Etymology for the Writer or Artist

A few will be aware I have been known to speak on various subjects over the years. Fundamentally these all revolve around my favourite subject of etymology. Have always enjoyed bringing this fascinating subject to others. It’s not for me to say whether the audiences have, although many have asked me to return.

Thought it might be worthwhile sharing a snippet or two from these etymological presentations, continuing with Etymology for the Writer or Artist. Every artist knows the names of the techniques and methods used to produce that painting, sculpture, or moulding, while writers are well-acquainted with parts of speech, tenses and grammar. But how many artists really know how a technique, style, or even a colour got its name? Are writers aware of why a noun, verb, or adjective is known as such? And very few will understand just why tenses are known as they are - I mean who ever though the 'pluperfect' sounded remotely useful as a term? Not simply a lesson in etymology this is a very different way of looking at history and how the English language developed over several centuries.

Created for the many writing groups I have spoke to, it made a change for them from the usual guests who either tell them about themselves or attempt to inspire their writing. A couple of examples from the origins of our alphabet.

A – derived from the Greek alpha. Used in the modern sense to mean ‘the first’ dates from the 17th century. The Greeks got it from the Hebrew and/or Phoenician aleph (greek not permitting the use of consonants at the end of words so they added the ‘a’) and this, in turn, from the Semitic group of languages where eleph literally meant ‘ox’. It is thought the character represents the head of an ox.

O – from the Greek omicron and a meaning of ‘small o’, this from the Proto-Indo-European word smik or ‘small’ as this is a notably small vowel. As a letter it is derived from the Phoenician ayn or ‘eye’, itself taken from the Egyptian hieroglyph of an eye. O is also represented by omega, a comparatively late addition to the Greek alphabet and not seen until around 2,800 years ago. It is related to omicron and means ‘great o’ as in literally ‘o - mega’. If you want to know the diffidence between omicron and omega simply look at the word ‘lotto’, where the short version is near the beginning and the longer at the end.

P – comes from the Greek pi and itself from the Phoenician pe which, in turn, comes from the pictogram of a mouth.

Z – comes from the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet zeta and it is also the basis for our modern letter Z. Derived from the Hebrew zayin, literally meaning ‘weapon’ and likely a reference to its shape resembling a jagged edge.

G – if you’ve ever wondered why we have two pronunciations for the letter G – as in Gary and George – it is purely down to source. The hard G in Gary is Germanic, the softer G in George is from Latin and prior to that Greek. In fact the latter G did exist in the Latin alphabet but was written as a Z (try saying George with a Greek accent but spelling it with a Z, it works).

If you think you know someone who would like to hear me speak on this subject, drop me a line.

Valentine's Day Abroad

After the deluge of emails regarding the last post (the dictionary does not specify quantity required to be a deluge, so one could well be a deluge) I decided to look at similar terms of endearment in other languages. Rarely do these colloquialisms and phrases translate as they are originally intended.

Tio (Spain) translates as 'uncle' but is also used in the same way as 'mate, buddy'.

Tia (Spain) translates as 'aunt' and, as with the previous term, also used to mean 'mate, buddy'.

ito (Spain) is used as a diminutive, so adding it is tantamount to using '-kins' on the end of a word.

ita (Spain) again used as a diminutive, the above is masculine and this feminine.

Carino (Spain) simply transaltes as 'darling'.

Bebe (Spain) means 'baby', not hard to see, but I've never understood why 'baby' is used as a term of endearment (began in the USA) when as an Englishman I always thought it was used as an insult.

Cielo (Spain) means 'sky', and why anyone would think referring to another by such is a term of endearment is beyond me. But then I never got the "My moon and stars" reference in Game of Thrones either, albeit Jason Momoa did seem a little out of it at times.

Dulzura (Spain) translates as 'sweetness', although more likely to be used to mean 'sweetheart'.

Corazon (Spain) means 'heart', never used to refer to the organ, only as a term of endearment.

Vato (Mexico) is a slang term used to mean 'guy' which, so I understand, is used rather more in fitting with the theme in Mexcio than it is in English-speaking nations. In Britain, of course, we burn our guys on November 5th.

Mijo (Central and South America) might mean 'my son' but is used more lovingly in the Americas - unless used as a noun when it describes 'millet'

Mija (Spain) is 'my daughter' and used as the above.

