In homage to the great Dick Martin, who passed away last week at the age of 86, I give you a few choice words that the Wordsmith categorizes as 'archaic' ...
garboil \GAHR-boil\ (noun) - Confusion; turmoil. [Via French and Italian from Latin bullire (to boil).]
"'That was some garboil in the woods', [Julius Winsome] announces to one increasingly confused victim." Gerard Donovan; Dark Memories in the Forest; Irish Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Jun 16, 2007.
point-device \point di-VYS\ (adverb) - Completely; perfectly. (adjective) - Perfect; precise; meticulous. [From the phrase "at point devis" meaning "at a fixed point" or "to perfection".]
"Thus he [Eginhard] grew up, in logic point-device, Perfect in grammar, and in rhetoric nice." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; Tales of a Wayside Inn; 1863.
scrannel \SKRAN-l\ (adjective) - 1 : Thin. 2 : Unmelodious. [Of unknown origin.]
"Though played with impressive skill and intense determination by Dorothy Stone, the often scrannel sounds irritated more than they fascinated." Terry McQuilkin; Pacific Festival Opens at Cal State LA; Los Angeles Times; Jun 24, 1989.
sweven \SWEV-uhn\ (noun) - Dream; vision. [From Old English swefn (sleep, dream, vision).]
"[The queen] went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered during all her wedding-night from swevens and nightmare." The Arabian Nights (translated by Richard Francis Burton); 1885.
ween \ween\ (verb tr., intr.) - To think, suppose, believe. [From Old English wenan (to expect), from the Indo-European root wen- (to desire or to strive for) that's also the source of wish, win, venerate, venison, Venus, and banya. It's the same word that shows up in "overweening".]
"But well I ween that Gryffyth will never keep troth* with the English." Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; 1848. [*troth: promise, loyalty]
And a few gems from ArcaMax ...
sardonic \sar-DON-ik\ (adjective) - Scornful, mocking; disdainfully humorous. "The young man stood looking down at her with sardonic contempt, a cowed self-conscious look on his thick, pale face." -- D.H. Lawrence, 'Women in Love'. [Sardonic comes from French sardonique, from Latin sardonius, from Greek sardonios, sardanios, "derisive."]
perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment. "Such a horse gives its rider discernment and perspicacity, if not clairvoyance. It will save you from being surprised by your enemies." -- Sudhin N. Ghose, 'Folk Tales and Fairy Stories from India'. [Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, perspicac-, "sharp-sighted," from perspicere, "to look through," from per, "through" + specere, "to look."]
edacious \i-DAY-shus\ (adjective) - Given to eating; voracious; devouring. "Occasionally the road must be set back, and once the lighthouse was moved back from the cliffs, eaten away by the edacious tooth of the sea." -- Henry White Warren, 'Among The Forces'. [Edacious is from Latin edax, edac-, gluttonous, consuming, from edo, edere, to eat.]
aberrant \a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt\ (adjective) - Markedly different from an accepted norm; Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal. "Another factor the court had to consider was whether the crime was part of a single period of aberrant behavior." -- Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, 'Sullivan's Evidence'. [That which is aberrant is literally that which "wanders away from" what is accepted, ordinary, normal, natural, etc., aberrant being from Latin aberro, aberrare, to wander off, to lose one's way, from ab, away from + erro, errare, to wander.]
aggrandize \uh-GRAN-dyz; AG-ruhn-dyz\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To make great or greater; to enlarge; to increase. 2 : To make great or greater in power, rank, reputation, or wealth; -- applied to persons, countries, etc. 3 : To make appear great or greater; to exalt. "He only wanted to aggrandize and enrich himself; and if Miss Woodhouse of Hartfield, the heiress of thirty thousand pounds, were not quite so easily obtained as he had fancied, he would soon try for Miss somebody else with twenty, or with ten." - Jane Austen, 'Emma'. [Aggrandize comes from French agrandir, from Old French, from a-, "to" (from Latin ad-) + grandir, "to grow larger," from Latin grandire, from grandis, "large."]
Sigh. I love words.
We have a busy week coming up - BMWs meet Wednesday, and then the BF is coming for a visit over weekend next. I'm so excited. It's heck that we only get to see each other once a year, if that often. But we have the kind of friendship that truly does transcend time and distance, and I'm grateful for it.
If you haven't seen the new Indiana Jones yet, go. Great special effects (albeit some of the images are a bit graphic) and a decent story to boot. For loyal fans, it's arguably quite satisfying. The Tall One and I loved it, at any rate.
The WGH is off at another pipe-&-drum competition (going solo this time), Little Bit is home safely from her trip and still sound asleep (it was an activity-packed three days), and I'm off and running on my catch-up day. So much to do, so little time ...
Read a book. I have a few on the shelves you can borrow.
=) JB
Book of the Day: The Fourth Watcher by Timothy Hallinan. Bangkok. Intrigue. 'Nuff said.
Music on the Boom-Box: Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
"The strokes of a pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness."
-- Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) U.S. writer
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