Livery/etymology

Famous quotes containing the words livery and/or etymology:

    Whether, if you yield not to your father’s choice,
    You can endure the livery of a nun,
    For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
    To live a barren sister all your life,
    Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
    Thrice blessed they that master so their blood
    To undergo such maiden pilgrimage.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.
    Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)