I seem to have been granted a cursor...so I can write something. So much. I'll be back. Save my place
OK. Here are some words i've been collecting:
belvedere |ˈbɛlvɪdɪə|
noun
a summer house or open-sided gallery, typically at rooftop level, commanding a fine view.
campanile |ˌkampəˈniːleɪ|
noun
an Italian bell tower, especially a free-standing one.
baldachin |ˈbaldəkɪn, ˈbɔːld-| (also baldaquin |ˈbɔːldəkɪn| or baldacchino |ˌbaldəˈkiːnəʊ| )
noun
a ceremonial canopy of stone, metal, or fabric over an altar, throne, or doorway.
belvedere |ˈbɛlvɪdɪə|
noun
a summer house or open-sided gallery, typically at rooftop level, commanding a fine view.
I guess you can tell I’ve been reading some strange stuff.
I will tell you about Rebecca West (1892-1983) in a later blog. I have begun reading her huge (1100 pages) book, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), still only up to 200 pages. Among other skills, she is a great travel writer and her descriptions of buildings she sees have yielded these treasures so far. There are several I couldn’t find in the online dictionary. I’ll have to come back.
more...
chitin |ˈkʌɪtɪn|
noun [ mass noun ] Biochemistry
a fibrous substance consisting of polysaccharides, which is the major constituent in the exoskeleton of arthropods and the cell walls of fungi.
DERIVATIVES
chitinous adjective
chib |tʃɪb| Scottish
noun
a knife used as a weapon.
verb (chibs, chibbing, chibbed) [ with obj. ]
stab (someone).
ORIGIN perhaps a variant of shiv.
deliquesce |ˌdɛlɪˈkwɛs|
verb [ no obj. ]
(of organic matter) become liquid, typically during decomposition.
• Chemistry (of a solid) become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air.
ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Latin deliquescere ‘dissolve’, from de- ‘down’ + liquescere ‘become liquid’ (from liquere ‘be liquid’).
harbinger |ˈhɑːbɪn(d)ʒə|
noun
a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another: witch hazels are the harbingers of spring.
• a forerunner of something. these works were not yet opera but they were the most important harbinger of opera.
ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French herbergere, from herbergier ‘provide lodging for’, from herberge ‘lodging’, from Old Saxon heriberga ‘shelter for an army, lodging’ (from heri ‘army’ + a Germanic base meaning ‘fortified place’), related to harbour. The term originally denoted a person who provided lodging, later one who went ahead to find lodgings for an army or for a nobleman and his retinue, hence, a herald (mid 16th cent.).
more...
I had only heard of or used harbinger in the plural: harbingers of spring. I put in all that copy about the Germanic base meaning, and information about the person who fist provided lodging and then later went ahead to find lodgings.
lacuna |ləˈkjuːnə|
noun (pl.lacunae |-niː| or lacunas)
1 an unfilled space; a gap: the journal has filled a lacuna in Middle Eastern studies.
• a missing portion in a book or manuscript.
2 Anatomy a cavity or depression, especially in bone.
irredentist |ˌɪrɪˈdɛntɪst|
noun [ usu. as modifier ]
a person advocating the restoration to their country of any territory formerly belonging to it.
• historical (in 19th-century Italian politics) an advocate of the return to Italy of all Italian-speaking districts subject to other countries.
lucubration |ˌluːkjʊˈbreɪʃ(ə)n, ˌljuː-|
noun [ mass noun ] archaic
writing or study: after sixteen years' lucubration he produced this account.
• [ count noun ] (usu. lucubrations) a learned or pedantic piece of writing. it was natural enough to return the compliment by endorsing his newest lucubrations.
ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Latin lucubratio(n-), from the verb lucubrare (see lucubrate) .
chthonic |ˈ(k)θɒnɪk| (also chthonian |ˈ(k)θəʊnɪən| )
adjective
relating to or inhabiting the underworld: a chthonic deity.
Vorticist |ˈvɔːtɪsɪst|
nouna member of a British artistic movement of 1914–15 influenced by cubism and futurism and favouring machine-like forms.
DERIVATIVES
Vorticism noun
ORIGIN from Latin vortex, vortic- ‘eddy’ + -ist.
That's enough;.