Seldom Used Words (Cont'd)

Greetings, everyone.

I like the sound and the definition of this one;

nihil obstat - noun 1. the certification by an official censor of the Roman Catholic Church that a book has been examined and found to contain nothing opposed to faith and morals 2. authoritative or official approval

It is Latin (Surprise, surprise!) which means, literally, nothing stands in the way.
 
Greetings, everyone.

I like the sound and the definition of this one;

nihil obstat - noun 1. the certification by an official censor of the Roman Catholic Church that a book has been examined and found to contain nothing opposed to faith and morals 2. authoritative or official approval

nihil obstat The full phrase is nihil obstat quominus imprimatur 'nothing hinders it from being published'. It is very limited. It doesn't mean that the Roman Catholic Church APPROVE of the contents, but that it isn't objectionable. There is a real difference.

Other nihil:

nihil agendo homines male agere discunt 'By doing nothing, men learn to act wickedly' = the devil finds work for idle hands.

nihil est ab omni parte beatum - Horace - means 'no lot is happy on all sides' = nothing is absolutely perfect; even a silver cloud can have a dark side.

MOTTOES

Nihil amanti durum - nothing is hard for a lover

nihil celerus - motto of No.367 Signals Unit RAF 'nothing faster'

nihil fortius - motto of 136 Squadron RAF 'nothing stronger'

nihil impenentrabile - motto of 184 Squadron RAF 'nothing (is) impenetrable'

nihil sine doctrina - Training Unit RAF 'nothing without learning'

nihil sine labore Various authors 'nothing (is possible) without work'

nihil timeo - Ulster Squadron Auxiliary Air Force 'I fear nothing'
 
What wonderful responses to my Latin entry, thanks gentlemen, of course. Og, I noticed the English like to use it in their RAF mottoes, and very nicely done at that.

nihilism - noun 1.a. a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless b. a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and esp. of moral truths 2.a. (1) a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility (2) usu cap: the program of a 19th century Russian party advocating revolutionary reform and using terrorism and assassination b. TERRORISM

nihility - noun NOTHINGNESS
 
What wonderful responses to my Latin entry, thanks gentlemen, of course. Og, I noticed the English like to use it in their RAF mottoes, and very nicely done at that.

nihilism - noun 1.a. a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless b. a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and esp. of moral truths 2.a. (1) a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility (2) usu cap: the program of a 19th century Russian party advocating revolutionary reform and using terrorism and assassination b. TERRORISM

nihility - noun NOTHINGNESS

The word nihil, as you've probably figured out, is Latin for nothing.

You may soon find nemo in your dictionary—if it's there to be found. It's Latin for no one—a fact that would not have been lost on the classically educated readers of Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when they encountered the mysterious Captain Nemo.
 
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I did not know that, Carlus, thanks for informing me. Captain Nemo has always been one of my favorite fictional characters.

nigritude - noun intense darkness: BLACKNESS
 
...

nigritude - noun intense darkness: BLACKNESS

I can't use many of the words in my Dictionary of Historical Slang starting with 'nig' but after them:

niggle - in C16 - early C17, often nygle, in C17 - C18 often nigle - Verb - to have sexual intercourse with a woman. In 1612 Dekker 'And Wapping [A district of London] Dell that niggles well, and takes loure [lucre=money]for her hire.'

niggler or nigler 1. A lascivious or very amorous person C17-C18; 2. A clipper of money.

niggling - What Wapping Dell does.
 
I can't use many of the words in my Dictionary of Historical Slang starting with 'nig' but after them:

niggle - in C16 - early C17, often nygle, in C17 - C18 often nigle - Verb - to have sexual intercourse with a woman. In 1612 Dekker 'And Wapping [A district of London] Dell that niggles well, and takes loure [lucre=money]for her hire.'

niggler or nigler 1. A lascivious or very amorous person C17-C18; 2. A clipper of money.

niggling - What Wapping Dell does.

These days, I hear the use of 'niggle' to mean something irritating, or preventing a satisfactory conclusion. A simple example is a Detective who, despite the apparent logical conclusion the [he] did it, thinks that there are grounds to suggest that [he] didn't.
A feeling, niggling away in the head. Unconvinced, as it were.
 
I can't use many of the words in my Dictionary of Historical Slang starting with 'nig' ...

For the wrong reasons, niggard and niggardly are words that too many people think politically incorrect. They are, in fact, perfectly good words of Scandinavian origin (not even slang), and have nothing to do with the infamous n-word that derives from the Latin word negrus for black.

But because people mistake them for what they are not, they are genuine seldom-used words.
 
I did not know that, Carlus, thanks for informing me. Captain Nemo has always been one of my favorite fictional characters.

The word Nemo, used as a name, connects back to Latin translations of Homer's Odyssey, in which Ulysses (Ulixes, really, in Latin, but rendered thus in English) identified himself to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, as Nemo.

As a result, when Polyphemous screamed in pain after Ulysses put out his (P's) one and only eye and the other Cyclopes asked who had done P this terrible injury, P replied "Nemo", or "No one." Thus, Ulysses spared himself from being the object of a determined chase.

This, too, is a fact that would not have been lost on Verne's classically educated readers.
 
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What wonderful responses to my morning post, gentlemen, and so informative, too.

There are also these two entries in my dictionary;

nigrescence - noun a process of becoming black or dark

nigrescent - adj BLACKISH

All of which, I am sure are politically incorrect to use now... I watched in wonder at the splendid nigrescence, brought on by the setting sun.
 
I don't know about others, but I am getting heartily sick of this Politically Correct junk.
I could have good rant about it, but here is not the best place.
 
What wonderful responses to my morning post, gentlemen, and so informative, too.

