10Q (June 17, 2024)

 

1. Classical authors writing in Latin and Greek referred to popular legends that this city was founded by the mythical hero Ulysses. Its name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela, a native of Hispania. It was later referred to as "Olisippo" by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. Between the 8th and the 12th century, it was referred to as Al-Usbuna. What is it called today? Either an international / English name or one in the local language will do.

2. The Grand Jeté is notoriously one of the most difficult of them, as it requires continuous stretching. Other types include the sauté, which involves both feet; the temps levé, which involves just one; the jeté, which is more standard; the assemblé; and the sissonne. If you were doing any of these, what would you be performing or practising?

3. It was the first name of the American journalist and poet who wrote 'The Devil's Dictionary', and of the Union general from whose surname we get the English word 'sideburns'. It's the surname of a West Indian cricketer whose first name is an adverb meaning 'in a terse manner'. What is this name, that derives from the Greek word for 'immortal', from which you also get the Greek name for the food of the gods? 

4. While he was still alive (he died in 2017), Ved Prakash Sharma was a regular confidante of and consultant for Ekta Kapoor, providing regular inputs on Balaji Telefilms' serials. But his real claim to fame was elsewhere. What was he acknowledged as 'the king of", a genre/medium in which he achieved many record-breaking feats?

5.  In classical times, the Latin word for 'sheath' was not used in an anatomical sense. But after it came, intact, into English in the 1680s, it began to be used for a part of the human anatomy. What's the word?

6. Which northern Russian port is depicted in the 18th-century icon below?

 

 

7. As the result of a grisly and as yet unexplained discovery by a forest ranger in 1942, Roopkund in the Himalayas (photo below) is known by what macabre name?

 

 

 

8. Stretching a remarkable 120km in length, it is the longest uninterrupted natural sand beach in the world. It takes its name from the nearest town, which was founded in 1869 at the site of the existing village of Palongkee, some 150km south of Chittagong. The town was named after a former superintendent of the British East India Company, known for his rehabilitation work with Arakanese refugees who came into the region in the late 18th century. What’s the name of the town / beach in the photo below?

 

 

 

9. The Ancient Romans were fond of quincunxes. Tables at large dinners were often arranged in this form, as were beds in crop fields and gardens. It was also the name of a coin whose weight equaled five-twelfths of a libra, a unit of weight similar to the modern-day pound. The name comes from the Latin roots for 'five' and 'one-twelfth'. What is the quincunx pattern? You can describe it using a common example from our pastimes.

10. This ancient structure on Rawdah Island in Cairo is known in English as a stilling well, one of several that you will find along a certain stretch in Egypt. The column in the middle has a name that directly describes its traditional function. What is it called, or what is its function?

Answers
1. Lisbon
2. Ballet – these are all types of ballet jumps
3. Ambrose – the persons referred to are Ambrose Bierce, Ambrose Burnside, and Curtly Ambrose
4. Hindi pulp fiction, having written more than 170 murder mysteries and other novels, including 'Vardi Wala Gunda' that reportedly sold 80 million copies
5. Vagina
6. Arkhangelsk. Also known as Arkhangel, the city is named for the belief that the victory of St Michael over the devil took place near there, and that Michael still stands watch over the city to prevent the Devil's return. This belief is also reflected in the city’s coat of arms, shown below.

7. Skeleton Lake – the skeletal remains of some 500-odd people are strewn around the lake, and no one is sure how exactly they got there. Research shows that the remains do not all date to the same historical period, and don’t even share a common geographic origin. This means that, many centuries apart, different groups of different peoples from different parts of the world somehow all met their demise at this same spot.

8. Cox's Bazar Beach

9. The 5 dots on a die, or the arrangement of symbols on a '5' playing card

10. A nilometer, used as an early warning system for flooding of the Nile