Immortal mortals
Deepti

A madeleine is a small, rich sponge cake baked in a fluted, shell-shaped pan and decorated with jam and coconut. It is probably named after Madeleine Paulmier, the nineteenth-century French cook who specialised in pastry and is credited with the creation of this cake. Writers, to refer to something that evokes memory or nostalgia, have used the word madeleine. "I’ll never forget the summer I first read Little Women. Twentysix years later, that memorable opening (‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.) is a literary madeleine, taking me back to an earlier time when reading was an unmixed pleasure and a book a magical charm that sealed me off from the world," Norrie Epstein writes in her article, ‘Little Women’ Read by Girls but Remembered by Women, in The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland); April 12, 1992.

Foley is an adjective used for anything relating to sound effects on screen or stage. Foley comes from the work of Jack Donovan Foley of Universal studios. He pioneered the techniques of adding sound effects to films after the shooting. Actual sounds can’t be used in a movie because, often, very little is real on a studio set. The whirring of fans to create the effect of strong winds gives a sound that bears no resemblance to the noise of real wind. Foley artists can recreate any sound in their studio, from footsteps to the thundering of clouds and squeaking of door hinges.

Sir Anthony Van Dyck or Vandyke, the Flemish painter, is famous for his portraits of the members of the English court. His style of painting has had a deep influence on the development of portraits and that is not the only thing he is known for. Through his paintings, he immortalised two things, the Vandyke beard, neat, short and pointed and the Vandyke collar. This was the collar that frequently could be seen on the people he painted, a broad lace or linen collar with an edge deeply cut into large points, fashionable in the eighteenth century. By and by, this style of garment came to be called the Vandyke style, making the painter an adjective.

Davy Jones’s locker refers to the bottom of the ocean, especially the grave of those who perish at sea. Davy Jones was not a real person, it was a slang word used by sailors of the eighteenth century to refer to the evil spirit of the sea. It seems that the idea of the locker evolved because just as a locker is impenetrable, once a person drowns in the sea, there is no hope of even the body being recovered.

When Mausolus, King of Caria, died in 353 B.C., his grief-stricken wife erected a vast and splendid tomb to keep his memory alive. The Greeks called it mausoleion after the king’s name. Latin passed it onto English as mausoleum, giving the language a word for any large, stately or gloomy structure.

The Rudradevta of the Rig Veda was described as shiva, an adjective to bestow on this god the traits of being a well-wisher. He was also referred to as Shambhu and Shankar, the whole idea being to keep him happy, as he was famous for his destructive short temper. After the Vedic period was over, Lord Shiva emerged as a god in his own right and the adjective shiva became a proper noun.