Circumcellions

Some of you may know that I studied Latin in High School, and indeed I do enjoy Latin and word roots. I even subscribe to languagehat through Google Reader, and today I ran across this little jewel, not only an interesting article but an interesting name. Circum of course means "around" and according to this article cellion means "guys who hang" though languagehat puts it as "cell" from cella, which makes much more sense. Anyways, this is a fun read about one of the weirdest Christian sects, though, as is almost always the case, probably not the weirdest.

My favorite passage from this article is this one: "Sociologically, the Circumcellions were the Roman equivalent of trailer trash -- rural, uneducated and less-than-notable in terms of contribution to the gross national product. The only job of a Circumcellion was simply "being a Circumcellion." Despite this, members of the sect didn't starve to death... because that would take too long," and I absolutely love the idea that trailer trash pre-dates trailers. Ye Olde Trailore Tryshe? IRE DOMUM QUISQUILIAM? My Latin translation is rusty.

Anyway... That's all.