Yet Another Interesting Word Find

So, in the past few months I've been reading a lot of things that deal with the history of the English language, etymology, the influence of Latin, and even a fair bit of that whole "how to learn Latin without taking any real classes because you're a cheap bastard" thing. Well, having a bunch of books around the house helps with that last one.

Anyway, while reading something about the name Peter and its influence on the Christian church and all (remember, the "rock on which I will build my church" and all), I came across another word that wasn't just cool and interesting, but also very useful for my work on the magnum opus. The word is "saxicolous".

Saxicoulous/saxicoline: adjective Living on or growing among rocks. It comes from the Latin (surprise!) saxum meaning rock and the verb colere, to dwell. Both forms are acceptable, though I think "saxicolous" is more the botanical term.

So, the main noble house in the story is called Montgomery. Montgomery, itself, is French and means "Gomeric's hill", and Gomeric is German and means "power of man". So, it makes sense then that House Montgomery lives on a hill. And they do. They live on the side of a mountain, which was land given to them by their liege lords, House Hall. The bestowal of the land was supposed to be a gift for services rendered and the undying loyalty of the Montgomerys to their lord, however, the land was at the end a low mountain chain and was not exactly lush. The rocky soil was not good for growing crops, and so others joked about how the only things that would grow on that mountain were thistles. While the Montgomerys discovered that the ground wasn't good for growing crops, they did find that it was good for providing mineral wealth, specifically gold. The Montgomerys then adopt the Thistle as their symbol (it has previously been a Hound, symbolizing their servitude and faithfulness), to mock those who had mocked them previously. It's kind of an acceptable form of "neener neener neener!"

As you can see, working the word "saxicolous" or "saxicoline" into that little narrative shouldn't be difficult (I'm kind of leaning toward the latter...sounds a little more keen). I'll bring it up from time to time while people are discussing the Montgomerys and their home on the side of the mountain.

In case you were dying to know, "saxatile" is the term used in describing a saxicolous plant via its species name. For example, the Heath Bedstraw found in the UK is called Galium saxatile.

Now hopefully Jeopardy will ask a question about this and once again make me look like a fucking genius (though I doubt it since they're mired in the College Championship reruns right now).