VERONICA

Well...this book just showed up in the mail from Boston, Mass. on the cheap in a mylar bag. Which is hardly the proper mode of shipping a 4-pound hardcover book but so mote it be. Anyway, I noticed the name VERONICA on the cover while searching out the corner damage from the improper shipping and had to check to see if the name was contained within. Obviously, it is. Seeing that my clone child has that very name it's a no-brainer that I'd include it here. I knew the origins of the name but didn't realize that it had a secondary and third meaning as well. It is as follows:

VERONICA

(vuh RON uh kuh) n. Veronica is not only the name of a plant and a girl's name, but also, as every aficionado of bullfighting knows, a classic movement with the cape, where the matador stands stock still and slowly swings the cape away from the charging bull. The original Veronica was a woman of Jerusalem who wiped Jesus's forehead with a kerchief while He was on His way to Calvary. It was found to bear His likeness and was called the "Vera Icon" (True Image) and the woman later became Saint Veronica. The kerchief is kept as a relic at St. Peter's in Rome. The matador's pass is called the veronica because the cape slowly swung before the face of the charging bull is like the kerchief of St. Veronica wiping Christ's brow.



from 2000 Most Challenging And Obscure Words by Norman W. Schur