rhode Island, where it is celebrated by the Society for the Propagation of Johnny Cakes. The Usquepaugh, Rhode Island, Johnnycake Festival features johnnycakes made of white Indian corn called flint corn. Outside New England johnnycake is most popular in the South and South Midland states, where it is known as ashcake, battercake, corn cake, cornpone, hoecake, or mush bread. The color of the cornmeal, the consistency of the batter, the size of the cake, and the cooking method can vary from region to region. For example, an ashcake, according to a Georgia informant, is " made by wrapping cornbread batter in cabbage leaves and burying it gently at the back of the fireplace " (Dudley Clendinen).

kaph ( käf, kôf ) n. 1. The 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. See note at alphabet . [Hebrew kap from kap hand]

koto n. pl. ko;tos Music 1. A Japanese instrument similar to a zither, having 7 to 13 silk strings stretched over an oblong box. [Japanese]

peekaboo n. 1. A game for amusing a small child, in which one covers one's face or hides and then returns to view saying "Peekaboo!" adj. 1. Decorated with embroidered holes or eyelets. 2. Made of a sheer or transparent fabric. [ peek boo 1 ]

taboo also ta;bu n. pl. ta;boos also ta;bus 1. A ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. 2. a. A prohibition, especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands, excluding something from use, approach, or mention because of its sacred and inviolable nature. b. An object, a word, or an act protected by such a prohibition. adj. 1. Excluded or forbidden from use, approach, or mention: a taboo subject. v. tr. ta;booed also ta;bued ta;boo;ing ta;bu;ing ta;boos ta;bus 1. To exclude from use, approach, or mention; place under taboo. [Tongan tabu under prohibition]

Notes: Among the many discoveries of Capt. James Cook was a linguistic one, the term taboo. Cook used this word in his journal of 1777 while he was in the Friendly Islands (now Tonga). Hence, even though similar words occur in other Polynesian languages, the form taboo from Tongan tabu is the form we have borrowed. The Tongans used tabu as an adjective; they spoke of persons or things that were tabu, that is, "under prohibition, forbidden, or set apart." Cook, besides borrowing the word into English, also made it into a noun referring to the prohibition itself and a verb meaning " to make someone or something taboo. " From its origins in Polynesian society the word taboo has spread throughout the English-speaking world and has been applied in ways that never occurred to the people from whom Cook originally borrowed it.

[Latin Thebe a nymph, daughter of the river god Asopus from Greek]