What We Have in Common -- A Guest Post by Sheri of A Novel Menagerie

Today, Sheri is guest posting for me! Make sure to check out her site, A Novel Menagerie!

me⋅nag⋅er⋅ie

Pronounced: [muh-naj-uh-ree, -nazh-] (mə-năj'ə-rē, )
Word Type: Noun
Origin: 1705–15; < F: lit., housekeeping. See MÉNAGE, -ERY
Definition(s):
• A collection of live wild animals on exhibition.
• An enclosure in which wild animals are kept.
• A diverse or miscellaneous group.
• A collection of wild or unusual animals, esp. for exhibition
• A Place where they are kept or exhibited
• An unusual and varied group of people
• a place for keeping) a collection of wild animals

Menagerie is the term for a historical form of keeping calm and exotic animals in human captivity and therefore a predecessor of the modern zoological garden. The term was foremost used in seventeenth century France originally for the management of the household or domestic stock, but later primarily for an aristocratic or royal animal collection. The French-language "Methodical Encyclopaedia" of 1782 defines a menagerie as an "establishment of luxury and curiosity." Later on the term was referred even to travelling animal collections that exhibited wild animals at fairs across Europe and the Americas. [French ménagerie, from Old French mesnage, ménage. See ménage.]

TRANSLATIONS:

Arabic: مَجْموعَة حيوانات نادِرَه
Chinese (Simplified): 动物园
Chinese (Traditional): 動物園
Czech: zvěřinec
Danish: menageri
Dutch: menagerie
Estonian: loomaaed
Finnish: villieläintarha
French: ménagerie
German: die Menagerie
Greek: θηριοτροφείο
Hungarian: állatsereglet
Icelandic: dÿragarður
Indonesian: pengumpulan binatang
Italian: serraglio
Japanese: 見せ物動物園
Korean: (개인이 소유한) 대규모 야생동물 사육지
Latvian: zvērnīca
Lithuanian: žvėrynas
Norwegian: menasjeri
Polish: menażeria
Portuguese (Brazil): coleção de feras
Portuguese (Portugal): zoo
Romanian: me¬najerie
Russian: зверинец
Slovak: zverinec
Slovenian: zverinjak
Spanish: casa de fieras
Swedish: menageri
Turkish: vahşi hayvanlar koleksiyonu; hayvanat bahçesi

Menagerie, it’s what we share and what brought me to you. I am wondering if you relate to this word as much as I do.

I remember the day that I chose the name for my blog, as I am sure all bloggers can relate to. I was with Lisa of Books on the Brain and she was sharing with me her passion for reading, reviewing and the start-up of TLC Book Tours. I just sucked up all of excitement into me and exploded within my own. I want to review all of the books that I have been reading! I want to blog. But, what to name it? I remember rambling out some names with her, but I can’t remember how the words came to me. I constantly refer to my household as a ZOO… because it is one. I think I went from zoo to menagerie to The Glass Menagerie… to A Novel Menagerie. I can’t recall (maybe Lisa does). But, I was struck so much with how much this website name suited me that I scribbled it down and never changed my mind on it once.

My life in my home is one of a domestic zoo keeper. And, I love it that way. I am a pretty diverse person and am into multiple hobbies, with various collections, and a wide taste in both music and books. I collect both, in addition to collecting all sorts of things: elephants, nail polish, socks, chopsticks, pillows, fish, pens, yarn and glasses (the drinking kind). I’ve hosted contests asking others about their collections… their menageries, if you will. After all, your menagerie tells a lot about you!

So, you and I… Literary Menagerie… are tied by this beautiful word with French origins. You and I are tied by a love of literature, a collection of words which, once published, become as timeless as the sea. You are I are tied as we are both new to the book review blogging community. As we venture off into 2009 and share our love of the menagerie and our fearlessness of the “Blog World”… I can’t wait to get to know you better!

10 comments:

ANovelMenagerie said...

Thanks! I'll cross post it!

Sheri

ANovelMenagerie said...

I've cross linked my day's post to here!

Thanks a million!

Alyce said...

Sheri, I liked learning about how you thought of the name for your blog!

I remember when I thought of blog name too. It was one of those things where I was tossing words around in my head (like you were doing) and thought. "I'm a stay at home mom reading books. I read books at home...At Home With Books!"

I promptly named my blog, started posting and then a few weeks later learned that there was a book about home libraries named "At Home With Books." I didn't want people to think that I had copied it from the book. Then I just stopped worrying about it because I couldn't imagine my blog being named anything else.

Margo said...

Hi Sheri, Thanks for the introduction to this other menagerie. I loved hearing this story about the name "menagerie". I've always been drawn to that word... their is such a sense of variety and fun to it, I think.

Anonymous said...

Obviously adding "menagerie" to the title of a blog is associated with good blogging! Thanks Sheri for the introduction.

I chose "rhapsodyinbooks" because I happened to be listening to "Rhapsody in Blue" at the time and, the sources of my inspiration being pretty limited, that became it. But I really should have named it "rhapsodyinalotofthings." That would have been too unwieldy though!

Speaking of unwieldy, I added this additional menagerie to my blog reader!

Serena said...

Sheri: What a fantastic guest post. I love learning about how others come up with their blog names.

ANovelMenagerie said...

I know, Serena, me too! I hope that others come by and share!
-Sheri

Anonymous said...

Sheri, what a great guest post! Thanks for introducing me to this "other" menagerie!

I remember that day so well.. you sitting next to me and me showing you my little blog and trying to explain to you about book bloggers, book tours, etc. You soaked it up like a sponge and the next thing I knew, BAM! A Novel Menagerie was born!

The name Books on the Brain came from my kids, as in "Mom's always got books on the brain". It works.

Oh, for anyone who is interested, Sheri is guest posting on my blog tomorrow! She's written about my (our) book club.. Come see! We're giving away all kinds of stuff over there to celebrate a blogging milestone.

ANovelMenagerie said...

That was a fated day, Lisa!

Shana said...

Great post, Sher. I love your blog and I've always thought it has a rockin' name!!

Shana
Literarily

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