Pumpernickel an old Bavarian term for "hard", either referring to the process used to grind the grain into flour, or the density of the final bread product. According to "Langenscheidts Taschen Wörterbücher" (1956), it refers to a form of "pumping work". The philologist Johann Christoph Adelung states that the word has an origin in the Germanic vernacular where was a New High German synonym for being flatulent, and was a form of the name Nicholas, commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g. "Old Nick", a familiar name for Satan), or more generally for a malevolent spirit or demon. Hence, "pumpernickel"
What Is Theosophy? What Is Theosophy? "What Is Theosophy?" is an editorial published in October 1879 in the Theosophical magazine "The Theosophist." It was compiled by Helena Blavatsky and included into the 2nd volume of the "Blavatsky Collected Writings." According to a doctoral thesis by Tim Rudbøg, in this "important" article Blavatsky "began conceptualizing her idea of 'Theosophy'." Blavatsky writes that, "according to lexicographers, the term "theosophia" is composed of two Greek words—"theos" "god," and "sophos" "wise." She then writes that Noah Webster defines it as "a supposed intercourse with God and superior spirits, and consequent attainment of superhuman knowledge, by "physical processes,"