Featuring in a book with a largish numerical title, it may have originated after a month of a the year in some languages and after a currency bearing the Son of God in another. What is it, and what famous example of its usage can be found in the Catalan culture?

toughynutter

Solidus "Castle of Montoliu (or Santa Margarida) This castle, also known as ' El Castellot', is located right in the eastern sector of the plana de Tarragona, near the mouth of the Gaià River... The castle belonged to the Claramunt family, who appear as lords of the fortress in many documents from the 12-13th centuries. In 1134, Ramon Pere, son of Pere Mir de Banyeres, was declared 'fidelis homo et solidus' of Deodat de Claramunt (respectively vassal and commodore of the castles of Montoliu and Tamarit)" http://www.rieradegaia.altanet.org/ajtms/rieradegaia/ang/cul.html Solidus - Byzantine Gold Coin "The gold coins of Justinian II departed from these stable coventions by putting a bust of Christ on the obverse" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_coinage Mar 11 07, 1:35 PM

peasypod

Nice try, but no, sorry. (And I'm sure you'll kick yourself when you find out exactly what it is.) This is something edible... Mar 11 07, 3:37 PM

gmackematix

Well, the first bit is clearly that almondy icing binder that I am a bit partial to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan I have no idea about any famous use in the Catalan culture but Spanish marrzipan is called "massapa" and much of it is made into animal figures by nuns in Toledo in Castile. Spain's Association of Turron and Marzipan Manufacturers (where turron is a Spanish nougat which is popular at Christmas) is based in Barcelona. Also in Barcelona is the Park Guell, which contains Gaudi buildings designed to look as if they were made of candy and marzipan. Mar 11 07, 6:56 PM

queproblema

Well, gmack, no wonder you're peasy's fair-haired boy! Your answer is about as cryptic as her question. Maybe you should at least mention the number 1001 and tie it in with the rest of your answer? I'd never heard that Gaudi tried to make his buildings look like candy. Do you have a link? "Massapa" seems to be Catalan, not Spanish. I enjoyed watching this one and appreciate the question and all the answers. Mar 11 07, 8:03 PM

gmackematix

Fair-haired boy! Not quite. :) The connection of marzipan to "The 1001 Nights", March and the gold coin can all be found in the Wikipedia article I linked to. I'm not using a computer so I can't easily cut and paste URLs but if you Google "Park [or Parc] Guell" you should soon find some pictures. Mar 11 07, 8:22 PM

peasypod

Nice One gmack, honeybun. ;) Actually, marzipan is not one of my favourite bits of confectionery, and I do tend to be the culprit who picks the stuff off and hides it in potplants but that's another story altogether. The Catalan connection (What a great movie title eh?) was to Tortell, the festive torta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortell By the way, this sugary bizniz reminds me of the component of Baroque architecture called 'alfenique', but we covered that in #68026. Mar 11 07, 9:26 PM