Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative! If you want to play along, grab the button, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!
This week’s words are from No Better Friend by Robert Weintraub.
1. lumpen – “More worldly and diverse than the British protectorate of Hong Kong to the south, Shanghai catered to both sophisticates and lumpen proletariat.”
Lumpen means of or relating to dispossessed and uprooted individuals cut off from the economic and social class with which they might normally be identified.
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2. sampan – “After a few minutes. they returned, heavily laden, to the sampan, and silently made it back to the Gnat.”
A sampan is a flat-bottomed skiff used in eastern Asia and usually propelled by two short oars.
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3. thence – “Because of their efforts, many more survivors made it to Padang and thence to the Indian subcontinent than would have otherwise.”
I thought I could figure this one out from the context but I wasn’t familiar with the word so looked it up to be sure and it turns out the meaning was a little different than I thought. Thence means from a place or source previously mentioned.
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What words do you want to celebrate today?
I would think I could figure out thence also. It’s a very specific word, not much use for it. And I enjoy lumpen as a word, too bad it doesn’t have a funny definition.
Isn’t thence just a fancy ‘then’? Lumpen is not at all what I expected.
I’ve never seen lumpenproletariat as two separate words.
I wonder if thence goes with whence?
Knew sampan was some kind of boat, but couldn’t describe it. Thought I knew thence, but didn’t. Didn’t know lumpen, but it’s a cool word.
I have only heard of that last one
I had no idea what lumpen meant, but it made me think of a mini loaf of bread. LOL
Always when reading a book in a foreign setting or about a distant land, I find new words. I did not know these, although I had heard sampan before. I would have spelled it wrong.
I also noticed lumpen. I think in our country we would call these people homeless. It sounds like the two groups of people had the same consequences.
All new to me, although I could have guessed thence. Thanks for sharing. What’s No Better Friend about?
Only thence looked familiar today.
Interesting, all new-to-me words from your book!
Hm, hadn’t heard of the first two words and thought I could figure out thence in context. Good words!
Just FYI, I inadvertently entered the wrong link this morning. I just corrected it. 😦 I could not get the first post to go away.
I’ve heard of the second two words but wouldn’t have known how to use them.
I knew thence,but not the others.