Today’s word of the day, on this St. Patrick’s Day, courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary, is figurant. Figurant, or figurante, is a noun that refers to “A ballet dancer who is part of the ensemble rather than a soloist or principal; a member of the corps de ballet. Also: a performer in a ballet who has a supporting role without dancing” (https://www.oed.com/?tl=true). Dictionary.com says “a ballet dancer who does not perform solo” but also a “performer with no spoken lines” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/figurant). The website goes on to say that it was “First recorded in 1775–80; from French, present participle of figurer ‘to figure, appear, represent,’ from Old French, from Latin figūrāre, ‘to form, shape,’ from figūra ‘form, composition’” (ibid.).

Etymonline.com says that it entered the language in “1775, from French figurante, noun use of fem. past participle of figurer (from Latin figurare ‘to form, shape,’ from PIE root *dheigh- ‘to form, build’). In some cases perhaps from Italian figurante (https://www.etymonline.com/word/figurante#etymonline_v_50550). About the PIE root, it says, “It forms all or part of: configure; dairy; dey ‘female servant, housekeeper, maid;’ disfigure; dough; effigy; faineant; faint; feign; feint; fictile; fiction; fictitious; figment; figure; figurine; lady; paradise; prefigure; thixotropy; transfigure.
“It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit dehah ‘body,’ literally ‘that which is formed,’ dih– ‘to besmear;’ Greek teikhos ‘wall;’ Latin fingere ‘to form, fashion,’ figura ‘a shape, form, figure;’ Old Irish digen ‘firm, solid,’ originally ‘kneaded into a compact mass;’ Gothic deigan ‘to smear,’ Old English dag, Gothic daigs ‘dough’” (ibid.).

Personally, I suspect French as the origin makes a bit more sense. Although ballet began in the Italian Renaissance, the professionalization of the ballet really began under Louis XIV in the 17^th century France.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. I have read two differing reasons for why it is his day. The first says that it was on this day that 16-year-old Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates (more precisely, raiders from Dál Riata or Dál Riada, a kingdom “that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1l_Riata]) (https://www.onthisday.com/events/march/17). The second says that it was on this day that St. Patrick died (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick).

As in the case of so many figures from the distant past, our knowledge of St. Patrick is sketchy, but we do have his writings. He left us two works, both written in Latin, his Confessio and his Epistola. It is in the former where he tells his story, though such a Confessio was not just autobiographical but intended to serve as a lesson about God’s goodness.

We learn that young Patrick was taken by these raiders to Ireland where he was kept as a slave for six years. He writes “that the time he spent in captivity was critical to his spiritual development. He explains that the Lord had mercy on his youth and ignorance, and afforded him the opportunity to be forgiven his sins and to grow in his faith through prayer” (ibid.). The wiki goes on, “After six years of captivity, he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away, where he found a ship and with difficulty persuaded the captain to take him. After three days’ sailing, they landed, presumably in Britain, and apparently all left the ship, walking for 28 days in a ‘wilderness’ and becoming faint from hunger. Patrick’s account of his escape from slavery and return home to Britain is recounted in his Declaration [the Confessio]. After Patrick prayed for sustenance, they encountered a herd of wild boar; since this was shortly after Patrick had urged them to put their faith in God, his prestige in the group was greatly increased. After various adventures, he returned home to his family, now in his early twenties. After returning home to Britain, Patrick continued to study Christianity” (ibid.).

Later, after another vision, Patrick returned to Ireland and converted the Irish to Christianity. “’I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: “The Voice of the Irish”. As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us’” (ibid., from Patrick’s Confessio).

The story we associate with St. Patrick is that he banned snakes from Ireland. It’s a good story, but it’s not true. Ireland had been without snakes for at least a couple of hundred years before Patrick’s life. Another story is how Patrick taught the Irish about the Trinity by using a shamrock. The first evidence of this story comes from the 17^th century, but who knows? There are also legends about Patrick fasting for 40 days on a mountain. “A much later legend tells of Patrick visiting an inn and chiding the innkeeper for being ungenerous with her guests. Patrick tells her that a demon is hiding in her cellar and being fattened by her dishonesty. He says that the only way to get rid of the demon is by mending her ways. Sometime later, Patrick revisits the inn to find that the innkeeper is now serving her guests cups of whiskey filled to the brim. He praises her generosity and brings her to the cellar, where they find the demon withering away. It then flees in a flash of flame, and Patrick decrees that people should have a drink of whiskey on his feast day in memory of this. This is said to be the origin of ‘drowning the shamrock’ on Saint Patrick’s Day” (ibid.).

I’ll be honest. I didn’t wear green today, and I didn’t “drown the shamrock.” If you did, or if you participated in a St. Patrick’s Day festival, I hope you were a principal in your day and not just a figurant.

Today’s image is from https://freerangestock.com/photos/136461/saint-patricks-day-pot-of-gold-and-hat-ribbon-greeting.html.