Mon coeur (France) is 'my heart', and not used to refer to the organ.

Mon bebe (France) as with the Spanish 'my baby' I have never understood this as a term of endearment, more likely to see it as being referred to as 'immature'.

-et (France) is used as a diminutive at the end of a word to suggest a term of endearment.

-ette (France) another diminutive, this the feminine version.

Mon chou (French) means 'my cabbage' which, apparently, the French do not see as calling someone a 'vegetable'.

Ma moitie (France) or 'my half' is seen as the same as 'my other half' in English, albeit it doesn't quite sound the same as seeing another as part of a pair.

Fragolina (Italy) is to call someone 'little strawberry', not what I'd call a plus but it takes all sorts, so the saying goes.

Stella (Italy) is the word for 'star' and if you see your lover as akin to trillions of exploding hydrogen nuclei, go for it.

Microbino mio (Italy) shows the Italians are really answering the call when it comes to non-translatable terms, for this means 'my little microbe'.

Schatz (Germany) doesn't come across well when vocalised by English-speakers. Neither does the story that Star Trek's William Shatner secretly married Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, and when the news broke Stevie announced she would henceforth be known as Stevie Shatner-Nicks (unless you say it aloud). For Germans Schatz simply means 'treasure'.

-chen or -lein (Germany) is the German diminutive turning the name or noun into a term of endearment.

Liebling (Germany) literally translates as 'favourite' but is used in the context of 'dear' or maybe 'darling'.

Susse (Germany) means 'sweet' and no explanation required.

Perle (Germany) or 'pearl' seems odd as it's a name in English, but is only like saying someone is a diamond.

Hase (Germany) means 'bunny', not exactly what I'd call a term of endearment, but each to their own.

Knuddlebarchen (Germany) is indeed a compound term and means 'cuddle bear'. And having said we won't have many there is also:

Mausebar (Germany) 'mouse bear', Also:

Mousezahnchen (Germany) 'little mouse tooth' and undoubtedly my favourite:

Honigkuchenpferd (Germany) 'honey-cake horse'.

Mo chuisle (Ireland) 'my pulse' hardly seems like a nice way to describe someone, but perhaps I'm not looking at it from the right angle.

Wee (Ireland) is not really Irish but a dialect word. However, considering it's also used as a synonym for 'urine', I do wonder if it began with someone taking the proverbial.

U-ri gang-a-ji (Korea) is 'my puppy', and one I wouldn't think would work in English.

Amigao (Portugal) means 'big friend' and even I would never have the nerve to woo someone by calling her my 'big friend'.

I'm not going to attempt to use the Chinese characters, but in China 'heart and liver' is considered fitting for this theme. And for the same reason I shall continue with simply quoting the country when different alphabets are used, or sometimes the language, and how they translate to English.

Russia uses 'baby sun', 'little fish', 'little paw', as compliments.

Po-po (Hungary) 'little bumlet', usually accompanied with a friendly pat on that area.

Einayim sheli (Hebrew) 'my eyes' and apparently suggesting the one addressed is precious.

Ya amar (Arabic) doesn't sound too complimentary to me for it translates as 'my moon'.

One Cantonese term suggests 'silly pig' is an acceptable compliment.

Puttemus (Denmark) translates as 'cuddlebug'.

Snoepje (Netherlands) and the meaning is 'little candy'.

Pudingeto is a word from Esperanto and, if we accept this as an official language (I can't see why not) then calling someone 'pudding' is a loving term.

Shagua is a Mandarin term meaning 'fool'. I don't think I'd ever attempt using this.

Taku kairangi is Maori for 'my finest greenstone', and I can't help thinking of copper piping.

Mahal is a Tagalog word and, when used as a term of endearment, still doesn't change the meaning of 'expensive'.

Nefesim (Turkey) is another translation which makes the idea of referring to someone as 'my breath' rather odd - especially if they haven't brushed their teeth.

Minh em (Vietnam) and it translates as 'myself' which surely speaks more of the speaker than anyone.

Nha em (Vietnam) and although this translates as 'my home' is said to be a reference to the spouse.

Anh em (Vietnam) and is used by a wife to her husband, to describe him as older - even if he isn't.

