I was playing this spelling bee game when this word came up and I wanted to know how the word was formed but could not find anything and thought perhaps someone on this site could help me out a bit?
asked Jun 5, 2011 at 3:04
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On the other hand, now we have a word that rhymes with "wisteria" :)– RobustoCommented Jun 5, 2011 at 10:40
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Good news for all the Desperate Housewives! lol– Mr_CryptoPrimeCommented Jun 11, 2011 at 5:18
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1Incidentally, this is why you should always ask for the definition in a spelling bee. It would be easy to tell that that the judge has the book open to "P" and not "F".– Michael LortonCommented Apr 5, 2012 at 0:55
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2 Answers
According to wikipedia:
Pfiesteria was discovered in 1988 by North Carolina State University researchers JoAnn Burkholder and Ed Noga. The genus was named after Lois Ann Pfiester (1936–1992), a biologist who did much of the early research on dinoflagellates. An in-depth story of the discovery can be found in And the Waters Turned to Blood by Rodney Barker.
According to Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press:
Pfiester; German: variant of Pfister.
And, again, according to Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press:
Pfister; South German and Swiss German: occupational name for a baker, from Middle High German pfister ‘baker’ (from Latin pistor).
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Ah, thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for! :) Commented Jun 18, 2011 at 5:24
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I thought so. When I read the question, I also wanted to find out what the heck it meant! :D Commented Jun 18, 2011 at 23:32
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haha, likewise! :) What are words without meaning? letters I suppose...lol Commented Jun 19, 2011 at 16:07
From And the Waters Turned to Blood by Rodney Barker, p. 103:
"Pfiesteria was a tribute to their friend the late Lois Pfiester, a pioneer in unraveling the sexual life cycles of fresh-water dinoflagellates..."
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ah, ok. That makes sense...Do you know Louise Pfiester's nationality, German perhaps? Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 3:24
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@Mr_CryptoPrime - I typed her first name wrong (I'll edit my answer for posterity!) - it's "Lois", not "Louise". Here's a short biography. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky - but I don't know her ancestry; probably German, but I'd need to do a bit more genealogical research (than I feel inclined to do...)– MT_HeadCommented Jun 5, 2011 at 3:30
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I will look around for a bit and tell you if I find anything. Commented Jun 5, 2011 at 3:31
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