V for Vocabulary

As usual, my sources for our weekly words are ArcaMax.com and wordsmith.org.

You learn something new every day, right? Well, here's your somethings new for today. Make the rest of it a good one.

From ArcaMax:

termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\ (noun) - A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew. (adjective) - Overbearing; shrewish; scolding. [Termagant comes from Middle English Termagaunt, alteration of Tervagant, from Old French. Termagant was an imaginary Muslim deity represented in medieval morality plays as extremely violent and turbulent. By the sixteenth century, termagant was used for a boisterous, brawling, turbulent person of either sex, but eventually it came to refer only to women.]

euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\ (adjective) - Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding. [Euphonious comes from Greek euphonos, "sweet-voiced," from eu-, "well" (hence "sweetly") + phonos, from phone, "voice, sound." The noun form is euphony.]

voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist. (adjective) - Voluptuous; luxurious. [Voluptuary derives from Latin voluptarius, "devoted to pleasure," from voluptas, "pleasure."]

pandemic \pan-DEM-ik\ (adjective) - Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic. (noun) - A pandemic disease. [Pandemic ultimately derives from Greek pandemos, "of all the people," from pan-, "all" + demos, "people."]

microcosm \MY-kruh-koz-uhm\ (noun) - 1. A little world. 2 : A smaller, representative system having analogies to a larger system. [Microcosm comes from Greek mikros kosmos, "small world."]

From the Wordsmith:

This week we'll look at toponyms, words derived from the names of places. The word toponym is from Greek topos (place), the same word that gave us topic, topiary, isotope, and utopia.

balbriggan \bal-BRIG-uhn\ (noun) A knitted, unbleached cotton fabric, used in hosiery and underwear. [After Balbriggan, a town near Dublin in Ireland, where it was first made.]

brummagem \BRUM-uh-juhm\ (adjective) Cheap and showy. (noun) Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality. [After Brummagem, a dialectal form of Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Brummie is a nickname for someone from Birmingham.]

sardonic \sahr-DON-ik\ (adjective) Marked by scorn, mockery, and cynicism. [After Sardinia, a large island in the Mediterranean. Eating a Sardinian plant was believed to produce facial convulsions as if in a maniacal laughter.]

waterloo \WOT-uhr-loo\ (noun) A crushing or final defeat. [After Waterloo, a village in central Belgium where the Battle of Waterloo took place in 1815. That was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. He was decisively defeated by the British and Prussian forces and exiled to the island of Saint Helena.]

fescennine \FES-uh-nyn, -nin\ (adjective) Obscene or scurrilous. [After Fescennia, a town of ancient Etruria known for its ribald and scurrilous songs sung at festivals and weddings.]

Tim Hallinan should be here early next week - more details on our giveaway of The Fourth Watcher then. In the meantime, read a book!

=) JB

"I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak."
-- Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) US writer