Roseanna M. White's Blog

Originally posted in May 2015

So, duh moment. Did you know that the noun fence--like, you know, the thing around your yard--is from defense? Yeah. Duh. I'd never paused to consider that, perhaps because the spelling has ended up different, but there you go! It has been a shortening of defense with the same meaning since the 14th century. Then sense of that enclosure followed in the 15th century.
It had a similar verb meaning at the same times too, with the "to sword-fight" way of defending one...

This is another revisit...and since we were all sheltering at home for the last months of the school year, one that we're probably all thinking about with longing. ;-) Coming at you originally from May of 2015, when Rowyn was only 7 and Xoe was 9, which of course gave me all the "awwww"s when I saw the picture I had in this one, from the year before that. ;-) (Still not sure how my babies are now going into 7th and 10th!)
~*~
Since someone asked me about this over the weekend, I figured, hey--alr...

Originally published June 2015
We've all heard it through the grapevine (and some of us might break into song at the mere mention...), but do you know where the saying comes from?
I didn't--but I learned recently so thought I'd share. =)
Grapevine, meaning "a rumor" or "information spread in an unconventional method," comes from the Civil War era South. The "grapevine telegraph" was much like the "underground railroad." Metaphorical and secretive. Just as the latter wasn't a real railroad, bu...

Leave it to my daughter to lean over in the middle of church and whisper, "Word of the week!" during the sermon--which is exactly what happened when my dad shared this fun little tidbit. ;-)
Did you know that salary is from the same root as salt? Salary has meant "wages, compensation" since the 13th century, and the word comes from the Latin salarium (same meaning), which is closely linked to salarius, "of or pertaining to salt." Some sources say it's because a soldier's salary was considered to ...

Hello, lovely readers!
I'm going to be taking this week off the blog...and will be migrating it to my website. So if you're visiting right now, you may see a few hiccups as I get everything transferred. But after that, it should (I hope and pray!) all just go automatically there. Say a prayer for me, LOL.
Thanks for your patience!

At the time of writing this (the weekend before it posts), I'm sitting with my laptop at the kitchen table while my husband's comfy in our leather armchair, reading The Nature of a Lady before I have to turn it in on June 1. I'm so very blessed to have a honey who supports my writing--not just because he makes sure I have ample time to actually write, but because he does this too. He reads. He chuckles. He talks to me about the characters and settings and themes as he reads. And, most of all, be...

Originally published on 9/3/2012 Today I'm going to examine the origin of a particular phrase rather than a particular word.

In last weekend's sermon, my dad preached from Luke 14, and as he went through the Scriptures, something interesting jumped out at me.
First is something that has struck me many times before, in many different passages. Jesus, often about some other task, comes across someone in need. Sometimes He's at dinner. Sometimes He's traveling. Sometimes He's on his way to heal someone else. And what does He always, inevitably do when He sees this other hurting soul? He stops. He heals them. Why?
Because H...

Originally published 10/15/2012


Okay, y'all, I originally posted this seven and a half years ago, and my call for actual evidence to support the claim below netted me nothing but others who were curious, LOL. So I'm trying again--because this claim has since even appeared on Big Bang Theory, touted by Sheldon. So, seriously, people. Someone defend the claim, or I shall be forced to call Sheldon a liar.

Originally posted 3/6/14
I've blogged several times over the years about JOY. What it is, how it's action and choice and not emotion, how it compares to happiness. In some ways, this post from six years ago started it all, so I thought we'd do a revisit. =)

Last week the small Bible study group I belong to began a study focused around James. I've always loved this little book of the Bible, so I was pretty happy to learn that's what we would be studying. My hubby's leading us this time, and I...