Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Post Thanksgiving Vocabulary

Well, I have not posted in quite some time due first to the flurry of preparation surrounding the parents' Thanksgiving visit, and then to their visit itself. It was quite a time! I will publish some pictures when I have the energy. For now, as I try to force my brain back toward something resembling a dissertation groove, here are some more words from the freerice vocabulary test game, which I then looked up in the OED.

parlous
= dangerous (variant of perilous!), apparently quite an old word, with examples in the 14th and 15th centuries. How usage can trick us! I would have called it as some French-derived word having to do with speaking (French: parler, to speak) but that was totally wrong.

mazzard = sweet cherry; a small, dark cherry of Devon origin, the fruit of a variety of the wild cherry or gean, Prunus avium. Origins of the word unknown, possibly related to mazard, a bowl or drinking vessel. Early spelling variations include mazar, mazer, mazard, and massard.

coir = coconut fiber, used for making ropes, cordage, matting, etc. Origin: Malayalam (or Malayali, one of 22 official languages in India, this one spoken in the South Indian state of Kerala) words: kayar (cord), and kayaru (to be twisted). Also, the thread or cordage made from that coconut fiber.

illation = inference (from Latin, illationem, n. of action from inferre, illatum: to bring in)--drawing a conclusion from premises, or the conclusion thus drawn. Also (and this is more what I would have guessed): an Ecclesiastical term referring to a Eucharistic Preface to the Tersanctus, known as the Preface in the Roman and Anglican liturgies.

fatidic
= prophetic (form of Latin fatum [fate] + dic [weak root of dicere, to speak]). So, to speak about fate.

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