This ranks as another of those words that surprised me!
I’ve long known that people used to call small portraits miniatures–but what I didn’t realize was that the “small” part wasn’t the root of the word.
In fact, the word miniature comes from the Latin miniare, which means “to paint red.” (Red being one of the primary colors used in illumination [illustration] of manuscripts.) Who knew?! So back in the day, when people were making books by hand, they would put small pictures onto the page and color them in, which they, therefore, called “miniatures.” So naturally, it was only a matter of time before it came to mean any “small picture.” And from there, it shifted to mean anything small!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Found them! Thank you!
How interesting! I never knew that!
Hi, Sarah! The newsletters have been going out daily since May 1, yes. Maybe check a spam or junk folder to see if they've been going in there? Or if you have gmail, they tend to go to the Promotions folder. If you can find any of them, there's a link to the landing page where the rest can be found. (Do use the link from the newest ones, not the first, if you find them all–I had to relocate it all to my blog when my website decided to act up. Nearly got that resolved, I hope!)
If you still can't find any of the newsletters, just email me at roseannamwhite[at]gmail.com and I'll help you get it all straightened out. =)
Roseanna, you said we'd start receiving the daily sneak peaks on May 1. I am a newsletter subscriber. How do I find them?
That is so interesting!