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!

I found several more words in WHEN IN FRENCH by Lauren Collins.

1. exogamy – “They maintain separate roles within the culture, however, by practicing linguistic exogamy — the requirement that a man marry a woman from a different language group.”

Exogamy is the custom of marrying outside a community, clan, or tribe.

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2. menhir – “Its earliest inhabitants left dolmens and menhirs, somber-faced statues that seem to warn one off the island like scarecrows.”

A menhir is a tall upright stone of a kind erected in prehistoric times in western Europe.

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3. melisma – “‘Hè muscu di a vita,’ he sang, drawing the syllables out several notes, adding almost Arabic-sounding melismas, as strong and delicate as the scrollwork on an iron gate.”

Melisma is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession.

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What words do you want to celebrate today?