QUASQUICENTENNIAL Public Deposited
VOCABULARY ANSWER
The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 8, February 18, 2001, Article 8
VOCABULARY ANSWER: QUASQUICENTENNIAL
Last week your Editor asked: "If a medal for a 100-year
anniversary is a centennial medal, and a medal for a
150-year anniversary is a sesquicentennial medal, is there
a name for a 125-year anniversary medal?"Jim Porter's trigger finger was right on the buzzer -
within minutes he replied that "... the answer is
"quasquicentennial". I'm citing this web page:
http://www.rbls.lib.il.us/dpl/FAQcenn.htm""Quasquicentennial" ... Kinda rolls off the tongue,
doesn't it? I ask because one of my local clubs
is considering striking such a medal in 2003 on the
anniversary of its founding in 1878.ANA Museum Curator Robert Hoge concurs, as
does D. Wayne Johnson who writes: "The name for
a 125th anniversary is quasquicentennial. When I was
cataloging all the firm's medals for Medallic Art Company
I compiled a chart of all the useful anniversary names.Later I learned there are rules for these names. And that
every year can have a word name (not just the major
anniversaries). This was brought to my attention when
reading Playboy (I look at the pictures in numismatic books,
I read the text in the January 1975 issue of Playboy!) The
year before our nation's 200th anniversary (Bicentennial,
remember?) an author came up with the name for that year:
the nation's 199th anniversary. I learned the formulae from
this (and it works for any year).For anyone interested I will email that Anniversary Name chart.
But it will take some time to put that formulae into words (and
find that old copy of Playboy). Contact: dick.johnson@snet.net"Finally, Bill Spengler writes: "In your much-appreciated
E-Sylum of Feb. 11 you asked: "...is there a name for a
125-year anniversary medal?" I don't know about its
application to medals but I offer the following on the term
itself.By sheer coincidence, last week while driving on Interstate
80 in west-central Iowa I stopped in the hamlet of Casey
(population around 500) to do a little antiquing. In one
shop a few pieces of porcelain commemorating the 125th
anniversary of li'l ole Casey in 1994 happened to catch my
eye. The reason was their carrying the word
"QUASQUICENTENNIAL" in bold letters, a term I
couldn't recall having seen before. At the time I had no idea
this piece of trivia might come in handy so soon. But here it
is for your consideration. It is not to be found in Webster's
Unabridged, but I am told that the Casey city fathers were
pretty sure of the accuracy of their etymology or they
wouldn't have cast the term in porcelain!"- 2001-02-18
- 4