Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun! (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.) All of my words this week came from my nifty Word-a-Day calendar.
1. prolegomenon– “The book is introduced by a lengthy prolegomenon, which is followed by 17 chapters of analysis.”
Prolegomenon means prefatory remarks; specifically a formal essay or critical discussion serving to introduce and interpret an extended work The plural of prolegomenon is prolegomena. I doubt I’ll be using either of these words any time soon.
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2. clepe – “The Maxwells’ boat was a beautiful old wooden sloop, yclept Forever Free.”
Clepe means to name or call. It is nearly obsolete, but its past participle yclept (pronounced \i-’klept\) is still used.
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3. transpontine– “Traffic on the Tobin Bridge was at a near standstill, and it took us 20 minutes to reach our transpontine destination in Charlestown.”
Transpontine means situated on the farther side of a bridge. In the UK, it means situated on the south side of the Thames.
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Have you come across any new words lately?
Those are great! Prolegomenon sounds like a Japanese monster movie!
My words are here.
I love Word a day calendars. I use my iphone for it. Have a great day!
Wow…these words are great.
I didn’t have any this week, but stop over for a new review on I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman on my blog.
http://silversolara.blogspot.com/
You just keep coming up with words I’ve never heard of! I knew the first two, from living all these years with a husband who’s a Medievalist, but transpontine is new to me and I can’t wait to use it!
Cool words! I finally got my act together this week.
Wow. I didn’t have a clue on any of your words. Would have a hard time even getting all the letters right in the first one!
My words are here:
http://lisanotes.blogspot.com/2010/08/wondrous-words-wednesday_25.html
Yclept looks really interesting. I wonder where it originated (latin?).
3 more words added to my vocabulary…thank you.
CMash
Always find such interesting new words to learn here. Thanks.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Yow, I couldn’t even pronounce that first word never mind use it in a sentence. Traffic on the Tobin is ALWAYS backed up!! I’ll have to remember transpontine when we go to the cape next year and are constantly crossing the Sagamore bridge. Good words, Kathy!
Kathy, your remark, ” I doubt I’ll be using either of these words anytime soon” cracked me up. I didn’t know the meanings of any of these words.
Prolegomenon seems way too hard to say! I like “prefatory remarks” better! :–)
Yclept? Seriously?? I’ll have to remember that for Scrabble!
I love ‘transpontine’. And I agree with softdrink that yclept would be a great Scrabble word!
God! I am not going to EVER remember these