Bucolic
byoo-KAH-lik
1: of or relating to shepherds or
herdsmen : pastoral
2 a:relating to or typical of
rural life
b: pleasing or picturesque in
natural simplicity : idyllic
We get bucolic from the Latin
word bucolicus, which is ultimately from the Greek word boukolos, meaning
"cowherd." When bucolic was first used in English as an adjective in
the early 17th century, it meant "pastoral" in a narrow sense—that
is, it referred to things related to shepherds or herdsmen and in particular to
pastoral poetry. Later in the 19th century, it was applied more broadly to
things rural or rustic. Bucolic has also been occasionally used as a noun
meaning "a pastoral poem" or "a bucolic person."
Talisman
(TAL-is-man, -iz-)
1. An object, such as a stone,
believed to have occult powers to keep evil away and bring good fortune to its
wearer.
2. Anything that has magical
powers and brings miraculous effects.
From French or Spanish, from
Arabic tilasm, from Greek telesma (consecration), from telein (to consecrate or
complete), from telos (result). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwel-
(to revolve), which also gave us colony, cult, culture, cycle, cyclone, chakra,
collar, col, and accolade.