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8/3/2019 Opposition 12: Aries 12 (A flock of wild geese) and Libra 12 (Miners emerging from a mine)
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S t a r l i n g H u n t e r © 2 0 1 2 1
Aries 12: A flock of wild geese
Libra 12: Miners emerging from a mine
The f irst theme concerns GROUPS . The col lect ive noun f lock d e s c e nd s
from the Old Engl ish f locc ( a g r o u p o f p e r s o ns , c o m p a ny , a nd t r o o p ) a nd
is related to the Old Norse f lokkr ( c r o w d , t r o o p , a nd ba nd ) a nd t h e
Middle Low German vlocke (crowd, f lock, sheep) . 1 The word i tsel f means
“ a g r o u p o f a n imals that l ive , travel , or feed together” , “a g r o u p o f p e o p l e
u nd e r t h e l e a d e r s h i p o f o ne p e r s o n ” , and “a large crowd or number .” 2 A
m i n er i s “one whose work or business i t i s to extract ore or minerals
f r o m t h e e a r t h . ” 3 The keyword here is miners , the plural of m i n er , a nd
t h u s s o m e qu a nt i t y i s i nd i c a t e d , a g r o u p o f i nd e t e r m i na t e nu m be r .
A s e c o nd t h e m e c o nc e r ns t h e EARTH o r t h e ENVIRONMENT . R e c a l l t h a t a m i n er i s one who extracts minerals from the earth . A mine i s “a n
e x c a v a t i o n i n t h e e a r t h f r o m w h i c h o r e o r m i ne r a l s c a n be e x t r a c t e d . ”
Th e w o r d wild descends from the Indo-European (IE) root welt- which
m eans “w o o d s , w i l d . ” Paronyms include w eal d ( a n a r e a o f o p e n o r
f o r e s t e d c o u nt r y ) , wold ( a n u nf o r e s t e d r o l l i ng p l a i n) , a nd wilderness (an
u ns e t t l e d , u nc u l t i v a t e d r e g i on l e f t i n i t s na t u r a l c o nd i t io n ) .
A t h i r d t h e m e c o nc e r ns WILDLIFE . F i r s t , t h e r e ’s the keyword geese ,
t h e p l u r a l o f goose , which refers to “any of var ious wi ld or domesticated
w a t e r b i r d s o f t h e f a m i l y A na t i d a e . ” 4 S e c o nd , a s s h o w n a bo v e , s h e e p a r e
implied in the etymology of f lock . Third, among the paronyms of the
keyword wild are the words vole ( a ny o f v a r i o u s r o d e nt s o f t h e
g e nu s Microtus ) a nd wildebeest ( A f r i c a n a nt e l o p e ) . F i na l l y , o ne o f t h e
p a r o ny m s o f emerging i s the word merganser which refers to “a ny o f
var ious f ish-eat ing diving ducks of the genus Mergus. ” 5
V i e w t h e r e s t o f t h e s e r i e s a t h t t p : / / s c r . b i / x z y U A A
1 h t t p : / / w w w . e t y m o n l i n e . c o m / i n d e x . p h p ? t e r m = f l o c k
2 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / f l o c k 3 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m i n e r
4 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / g o o s e
5 h t t p : / / e d u c a t i o n . y a h o o . c o m / r e f e r e n c e / d i c t i o n a r y / e n t r y / m e r g a n s e r