Sir Visto

Sir Visto (1892–1914) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1894 to 1896 he ran thirteen times and won three races. As a three-year-old in the 1895 he won both the Epsom Derby and the St Leger at Doncaster. He failed to win in six subsequent races and was retired to stud at the end of the 1896 season.

Background

Sir Visto was described as “a lengthy, rather plain bay with sickle hocks”, but an excellent mover. He was also described as looking powerful but "unfurnished" and "split-up". He was bred at the Crafton Stud by his owner Lord Rosebery, a prominent Liberal statesman who became Prime Minister in 1894. Sir Visto's St Leger was the last of twenty-eight classic wins gained by his trainer Mathew Dawson. Dawson, who was over seventy at the time had "retired" from large-scale training in 1885, but continued to handle a small number of horses at his Melton House Stable.

Sir Visto's sire was the undefeated Irish champion Barcaldine, a representative of the Godolphin Arabian sire line, who also sired the double Classic winner Mimi. Sir Visto’s dam, Vista, was an excellent broodmare who also produced the Derby runner up Velasquez, and Bona Vista the 2000 Guineas winner who, as the grandsire of Phalaris is the male-line ancestor of most modern thoroughbreds.

Sir

Sir is an honorific address used in a number of situations in many anglophone cultures. The term can be used as a formal prefix, especially in the Commonwealth, for males who have been given certain honors or titles (such as knights and baronets), where usage is strictly governed by law and custom.

The term is commonly used as a respectful way to address a man, usually of superior social status or military rank. Equivalent terms of address to females are "ma'am" or "madam" in most cases, or in the case of a very young woman, girl, or unmarried woman who prefers to be addressed as such, "miss". The equivalent term for a knighted woman or baronetess is Dame, or "Lady" for the wife of a knight or baronet.

Etymology

"Sir" derives from the Middle French honorific title sire. Sire developed alongside the word seigneur, also used to refer to a feudal lord. Both derived from the Vulgar Latin senior, sire comes from the oblique case declension senior and seigneur, the nominative case declension seniōrem.

Sirá

Sirá is a village and municipality (obec) in Rokycany District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic.

The municipality covers an area of 6.43 square kilometres (2.48 sq mi), and has a population of 105 (as at 3 July 2006).

Sirá lies approximately 14 kilometres (9 mi) north-east of Rokycany, 28 km (17 mi) east of Plzeň, and 58 km (36 mi) south-west of Prague.

References

Æsir

In Old Norse, ǫ́ss (or áss, ás, plural æsir; feminine ásynja, plural ásynjur) is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in the indigenous Germanic religion known as Norse religion. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Týr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage the Æsir-Vanir War, which results in a unified pantheon.

The cognate term in Old English is ōs (plural ēse) denoting a deity in Anglo-Saxon paganism. The Old High German is ans, plural ensî. The Gothic language had ans- (based only on Jordanes who glossed anses with uncertain meaning, possibly 'demi-god' and presumably a Latinized form of actual plural *anseis). The reconstructed Proto-Germanic form is *ansuz (plural *ansiwiz). The a-rune ᚫ was named after the æsir.

Unlike the Old English word god (and Old Norse goð), the term ōs (áss) was never adopted into Christian use.

Etymology

Æsir is the plural of áss, óss "god" (gen. āsir) which is attested in other Germanic languages, e.g., Old English ōs (gen. pl. ēsa) and Gothic (as reported by Jordanes) anses "half-gods". These all stem from Proto-Germanic *ansis ~ ansuz, which itself comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂énsus (gen. h₂n̥sóus) "life force" (cf. Avestan aŋhū "lord; lifetime", ahura "godhood", Sanskrit ásu "life force",ásura "god" (< *h₂n̥suró)). It is widely accepted that this word is further related to *h₂ens- "to engender" (cf. Hittite hass- "to procreate, give birth", Tocharian B ās- "to produce").