Words to Live By

Whilst I sit back and enjoy my aesthetically pleasing new landscaping, please grab a seat and enjoy this week's wonderful words:

From wordsmith.org:

suspire \suh-SPYR\ (verb tr., intr.) - To breathe; to sigh.
[From Latin suspirare (to breathe up), from spirare (to breathe).]

indurate \IN-doo-rayt, -dyoo-\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To make hardy, inured, accustomed. 2 : To make callous or unfeeling. (verb intr.) - 1 : To make hard. 2 : To become established. (adjective) \IN-doo-rit, -dyoo-\ - Hardened; callous; obstinate.
[From Latin indurare (to harden), from durare (to last), from durus (hard). Ultimately from the Indo-European root deru-/dreu- (to be firm) that's the source of such other words as truth, trust, betroth, tree, endure, and druid.]

yammer \YAM-uhr\ (verb tr., intr.) - To whine, complain, or to talk loudly and incessantly. (noun) - The act of yammering.
[From Middle Dutch jammeren (to lament).]

extirpate \EK-stuhr-payt\ (verb tr.) - 1 : To destroy completely. 2 : To pull up by the roots.
[From Latin extirpare (to root out), from stirps (stem, root).]

spall \spal\ (verb tr., intr.) - To break into small pieces; to splinter. (noun) - A chip or splinter, especially of stone.
[Of unknown origin.]

And from ArcaMax:

halcyon \HAL-see-uhn\ (noun) - 1 : A kingfisher. 2 : A mythical bird, identified with the kingfisher, that was fabled to nest at sea about the time of the winter solstice and to calm the waves during incubation. (adjective) - 1 : Calm; quiet; peaceful; undisturbed; happy; as, "deep, halcyon repose." 2 : Marked by peace and prosperity; as, "halcyon years."

"West foreshadowed the end of Los Angeles's halcyon moment. He saw the city of angels becoming a city of despair, a place where hopes get crushed..." -- Michael Connelly, 'The Concrete Blonde'
Halcyon derives from Latin (h)alcyon, from Greek halkuon, a mythical bird, kingfisher. This bird was fabled by the Greeks to nest at sea, about the time of the winter solstice, and, during incubation, to calm the waves.

prevaricate \prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\ (intransitive verb) - To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.

"As regards your question, however, I will not prevaricate nor deceive you, but what the old man of the sea told me, so much will I tell you in full." -- Homer, 'The Odyssey'
Prevaricate derives from the past participle of Latin praevaricari, "to pass in front of, or over, by straddling; to walk crookedly; to collude," from prae, "before, in front of" + varicare, "to straddle," from varicus, "straddling," from varus, "bent."

superfluous \soo-PER-floo-us\ (adjective) - More than is wanted or is sufficient; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; unnecessary; useless; excessive. (adverb) superfluously, (noun) superfluousness.

"You must consider that what is necessary always occurs, and what is superfluous usually, but what is almost necessary, at least in my case, rarely, as a result of which, robbed of all context, it can become slightly pathetic, i.e. amusing." -- Hanns Zischler, 'Kafka Goes to the Movies'
Superfluous comes ultimately from the Latin superfluus, from superfluo, superfluere, to overflow, from super-, over, above + fluo, fluere, to flow.

desideratum \dih-sid-uh-RAY-tum; -RAH-\ (noun) - Something desired or considered necessary. plural desiderata

"I went, had admittance, and offered him my service as a master of the Greek language, which I had been told was a desideratum in this university." -- Oliver Goldsmith, 'The Vicar of Wakefield'
Desideratum is from Latin desideratum, "a thing desired," from desiderare, "to desire."

stoic \STOH-ik\ (noun) - 1 : (Capitalized). A member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno holding that one should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity. 2 : Hence, one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain, joy or grief. (adjective) - 1 : Of or pertaining to the Stoics; resembling the Stoics or their doctrines. 2 : Not affected by passion; being or appearing indifferent to pleasure or pain, joy or grief.

"A Stoic never evaded life: he faced it. A Stoic never avoided responsibility: he accepted it. A Stoic not only believed in liberty: he practised it." -- H. J. Duteil, 'The Great American Parade'
Stoic comes from Greek stoikos, literally "of or pertaining to a colonnade or porch," from stoa, "a roofed colonnade, a porch, especially, a porch in Athens where Zeno and his successors taught."

Today will be a run and gun catch-up day. Little Bit is going to her 'semi-formal' tonight, so we'll have some mother-daughter bonding time trying to get her ready to go (i.e., primping). And I'll have another by-myself evening. Last night's didn't quite go as planned as it seems I was very tired - I fell asleep with a book in my hand and the Food Network on low volume. Sheesh. So I'll be trying to finish that book this afternoon.

I read something yesterday that said there were something like 400,000 books published in the U.S. last year. I'm hoping that somewhere in that mountain of books you'll be able to find something that suits your fancy.

Don't forget - it's good for you.

=) JB

"Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will."
-- Lord Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) English Lord Protector