Seldom-Used Words

[AllardChardon]

A Writerly Thread: I agree AH could discuss topics that are more pertinent to writers than politics, so here is my addition.

Feel welcome to post your favorite obscure word, whether archaic or not and we can all expand our vocabularies at the same time.

Here is my entry from my research into the two Opium Wars of the 1800's;

stupefacient - n. bringing about a stupor: stupefying, narcotic from Webster's 7th Collegiate Dictionary

[trysail]

I encountered a word for which I have made an entry in a separate thread dedicated to and titled Obscure Words:

Bandobast


I freely admit this word is beyond obscure and— god knows— I'm not suggesting it's underused. In fact, it probably oughtn't be used at all because it's so damn obscure. I stumbled on its repeated usage in a book I'm reading:
-Maurice Isserman and Stewart Weaver
Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes
New Haven, Connecticut 2008.


The fact that the authors are academics partially explains the word's appearance. I've never seen it before; I never expect to see it again. This is a case where access to the Oxford English Dictionary is essential— simply put, nothing else will do. It came as no surprise that the O.E.D.'s citation of previous usages includes E. F. Norton's 1924 Fight For Everest.

Not only did bandobast fail to appear in the Oxford Concise, it didn't make it into the main O.E.D. I finally ended up finding it listed in the third volume of the 1987 Supplement to the second edition of the O.E.D.! Even then, it was only listed under one of a number of variant spellings: bundobast. It's etymology is Hindi and its meaning is "An arrangement, organization; preparations."

[Tio_Narratore]

shinplaster noun privately printed paper money, esp devalued or worthless privately printed notes.

[MistressLynn]

Neither is a favorite, but they work for Lit.

paracoita ~~ female sexual partner
paracoitus ~~ male sexual partner

[Stella_Omega]

Mumchance; silent, tongue tied

Badgerbag-- this is a collection of odds and ends, and also the name of King Neptune's helper in the ceremony of crossing the equator, because the actor dresses in rags and tatters

[Granprincipe]

Vouchsafed

Main Entry: vouch·safe
Pronunciation: \vau̇ch-ˈsāf, ˈvau̇ch-ˌ\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): vouch·safed; vouch·saf·ing
Etymology: Middle English vouchen sauf to grant, consent, deign, from Anglo-French voucher salf
Date: 14th century

1 a : to grant or furnish often in a gracious or condescending manner b : to give by way of reply <refused to vouchsafe an explanation>
2 : to grant as a privilege or special favor
synonyms see grant

— vouch·safe·ment \vau̇ch-ˈsāf-mənt\ noun

I remember hearing it once at school - Catholic education, far too appropriate. Probably as part of a prayer but I'm not sure. I came upon it last evening while reading off all things "The Girls With the Dragon Tattoo." I was reading English so someone must have translated it from the Swedish. I'm wondering if the Swedish equivalent is just as obscure or perhaps it was a mere "granted."

[Tio_Narratore]

OK...

soothsafe - true, or characterized by truthfullness

[driphoney]

chiropodist

The more common version is podiatrist.

[trysail]

I don't have the time or inclination to do this in three (3) different places.

Obscure and seldom-used words:
http://forum.literotica.com/showpost...4&postcount=46

[elfin_odalisque]

Originally Posted by MistressLynn

Neither is a favorite, but they work for Lit.

paracoita ~~ female sexual partner
paracoitus ~~ male sexual partner

They don't quite gel with 'cock' and 'pussy' but I love the quote, 'Joyful is the moment when a paramour becomes a paracoitus'.

My two cents;

Partheniad - a poem in honor of a virgin. Haven't got many of those for a few years now.

Renifleur - someone who is sexually aroused by odors

Sagbutt - the Renaissance predecessor of the trombone

[AllardChardon]

I should have known someone else already started a thread like this, my sincere apologies to those OPs, but while I am here and since I ever posted to any thread like this before, how about

hul gil - the 3400 B.C. Sumerian name meaning "the joy plant", aka opium.

