Word Up

On Friday, the Scripp’s 83rd Spelling Bee was on TV. I learned 2 new words, each of which was a favorite of two different contestants.

One was ‘sesquipedalian’ and the other was ‘logodaedaly’. I could actually use them to describe 2 different generations in my family.
My dad would be the sesquipedalian.
My daughter has a real talent for logodaedaly.
It is unlikely I will ever use either one in a text message.
On Saturday, I visited the MPM Exhibit

“Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible” which did not allow text messages. We all turned off our electronic devices and stepped back 2000 years in time.
Fragments of parchment, pieces of papyrus and other artifacts from antiquity set the mind to contemplation. That these treasures survived in clay jars is a wonder. That they were discovered is another. I imagine the hands using the tools available then, taking the time to cipher just one letter. The letters are older than the ones in the word sesquipedalian, or almost any other in the dictionary. They are older than many languages spoken or written today. And yet they were held in such value that they were wrapped in cloth and stored in jars and tucked away for safekeeping. They must have had great hope for the future that they preserved these words to share. There are, oddly, no words I know that describe the wonder. I'm spellbound.