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prehistoric Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
... XIX. — F. préhistorique ; see PRE- , HISTORIC . Hence prehistory...
fossil Quick reference
Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (3 ed.)
...fossil [M16th] Fossils are the petrified remains of ancient or prehistoric creatures that are dug up, and fossil comes from Latin fodere ‘to dig’. It was originally used for a fossilized fish which was found in the earth. In those days before the theory of evolution people believed that it had lived underground too. The use of the word for a person or organization seen as outdated or resistant to change is found from the mid 19th...
Kurgan Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...(Russian, from a Turkic language, and related to Turkish kurgan , ‘castle’) A type of prehistoric burial mound found in southern Russia and the...
Menhir Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...(Breton, ‘long stone’) A single upright stone of a type erected throughout western Europe in prehistoric...
Megalith Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...(Greek, ‘huge stone’) A massive block of stone that constitutes or is an element of a prehistoric monument, such as a dolmen or a menhir...
Lemuria Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...The lost land that is said to have connected Madagascar with India and Sumatra in prehistoric times. The German biologist E.H. Haeckel ( 1834–1919 ) thought that it was the original habitat of the lemur. See also atlantis ; lyonesse...
Crannog Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...(Irish Gaelic crannóg , Scottish Gaelic crannag , ‘timber structure’, from crann , ‘tree’, ‘beam’) An often fortified timber dwelling constructed on an island in a lake or marsh, of a type found in prehistoric and early medieval Scotland and...
Heidelberg man Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...man A type of prehistoric man found near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1907 , possibly of the genus Pithecanthropus . A single lower jaw was found along with other extinct mammal fossils of the Pleistocene...
Tomahawk Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...The traditional war axe of the Native Americans, prehistorically made of stone or deer horn, but after the coming of the white man, of iron or steel with a wooden handle. Sometimes the blunt end of the head was hollowed into a pipe bowl, the handle being bored to form a stem. See also bury the hatchet...
Squarson Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...A 19th-century usage for a clergyman who was both squire and parson of the parish. The Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould ( 1834–1924 ), vicar of Lew Trenchard, Devon, was a classic example of this combination. He was also a novelist, investigator of prehistoric sites, collector of West Country songs and author of the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ ( 1864 ), which he wrote for a group of Yorkshire village children marching in a procession with banners on Whit Monday. See also jack russell...
Ur Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
... 3000 bc . Its site, lost for many centuries, was rediscovered in 1854 . As the original home of abraham it is commonly referred to in the Bible as ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ (Chaldea was a country in that region), and that name has come to be used to typify a place of almost prehistoric...
Grimes Graves Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...Graves A Neolithic site in Thetford Forest, in the Breckland of southwest Norfolk, about 5 miles (8km) northwest of Thetford. It is a prehistoric flint mine – the largest in Europe – consisting of 350 holes in the ground linked by a maze of 30ft (9m) deep underground passages. Here 4000 years ago flints for use as arrowheads and axes were extracted with deer-antler picks. The name probably comes from Grim, a byname of the Anglo-Saxons’ god woden ( see under grimsdyke...
Picts Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...and Pittenweem, Fife, this representing Pictish pett , ‘piece of land’. The pseudo-learned etymology which derives the name of the Picts from their supposed habit of tattooing or painting themselves is not acceptable from a linguistic point of view. Picts’ houses Underground prehistoric dwellings found in the Orkneys and on the east coast of Scotland and attributed to the...
Stonehenge Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...The most famous prehistoric monument in Britain. It is situated on salisbury plain about 8 miles (13km) north of Salisbury. The second half of the name is from Old English hengen , ‘hanging place’, so that the overall meaning is ‘stone gallows’, from its resemblance to such. At various times regarded as having been built by the druids , the Romans and the Danes, it was originally of Neolithic construction in c. 3100 bc and was later reconstructed c. 2100 bc and again c. 1550 bc . It seems to have last been used c. 1100 bc . It finally...
Druids Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...caught it had to escape at full speed to avoid being stung to death, but the possessor was sure to prevail in every contest and to be courted by those in power. Druid stone A name sometimes given to the huge blocks of sandstone (sarsen stones) of which stonehenge and similar prehistoric megalithic structures in southern England are made. United Ancient Order of Druids See under united...
Pilgrim Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...by pilgrims from Europe and the south and west of England when visiting the shrine of Thomas Becket . The route used by medieval pilgrims follows a much more ancient trackway. The name particularly applies to that part of the road in Kent and Surrey that forms part of the prehistoric Harrow Way, which crosses the South of England from Kent to...
Giants Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (19 ed.)
...of reputed giants inhabiting the territory on both sides of the Jordan before the coming of the Israelites. The Nephilim, the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men ( Genesis 6:4 ), a mythological race of semi-divine heroes, were also giants. Giants’ Ring A prehistoric circular mound south of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is 580ft (177m) in diameter and has a cromlech in the centre. Giants’ Staircase The staircase rising from the courtyard of the Doge’s Palace, Venice, and so named from the figures of two giants at its head. Giants’ War...
broch Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
...(archaeol.) prehistoric tower-like structure in north. Scotland. XVII ( brugh , brogh , burgh ). var. of BURGH...
cromlech Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
...prehistoric erection of large unhewn stones. XVII. — W., f. crom , fem. of crwm bowed, arched + llech flat...
troglodyte Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
...cave-dweller (chiefly prehistoric). XVI. — L. trōglodyta — G. trōglodútēs , corrupt form of trōgodútēs , after trōglē ...