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I should have known someone else already started a thread like this, my sincere apologies to those OPs, but while I am here and since I ever posted to any thread like this before, how about

hul gil - the 3400 B.C. Sumerian name meaning "the joy plant", aka opium.

We don't really use that one at all, AllardChardon, but the ancient Egyptian word for beer (circa 2700 bc) was /booza/. Still seems to have some currency, eh?

[AllardChardon]

Truly, hul gil is a name not a word, but I found it so interesting I felt compelled to include it, against my own limits, so feel free to add any odd words to the mix.

Back to the thread; ne'er-do-well - an idle worthless person

[Tio_Narratore]

amenuensis - a secretary

scrivener - a clerk or writer

epitomist - a summarizer

[AllardChardon]

I am putting this word in a sentence underneath, like we're in English class, because the word begged me to use it.

ignominy- deep personal humiliation and disgrace

Do you think Geo. W. gave his daddy a taste of ignominy?

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

I am putting this word in a sentence underneath, like we're in English class, because the word begged me to use it.

ignominy- deep personal humiliation and disgrace

Do you think Geo. W. gave his daddy a taste of ignominy?

A Bush never tastes ignominy; their educations were sadly lacking in vocabulary buiding.

[oggbashan]

In his first novel Headlong Hall:

As part of Mr. Cranium the phrenologist's announcement of his lecture, the author coins words like osteosarchaematosplanchnochondroneuromuelous and osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary. They refer to the structure of the human body, and are essentially compound adjectives obtained by stringing together Classical terms that describe the body (ancient Greek in the case of the first word, Latin in the second word).

Og

PS. Many of my ancestors were scriveners until they modernised about 1570 and became printers.

PPS. I still visit a chiropodist and NOT a podiatrist. Staff at our local hospital's Out-Patient Clinic have to refer to both because the signs OUTSIDE the building direct patients to the Chiropody Dept and the signs INSIDE refer to the Podiatry Dept. They also have signs to "Blood Tests" outside and "Cardiology Tests" inside. Apparently one section of the local NHS is responsible for external signs and another for internal ones.

[PoppingTom]

Originally Posted by trysail

Obscure and seldom-used words:
http://forum.literotica.com/showpost...4&postcount=46

Oh, interesting, you got 3 German words in it, but I ask myself, if it means the same in your language.


zaftig - (saftig?) juicy
Zugzwang - tight spot
Schadenfreude - malicious glee

[AllardChardon]

Immolate - to offer in sacrifice, to kill as a sacrificial victim from the french mola for the sacrificial meal that was sprinkled on the victims prior to... sacrifice. Yikes!

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by PoppingTom

Oh, interesting, you got 3 German words in it, but I ask myself, if it means the same in your language.


zaftig - (saftig?) juicy
Zugzwang - tight spot
Schadenfreude - malicious glee

Schadenfreude - Ja! joy at another's misfortune.

Zaftig - sort of, juicy as in fleshy. BBW's are juicy, but it comes to English through Yiddish (hence the Z rather than S), where it refers to full-fleshed people.

Zugzwang? Never heard it used in English.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by elfin_odalisque

Sagbutt - the Renaissance predecessor of the trombone

More commonly spelled in the present day as "sackbut".

[AllardChardon]

patina - green film formed on copper and bronze from exposure, valued for its aesthetic quality.

[southerntierguy]

Originally Posted by Tio_Narratore

Schadenfreude - Ja! joy at another's misfortune.

The Broadway explanation of Schadenfreude

[Tio_Narratore]

Originally Posted by AllardChardon

patina - green film formed on copper and bronze from exposure, valued for its aesthetic quality.

It also refers to any surface affected by age. The term is still quite current in the antique market, where a patina is crucial for value; refinished wood, in particular, loses desirability.

[AllardChardon]

Yes, patina is used in the antique market. I was thinking of it for a vampire-like description; His skin was a pale patina color, imperceptibly green and yet translucent at the same time.

How about;

patronymic - a name derived from the father's last name with the addition of a suffix, like John Jacob Astor, the early American opium smuggler, who called his mansion, "Astoria". The Astors were from Waldorf, Germany, of course.