firmament

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HELEN

>Hey guys,

>Everyone knows I'm not the English major on this list, but doesn't

>"firmament" mean air or atmosphere in Elizabethian/Jacobean English. I

>believe Hamlet at one point refers to "the brave and hanging firmament".

>Firmentations is derived from this would because it causes gas (CO2) to

>appear in an airtight barrel.


NANCY
Uh, that's fermentation, Helen, from the Latin "fermentum" meaning that
which causes fermentation, yeast. From the verb "fervere," to boil, seethe.
Firmament comes from the Latin word "firmamentum," a means of support, prop.

>From the verb "firmare," to make firm, strengthen.


HELEN
 So the waters were divided by air, the sky

>is blue because there's a lake up there, and when it rains heaven simply

>springs a leak. God said it and I believe it.

>Helen

>hhiwater@bright.net

> 

>> Genesis

>> 6

>> And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,

>> and let it separate the waters from the waters." 

>> 

>> SJW

>> Now I am picturing this huge slab of earth (firmament) jutting out of

>> the waters, creating a wall between the bodies of water.  We still

>> don't have a sphere called earth, just a blob of water and a wall.

>> So Ian, how do you like my interpretation?  Are we done yet?

>

>

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