Anata (Japan) and this has to be my favourite of the lot, for this simply means 'you'.

Doubtless I shall get complaints regarding some of my spellings, and doubtless I shall ignore them.

What on Earth (or Mars)?

I was looking at the names of our planet in languages other than English. It came as something of a disappointment to discover they were mostly translations of 'earth' in the sense of 'soil, dirt'.

So, I decided to look elsewhere in the heavens and see what names other languages had given to the remaining seven planets in orbit around our sun. Below is the language, its name and, where possible, the translation. Many nations simply use the same name, albeit with the phonetic spelling reflecting local pronunciation. As these clearly come from the same source as the English names, I have concentrated on the alternatives and this time the planet Mars.

MARS

Arabic - Merrikh - simply a translation of 'Mars'.

Babylonian - Neberu - translates as 'crossing' or 'point of transition'. It is also the name given by some to the mysterious tenth planet.

Bengali - Mangala - a Sanskrit name (see below)

Greek - Ares - has a name derived from ara meaning 'bane, ruin, curse, imprecation'.

Hebrew - maadim - 'that which reddens'

Japan - Kasei - is another translation of 'Mars'.

Korean - Hwaseong - 'star of fire'.

Malayalam - Chouvva - is the word for 'Tuesday'.

Mandarin Chinese - 'the fire planet'

Old Czech - Smrtonos - translates as 'death'

Sanskrit - Mangala - is the god of war and is celibate. Also known as Lohit, his name is the Sanskrit word for 'red'.

Sumerian - Nergal - the god of plague, famine, war and the underworld.

Note the spellings and characters used are English, so don't write to me pointing missing umlauts, accents, etc. or how I should have used a different alphabet.

Israel Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Israeli cities.

Jerusalem is a name which dates from the Bronze Age, where Sumerian yeru is the first element and shows this refers to 'the foundation (settlement) of the god Shalem', this the god of this Bronze Age city. However the settlement is at least four thousand years old and had earlier names, too. Around 1330 BCE we find the name given as Urusalim and six centuries prior to that as Rusalim, both with identical meanings but different languages.

Tel Aviv is the Hebrew translation of the German Altneuland and speaks of 'the old new land'. The German name is from Nahum Solokov, he taking the name of the Mesopotamian site near Babylon mentioned in Ekekiel. The name is very new, chosen in 1910 from a number of suggestions.

Haifa was, around 2,000 years ago, known as Sycamium or 'the mound of the Ficus sycomorus trees'. The first mention of anything approaching the modern name is during Roman rule around the end of the 1st century, when Efa (later Hefa and Hepha, where the meaning is the same as the earlier name.

Rishon LeZion is derived from the Biblical verse "First to Zion are they and I shall give herald to Jerusalem".

Petah Tikva is Hebrew for 'opening of hope' and a comparatively recent name.

Netanya is from the Hebrew for 'God gave'.

Beersheba has several suggested origins, most often said to come from Hebrew be'er 'well' and sheva 'seven' or perhaps 'oath'. Both would refer to the story of Abraham.

Bnei Brak gets its name from the ancient city of Beneberak, meaning 'son of Iraq'.

Holon is from the Hebrew word holon meaning 'little sand'.

Rehovot is named for its 'wide expanses' by founder Israel Belkind.

Ashkelon is probably Western Semetic and therefore means 'to weigh', an indication of a trading post.

Beit Shemesh means 'house of the sun' or perhaps 'temple of the sun', a reference to the Canaanite sun-goddess Shemesh.

Kfar Saba means 'grandfather's village' but nobody has any idea why this name was chosen.

Herzliya is, quite simply, named after Theodor Herzl, who founded the settlement in 1924.

Hadera is Hebrew for 'the green one'.

Nazareth is a Hebrew word for 'branch', and is taken from the book of Isaiah.

Ra'anana is the Hebrew for 'fresh'.

Rahat has several meanings depending on which language the word originates. This could represent Arabic 'group', Aramaic 'run' or Hebrew 'trough'.

Hod HaSharon translates as 'splendour of the Sharon'.

Givatayim is the Hebrew for 'two hills'.

Nahariya is named from its location on the Ga'aton river, the Hebrew for 'river' being nahar.

