From the name Jagannatha to the noun juggernaut

A juggernaut is something that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path. Literally, this something can be a heavy vehicle such as a steamroller. The word juggernaut can also refer to a strong force, either physically or spiritually, that exercises power. Julia Whitty, with roots in the Indian state of Bengal, explains the origin of the word juggernaut from the local name for the god Krishna: Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe, whose home is the Temple of Jagannatha in Puri on the Bay of Bengal [1]. Each year Jagannatha is worshipped by being taken on a tour as an oversized head with arms coming out of his ears. Aboard a huge chariot, Jagannatha makes its way to the Gundicha temple through the sea of ecstatic worshippers:

Along the way, most years, a few unlucky disciples are crushed beneath the wheels of the chariot, while others throw themselves under (or once did), desiring deliverance from the cycle of birth and death and the subsequent bliss of nirvana. Upon witnessing Jagannatha's monstrous chariot, its unhurried and invariably deadly path, the British coined the word juggernaut.

Reference
[1] Julia Whitty: The Fragile Edge • Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific. Houghton Mifflin Company, 213 Park Avenue South, New York, NewYork 10003, 2007; p. 129.

On the high bank of the Leine river: Hanover

Hanover is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony in northwest Germany. It's name is spelled with two letters of n in German: Hannover. A way above and along the Leine river in today's historic downtown area is named Am Hohen Ufer, meaning on the high bank. The name Hannover is supposedly derived from this discriptive phrase of its location when the language of Mittelniederdeutsch was spoken there. In Mittelniederdeutsch, the adjective ho or hoch means high and the noun over means bank (Ufer in German today) . The name of the English town Heanor in Derbyshire probably has a very similar origin: In 1236 its name was Henovere. Around 1150, Germany's Hanover was named vicus Honovere. The word vicus indicates that it was a market place. There are other places in Germany with related names: Hanöver near Berne in the Wesermarsch and Hahnöfersand, an island in the river Elbe near Blankenese, Hamburg. And then, there are all those Hanovers in the United States. Mapquest lists ten states with a town named Hanover.

References
[1] Duden Taschenbücher • Geographische Namen in Deutschland • Herkunft und Bedeutung der Namen von Ländern, Städten, Bergen und Gewässern. 2., übearbeitete Auflage von Dieter Berger, Dudenverlag, Mannheim, 1999.
[2] Ulfrid Müller: Die Marktkirche St. Georgii et Jacobi in Hannover. F&W Mediencenter, Kienberg (brochure available inside the Marktkirche Hannover church).

Word play with the German words 'Stadt' and 'Statt'

The German word Stadt is a noun meaning town or city. The noun Statt means place or stead. Written in lower case, statt is a preposition with the meaning instead of. These words sound alike. The word stattstrand, here seen next to the Hunte Wendehafen in downtown Oldenburg in northwest Germany, is composed of the word statt and the noun Strand, meaning beach. The compositum Stattstrand can be understood as Stadtstrand (city beach) and also as alternative or atypical beach. In the extreme sense, it means no beach at all, but something different.

Special coolants: Coolanols

The word Coolanol is applied as a trade name for certain industrial silicate esters (tetraalkoxysilanes) that are used as coolants and also as heat and power transfer fluids, dielectric and hydraulic fluids, lubricants and for electrical and electronic equipments. The Monsanto Chemical Company and Exxon Mobil market silicate esters under various trade names. Coolanol names are typically composed of the noun Cooloanol followed by a short numerical or alphanumerical code, for example Coolanol 35 or Coolanol OS59.

References
[1] M. Alagar and V. Krishnasamy: Preparation and Characterisation of Tetraalkoxysilanes. Hungarian Journal of Industrial Chemistry 1987, 15, pp. 453-468. This article reports tetraalkoxysilane (including compounds with with linear and branched alkoxy groups with three to twelve carbon atoms: propoxy to dodecoxy) properties such as density, refractive index, viscosity, surface tension, thermal expansion, specific heat, infrared range, oxidation stability, decomposition temperature, breakdown voltage and thermal conductivity. Some of these properties are compared with those of silicones and Coolanols of Monsanto Chemicals, USA.
[2] Coolanol silicate esters: Exxon Mobil Brochure

English: grassoline • German: Grasolin

Since the translation of the English word gasoline into German is Gasolin, the English noun grassoline should be translated into German as Grasolin. This word has not been found in the Kraftstoff or Biokraftstoff context in the German literature during a recent search. Should we look for Grassolin or Graßolin?

English-German vocabulary
fuel Kraftstoff, m.; also: Brennstoff or Treibstoff
biofuel Biokraftstoff, m.
gasoline Gasolin, n.
grassoline Grasolin, n.
grass Gras, n.

Grassoline instead of gasoline

Gasoline is a fuel based on mineral oil, a limited resource. Grassoline, based on renewable resources, is a second-generation biofuel made from the inedible parts of plants, in contrast to first-generation biofuels made from edible biomass. A typical source for grassoline is the fast-growing switchgrass. The noun grassoline, rhyming with gasoline, indicates the grassy or ‘green’ origin of this type of biofuel. Get ready to watch out (or smell out) for the nearest grassoline station on your next drive!

Reference
George W. Huber and Bruce E. Dale: Grassoline at the Pump. Scientific American, July 2009, 301 (1), pp. 52-59.
Link: Grassoline: Biofuels Beyond Corn.

Further interesting links
Noun: grassoline
Biofuels: Switchgrass harvest for grassoline plant
Development of Cellulosic Biofuels: video lecture

The nouns count, number and numeral

The noun count often refers to the action or process of counting, but can also mean the quantity of something being counted or measured, as, for example, in the terms particle count or body count. A numeral is a symbol that denotes the result of a count—irrespective of what has been counted. The noun number often applies within either context. For example, the chemical term oxidation number can mean the numerical equivalent (formal charge count in an atom) of an oxidation state or the symbol, normally a Roman numeral, that expresses an oxidation state. Further, the word number is often used in an identifier contex, such as in the terms account number, social security number, and RTECS number (Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances number). Such identification numbers may include non-numerals and sometimes are composed completely from non-numerals (letters and punctuation marks).
The distinction between count and number can be important in avoiding ambiguities. In computer programming, it is a good practice to enhance program readability and testing by distinguishing between count and number variables, for example, by using prefixes cnt and n in variable names. A count variable dynamically counts something during program execution, where as a number variable holds an assigned numerical value.
The distinction between number and numeral is critical in separating an actual quantity from its notational representations. The same number can be expressed in different numeral systems—positional as well as nonpositional numeral systems [1].

References and Links
[1] Christopher Hollings: An Analysis of Nonpositional Numeral Systems. The Mathematical Intelligencer, Spring 2009, 31 (2), pp. 15-23.
[2] Karl Menninger: Number Words and Number Symbols - A Cultural History of Numbers.
[3] Encyclopedia Britannica/numeral system