Weekly Vocab

With the exception of the first one, which came from wordsmith.org, this week's words are, as usual, from my ArcaMax ezine subscriptions. Enrich your word power today ...

cenotaph \SEN-uh-taf\ (noun) - A tomb or a monument in honor of a person (or a group) whose remains are elsewhere. [Via French and Latin, from Greek kenotaphion, from kenos (empty) + taphos (tomb).]

undulant \UN-juh-lunt; UN-dyuh-\ (adjective) - Resembling waves in form, motion, or occurrence.

"After some time the car slowed to a palpitant pause at a spot where the road was bordered on one hand by a woods, on the other by meadow-lands running down to an arm of a bay, on whose gently undulant surface the flame-tipped finger of a distant lighthouse drew an undulant path of radiance." -- Louis Joseph Vance, 'The Destroying Angel'
Undulant is from Late Latin undula, "a small wave," diminutive of Latin unda, "wave."

concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective) - Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently. (noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.

"I think it's worthy of note that passions do not tend to be inflamed without the presence of concomitant phantasms." -- Don DeLillo, 'Ratner's Star'
Concomitant comes from the present participle of Latin concomitari, to accompany, from com- (used intensively) + comitari, to accompany, from comes, comit-, a companion.

peregrination \pehr-uh-gruh-NAY-shun\ (noun) - A traveling from place to place; a wandering.

"They continued their peregrination, stopping to spend a few minutes in this circle or that before moving on again, she a foot before him, he prowling, relaxed but watchful, in her wake." -- Stephanie Laurens, 'On a Wild Night'
Peregrination comes from Latin peregrinatio, from peregrinari, "to stay or travel in foreign countries," from peregre, "in a foreign country, abroad," from per, "through" + ager, "land."

inimical \ih-NIM-ih-kul\ (adjective) - 1 : Having the disposition or temper of an enemy; unfriendly; unfavorable. 2 : Opposed in tendency, influence, or effects; antagonistic; adverse.

"The gods did not care -- or rather, were inimical. Beyond question, they were inimical to him." -- Gene Wolfe, 'Litany of the Long Sun'
nimical comes from Late Latin inimicalis, from Latin inimicus, unfriendly, adverse, hostile, from in-, not + amicus, friendly, well-wishing, favorable to, from amare, to love.

Today I'm recovering from the slumber party from ... well, anyway - it went fairly well, and most of the nine teenagers who ended up staying the night last night (Little Bit with five friends and The Boy with two) all fell asleep sometime around midnight or so. Fortunately, the WGH and I didn't hear a peep out of them after 10:30, by which time he and I were both quite oblivious to the world's existence - he because he had to get up at four this morning to go to work, I because I was pooped. ;)

So it's time for breakfast and then an afternoon of shopping (joy) and maybe by tonight I'll have enough energy left to make the apple pies the WGH promised I'd do for our Sunday school get-together tomorrow. Sigh.

Read a book. It's good for you.

=) JB

"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."
-- Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889-1977) English film actor, director, producer, writer, and composer