There are also these two entries in my dictionary;

nigrescence - noun a process of becoming black or dark

nigrescent - adj BLACKISH

All of which, I am sure are politically incorrect to use now... I watched in wonder at the splendid nigrescence, brought on by the setting sun.

I don't know about others, but I am getting heartily sick of this Politically Correct junk.
I could have good rant about it, but here is not the best place.

"Négritude," though, refers to the literary, artisitic, and musical movement of Franco-African (what is the proper term nowadays?) intellectuals in the 1930s, and still a term of pride.

"Political correctness" can get far-fetched, but there, indeed, are insulting and odious terms that we can well do without.
 
I don't know about others, but I am getting heartily sick of this Politically Correct junk.
I could have good rant about it, but here is not the best place.

The words I have omitted were gratuitously offensive long before Political Correctness. I have to quote my Dictionary of Historical Slang with discretion and I have to amend some of the definitions which come from 18th and 19th Century Dictionaries of Slang.
 
I understand, Handley, and sympathize with you, but that is life, this continually changing reality we traverse through.

Thanks, Tio, for adding a word we can use.

night rail - noun archaic NIGHTGOWN
 
I can't use the 'n' words from my Historical Slang, so I'm going to quote some of the 'black' words from my Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles, Volume 1 A to Cornpatch. I've only got Volume 1 :(

Black Betts - alcoholic liquor 1845 Crawford "There I was loaded... with a plenty of what some call 'Black Betts' or 'O be joyful', as it was the fashion in those days, to make use of this kind of stuff."

Black Betty - A spirit bottle - 1821 Doddridge "He that got first to the bride's house, got black betty." "The company stopt and every boy and girl, old and young,... must kiss black betty; that is to take a good slug of dram."
 
Og, I know "O Be Joyful" from the Civil War history. There were a few other choice names for homemade alcohol, but I can't think of them right now.

This is what my dictionary says for these two;

niggle - verb 1.a. TRIFLE b. to spend too much effort on minor details 2. to find fault constantly in a petty way: CARP 3. GNAW

niggling - adj 1. PETTY 2.a. demanding meticulous care b. overly elaborate or feeble in execution
 
Evening, all. I must post this one, if only to remember it;

Niflheim - noun the northern region of cold and darkness in Norse mythology
 
Good day, everyone.

niello - noun 1. any of several metallic alloys of sulfur with silver, copper, or lead and a deep black color 2. the art or process of decorating metal with incised designs filled with niello 3. a piece of metal or other object decorated with niello
 
Niding

niding, a low, mean, contemptible, base wretch; formerly the most opprobrious word that could be applied to any body.

When there was a dangerous rebellion against King William Rufus, he proclaimed that all subjects should repair to his camp, upon no other penalty but that, whoever refused to come, should be reputed a niding.

Camden's Remains

Source: Lost Beauties of the English Language, Charles Mackay

Note: The spelling "any body" is Mackay's.
 
Great word, Carlus, thanks for contributing it;

This next grouping is entirely new to me;

nidicolous - adj 1. reared for a time in a nest 2. sharing the nest of another kind of animal

nidification - noun the act, process, or technique of building a nest

nidifugous - adj leaving the nest soon after hatching

nidus - noun 1. a nest or breeding place; esp: a place or substance in an animal or plant where bacteria or other organisms lodge and multiply 2. a place where something originates, develops, or is located
 
Jocundity - Sprightly and lighthearted in disposition, character, or quality.

Propinquity - Proximity; nearness; Kinship; Similarity in nature.

Assiduity - Persistent application or diligence; unflagging effort.
 
Very nice, neiljames74, and welcome. Are those three of your favorites?

This next one is just too cute;

nidget - noun (resulting from incorrect division of an idiot) IDIOT, FOOL

If it has been posted before, please forgive me, I am in the middle of an interior paint job for my rather large house. It is like getting ready to move, but you only get displaced, and you don't really go anywhere. LOL
 
Fortunately, Carlus, the kind of paint I used, Behr, has almost no smell and due to the radiant heat system in my house, it dried in a little over an hour. I had a professional painter spray the upstairs and downstairs with the same color, crème de caramel. The trim is a color called chipotle paste, dark red/brown like oxblood, the floor is a mahogany color. It looks really nice, like new, and covered in one coat. I doubt I will do it again for another ten years!

nictitate - vi WINK
 
niding, a low, mean, contemptible, base wretch; formerly the most opprobrious word that could be applied to any body.

When there was a dangerous rebellion against King William Rufus, he proclaimed that all subjects should repair to his camp, upon no other penalty but that, whoever refused to come, should be reputed a niding.

Camden's Remains

Source: Lost Beauties of the English Language, Charles Mackay

Note: The spelling "any body" is Mackay's.

The spelling niding was also Mackay's. The more usual spelling is nithing = worthless, beyond contempt.

Oxford Shorter - nithing - now only archaic or historical, Old English from Old Norse: a vile coward, an abject wretch, a villain of the lowest type. Niddering is given as an erroneous form of nithing.

It was far more than an epithet. If a man, particularly a thane, was stated to be nithing, it meant several things:

1. He was not to be trusted on a battlefield,
2. His word was worthless, even his solemn oaths. That meant that he had no status in a court of law as a witness or complainant.
3. Any contract with him was void.
4. He was effectively excommunicated from normal society. No one should house or feed him. He was an outlaw, even from his own family.
5. Men would do almost anything to avoid being declared 'nithing'. Some Saxons even joined William the Conqueror because he declared they would be 'nithing' if they did not support his 'legitimate' claim to the throne.
6. Harold's brothers were declared 'nithing' by their King - Edward the Confessor - and only managed to retrieve their previous status by abject apology.
7. It was a word that could only be used of someone if you were prepared to back it with military force.
 
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