Umm- al-Fahm is Arabic and can be translated to .Mother of Charocal', the forests around here were a plentiful suplly of wood for charcoal.

Kiryat Gat is named for Gath, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. From the Hebrew where gat means 'winepress'.

Eilat, a name found in the Old Testament, may come from the Hebrew of ayl which gave elah and refers to the Pistacia trees. These trees are found across across Africa, Eurasia and the southern part of North America, where these are cultivated for their seeds, today known as pistachios.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Artists

I've gone back to school - well technically further education. One part involved studying a painting or three and I had to look deeper into it and explain ..... things. Anyway, I've never been a great fan of daubs on canvas, to me a picture is a picture and I'm certainly able to appreciate an artist's abilities - to call abstract or conceptual art 'art' is, to my mind, nothing short of a lie so we'll ignore it - but when it comes to reading hidden messages and ideas, it's not going to happen people. I sort of know what the Da Vinci Code is about and good bad or indifferent, I'm never going to read it as I won't be able to relate to it.

So I'm wandering through Birmingham Art Gallery and thinking of anything other than brushwork, colours, hues, and textures, thus getting nowhere fast. Concentrate Poulton-Smith, says I, and I did - I focused in on their names and, as always happens I begin to wonder where there names originated. Hieronymus Bosch, was he really named after a dishwasher? Let's see.....

Bosch, Hieronymus - is a Germanic name first seen as a Norse personal name in the 7th century and derived from buski meaning 'bush'.

Botticelli, Sandro - no surprise to find it is Italian and means 'little boot'.

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Coley - has a hyphen, but I still didn't find his work overly captivating. His name, without the hyphen, has two elements with the first meaning 'the son of Bran' and the latter 'son of John'.

Canaletto - this wasn't actually his name, he was born Giovanni Antonio Canal and painted city views of Venice. His true surname means exactly what you would think it should.

Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi - we know it comes from Sicily, just outside Palermo, we also know it is a very localised name and is a variation of Caro from carus or 'beloved'.

Cezanne, Paul - his French ancestry can be traced to their long-held seat in Languedoc, their name is related to Czar, Caesar, Kaiser, and 'king'.

Constable, John - listen to old policemen, none of them will ever say the word as 'con'-stable but as 'cun'-stable. The latter is correct because it harks back to the Old French word conestable, which doesn't mean 'policeman' but refers to a 'steward' or 'governor', he the principal officer of the Frankish king's household. This is also the reason we don't say the suffix as if it were a place for horses but clip it to rhyme with 'stubble'. Yet taking the office back a stage further to the Roman Empire we find Latin comes stabuli, quite literally 'count of the stable'. John Constable's ancestors will have earned their name as one of them was chief groom of a household.

Correggio, Antonio Allegri - an Italian chap who painted some nice images, but I can't help thinking how awkward the poses he paints these semi-naked (at best) figures. If anyone had to pose for these they'd need a few days applying embrocation (now there's a word you don't hear often). His name shares its first element with Caravaggio in caro 'beloved', this time the suffix is known and is derived from the personal name Bixio, this meaning 'grey'.

Degas, Edgar - a Frenchman who takes his name from gast meaning 'untilled'.

Delacroix, Eugene - another Frenchman, with a name meaning 'of the cross' from the Latin crucis.

Durer, Albrecht - a German painter who derives his name from 'to endure'.

El Greco - as we all know is Spanish for 'the Greek'. His real name is Domenikos Theotokopoulos, whose surname translates as 'god-bearing chick'.

Fra Angelico - his real name was Guido di Pietro, the surname coming from the personal name Peter.

Gainsborough, Thomas - comes from a Lincolnshire place name meaning 'the stronghold of a man called Gegn'.

Hals, Franz - a name from als meaning 'a high cliff'.

Hogarth, William - is a place name meaning 'lamb enclosure'.

Holbein, Hans - a Germanic surname literally meaning 'hollow leg'. Either this came from the earlier sense of 'hollow bone' (ie no leg) or might have evolved from Holzbein or 'wooden leg'.

Da Vinci, Leonardo - this Italian name means comes from Latin vincere 'conqueror'.

Manet, Edouard - is a Germanic name meaning 'fierce, strong man'.

Matisse, Henri - his surname comes from the Hebrew name 'Mattathiah' meaning 'gift of the Lord'.

