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, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!
My first two words this week came from Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron.
1. diener – “The diener ran the gut and says he died about an hour later.”
At first I thought this was a typo, but I couldn’t figure out what the word should be, so I decided to look it up. It wasn’t in my dictionary, but according to wikipedia, diener generally refers to someone who works in a morgue, handling, cleaning and moving corpses, which makes perfect sense in the context of the book.
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2. obbligato – “We know all the best lines and a running obbligato echoed the soundtrack – “You’ll shoot your eye out” and “You better not be touching that turkey.””
In this case, obbligato means accompaniment, especially background sound.
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My third word this week comes from that oh so smart Jill of Rhapsody in Books and her review of Dear Mrs. Kennedy by Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis.
3. hagiolatry – “That’s not to say I’m not into Kennedy hagiloatry.”
Hagiolatry is undue veneration of a famous person.
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Have you discovered any new words lately?
I too thought diener was a typo (diner?) the first time I encountered the word. In Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series, the main character is a pathologist who detects by autopsy, so she is assisted by a diener.
Some great words, I like all of them this time.
I used to work in an animal lab and there a “diener” was the word for a person who did the same thing but for the deceased animals. (and I don’t say “deceased” like it was from “natural” causes!)
Again, you got me on all three of them!
ac·o·lyte
n.
1. One who assists the celebrant in the performance of liturgical rites.
2. A devoted follower or attendant.
Sentence from Lodestone Book One: “By the grace of the Three, he was starting to sound like an acolyte!
I always learn so much when I come over here on Wednesdays! I also caught Jill’s reference to hagiloatry, and was very curious about what it meant, but I didn’t look it up! Thanks goodness you did, or I would have remained ignorant!
Oh, I like “hagiolatry” – that should be very useful (thanks).
I just recently came across “diener” too – in one of the mystery novels I was reading. I’d never heard it before, but now I’m seeing it all over the place. Strange.
Hagiolatry is only one I knew on your list but only because I saw Jill’s post too. I had to look it up too. I would have used it but I saw your comment thanking her for the wondrous word. I truly admire Jill for her wonderful vocabulary.
I do not think those words will ever be used by me lol
These words are new to me, too!
Hilarious! Diener is the name of a diner here!
Another 3 new words for me. Tried but didn’t come close to the actual meaning.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
I love the look of this word “obbligato” … I thought it was Italian for obligation. Bwahahaha!!!!!!
diener..not a job I would want.
Good ones! I didn’t know any this week.
Excellent words this week! I’m a little late to the party, but here are mine.
Don’t have a new word to busy trying to use to a new place.:) Diener fits perfectly in a mystery. Didn’t know Margaret Maron had a new Christmas mystery published. I’ll bet it’s so good.
Excellent words and here are my for this week: http://myonlinebookjournal.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/wondrous-words-4/.
I’m really hoping I never need to use the word diener.
#3 is a very interesting word and I will have to work on the pronunciation of it!
Every week you post some excellent words. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow, you even pick up new words from reviewers!
This is a great list. A sci-fi and fantasy anthology called ‘Logorrhea’ (2008) introduced me to more fabulous and obscure words.
Hagiolatry is my word of the day, so watch out world for its going to be spewed about terribly