Editors’ notes
The Second Definition of Summer
summer (2) †packhorse; (archit.) horizontal bearing-beam. XIV. — AN. sumer, somer, OF. somier (mod. sommier) — Rom. *saumārius, for late L. sagmārius, f. sagma pack-saddle — Gr. ságma.
—The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | Oxford University Press
It starts with S, and we follow its lazy curves, meandering past work and pursuant demands. Summer is our packhorse, saddled with expectations of good journeys, weather, health, and harvest. Bending time, it allows us to linger, vacate, and bear the weight of the year. It’s a jump rope left coiled in the lengthening grass, a bean stalk reaching above the horizon, a wave crashing against the shore.
Are we there yet?
Issue 5 seems to think so.
—CHZ
Next in Editors’ notes: Issue 6 – how did you spend your summer vacation?
Previously in Editors’ notes: Issue 4!