Michelangelo - his full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, the latter from the personal name 'Simon' which comes from Hebrew name Shim'on and ultimately from the Hebrew verb sham'a 'to hearken'.

Monet, Claude - could be from one of two personal name, Hamon or Edmond. These are from the Germanic for 'home' and French for 'prosperous protector' respectively.

Munnings, Sir Alfred - a name of Scandinavian origins in maningi meaning 'valiant, strong' depending on the context.

Murillo, Oscar - a Latin origin, where murus meant 'wall'.

Picasso, Pablo - is a Spanish word, where picazo means 'magpie'.

Pollock, Jackson - a place name found in Strathclyde, Scotland which is derived from Gaelic poll 'pit', the name showing the diminutive and thus 'a small pit'. Clearly we need a larger pit to be dug to deposit his supposed art and for those who hail it as art.

Raphael - in full Raphael Sanzio da Urbino, the Italian name coming from Etruscan uruvo meaning 'limit, border'.

Rembrandt - again known by his given name, correctly this is Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, a Dutch surname meaning 'the Rhine river' - the river name simply means 'to flow'.

Renoir, Pierre-Auguste - began as the French surname Renouard, originally a personal name of Germanic origins from ragin wald 'the ruling counsel'.

Reubens, Paul - his surname can be traced to Hebrew Reuben meaning 'behold, a son'.

Reynolds, Joshua - amazingly Mr Reynolds not only shares an artistic talent with Renoir but also shares the origin of his surname.

Sisley, Alfred - his surname comes from the female personal name Cecilia, this from the Latin caecus meaning 'blind'.

Stubbs, George - takes the name of a village near Pontefract in Yorkshire, a place name coming from stybb meaning 'tree stumps'.

Sutherland, Graham - comes from an Old Norse word suthroen and means 'the southern land'. It is a reference to the former county of Sutherland, itself as far north as it is possible to get in Britain. So why 'southern land', I hear you ask? Well it comes down to perspective, for it is southeast of those who named it, the Norsemen.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri - another with a hyphen, no wonder he was considered talented. The first elemeny, Toulouse, is a place name in the Haute-Garonne region of France and of unknown origins; while Lautrec is found in the Tarn department of southern France and, listed as among the most beautiful villages of France, is another of unknown origins.

Turner, Joseph Mallord William - his surname comes from one of two equally plausible origins. If this is Old English then it comes from a craftsman, a maker of objects in wood, metal or bone which had to be 'turned' during the production process. Or if Middle English then this could represent a title, one in charge of organising proceedings in a tournament.

Van Dyke, Sir Anthony - from a Germanic word meaning 'of the ditch or dyke'.

Van Eyck, Casper - a Dutch surname meaning 'of the oak tree'.

Van Gogh, Vincent - a Celtic term related to Welsh coch meaning 'red'.

Velasquez, Diego - either Portuguese or Spanish would give the origin as 'of the crow', a reference to features and this a nickname.

Vermeer, Johannes - this Dutch painter's surname is a contraction of 'Van der Meer' or 'from the lake'.

Whistler, James - no not exactly 'one who whistles' but a reference to a player of a pipe or flute.

Champagne

Being a confirmed tee-totaller (unless there are more than 167 hours in the week) it never occurred to me that Champagne is not simply a place name but also the correct name for what is often known as 'bubbly'.

As many will know the rules around the right to call anything 'champagne' has to conform to a series of rules and regulations, these are not important here. However it is worthwhile mentioning that the place name refers to land that is 'flat', ironic for a drink often referred to as 'bubbly'. And while on the subject of words we should also note the alternative use of 'varnish', in the late 19th century used to refer to bad champagne.

Always one to enter a quiz, I have never managed to master the oft-repeated questions regarding champagne bottle sizes. Being a man of words perhaps understanding the origin of the names may be of assistance. As the basis for all of these is the standard bottle, it makes sense to start with the basic term.

Bottle, as we know it, evokes an image of something in glass. Yet glass production means this is a comparatively recent development and early bottles were of leather sealed with pitch. This is the reason we occasionally see pubs named the Leathern Bottle. The word 'bottle' came to English from Old French boteille and of Latin origins in buttis 'a cask' which, albeit on a small scale, a bottle could be said to be. Incidentally, purely as a memory aid, a standard bottle contains 0.75 litres.

Magnum, containing the same as two standard bottles or 1.5 litres, is taken directly from the Latin, the neuter of magnus meaning 'great in size'.

Jeroboam, again doubles the volume at 3 litres, is a name taken from the Bible where Jeroboam was said to be 'a mighty man of valour who made Israel to sin'. His name comes from the Hebrew Yarobh'am, literally 'let the people increase'. (Try and stop them!)

Rehoboam, this equal to 4.5 litres, is another Israelite king mentioned in the Bible. His name comes from the Hebrerw and means 'he who enlarges the people'. (I suppose being king has its benefits.)

Methuselah, this 6 litres, is also named after a Biblical character and one of great age, said to be 969 years old at the time of his death. The origin of his name is disputed, some sources give 'man of the spear' while others translate this as 'his death shall bring judgement'. This latter translation is undoubtedly due to the date of his death being the 11th of Chesvan in the year 1656 Anno Mundi - coincidentally seven days before the start of the Great Flood - he being named as Noah's grandfather.

Salmanazar, 9 litres, was the name of five kings of Assyria (correctly Shalmaneser), although the Biblical theme probably points to the last of his name (727-722BC) and conqueror of the northern part of Israel. Their name is said to mean 'Shulmanu is preeminent', in the area of Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age he the god of the underworld, fertility and war. (With so many diverse strings to his proverbial bow no wonder he was considered preeminent.)

Balthazar, 12 litres, is undoubtedly the Biblical king or Magi associated with the nativity. He is held to be the King of Arabia and the one who brought the gift of myrrh. His name is ultimately from the Babylonian Balat-shar-usur or 'save the life of the king' - oddly symbolic of the future death of the infant Christ. (This rather reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty.)

Nebuchadnezzar, 15 litres, keeps us in Babylon where the native tongue spoke of Nabu-kudurri-usur or 'Nabu, protect my first-born son'. The same question occurred to me and I discovered Nabu, son of the god Marduk, was the deity of wisdom. (Perhaps he should be remembered for a quote such as 'don't drink the whole bottle'.)

Solomon, 18 litres, is another associated with wisdom, althogh his name comes from the Hebrew shelomo meaning 'peaceful' and related to shalom.

Sovereign, 26.25 litres, is a later term and of much later etymology. First seen in English in the 14th century, it comes from Old French soverain and Latin superanus 'chief, principal'. Whomsoever came up with this did not look into the origins of the word as it is not the largest. (And no, not going near that Latin word or its meaning.)

Primat, 27 litres, is another Biblical name although we would know the character better as 'Goliath'. 'Primat' comes from Latin primus 'first', and while 'Goliath' is today a synonym for large size, it actually only refers to a person from Gath, one of the five city states of the Philistines. 'Gath', sometimes as 'Geth', was once a common place name in the Middle East. The origins of the name are not overly clear but, for obvious reasons, we shall opt for the most popularly quoted meaning of 'wine press'. Goliath maybe, but still not the largest.

Melchizedek, 30 litres, is another Biblical figure, this king of Salem and a priest of El Elyon mentioned in Genesis. His name comes from the Hebrew Malki-tzedeq and literally describes 'the king of righteousness'. (Perhaps not the best choice for something which is going to be extremely difficult to pour, never mind drink. Here the volume of liquid alone is going to tip the scales at almost 60 pounds - and the glass bottle will add considerably to this.)

It should be noted how, the method of fermentation being in the bottle, means only the standard bottle and the magnum see champagne produced in the correct way. Furthermore the latter is considered of superior quality, as there is less oxygen in the bottle, and the volume to surface area favours the creation of appropriately sized bubbles. However, there is no hard evidence for this view. Other bottle sizes are generally filled with champagne fermented in standard bottles or magnums.

It seems that exercise, while interesting, will never prove a useful memory aid. However I did find a mnemonic listing the seven most popularly-named bottle sizes and using the initial of each in ascending size order with: "My Judy Really Makes Splendid Belching Noises". Hardly the most memorable mnemonic - except perhaps for Judy.

Note sizes larger than the Jeroboam are rare and some of the larger sizes are not universally acknowledged.