“D” Words from Left Field II: Redux. A Supplement to the Logolept’s Diet

Posted on by demonymonic
Creative Writing, Inter-ethnic relations, Popular Culture, Society & Culture

<word definition and root formation>

Dactylonomy: counting on the fingers [Gk. dactylo- (“finger”) +‎ -nomy (“law”; “custom”)]

Dactylonomy (source: csaimages.com)

Dasypyal: having hairy buttocks [Gk. dasús, (“hairy”; “dense”) + –pugḗ, (“buttocks”)]

Dasypyal (source: istockphotos.com)

Delendum: (Pl. -da) thing to be deleted [from dēlinō, (“destroyed”; “annihilated”; “razed”)]

Desipient: silly, trifling or foolish [L. de- (“of”; “from”) + –sapere (“to be wise”)]

Desuetude: state of disuse [L. de +- suescere (“to become accustomed”)]

Deuteropathy: (Medic.) secondary illness [Gk. deúteros, “second” + -pathy -páthos, (“suffering”) +‎ –y]

Diasyrm: rhetorical device of damning by faint praise, a method of ridiculing or disparaging someone [Gk. (?)]

Dicacity: oral playfulness; talkativeness [From L. dicacitas, from dĭcāx (“sarcastic”; “witty”) + -ity]

Didapper: one who disappears and then bobs up again [from a merging of “dive” and “dapper”]

Didapper: disappearance and reappearance, the magician’s trick of the trade (source: clker.com)

Dilogy: ambiguous or equivocal speech or discourse; repetition of a word or phrase [Gk. dilogía (“repetition”), from dís, (“twice”) + -logia]

Dippoldism: (Psych.) the paraphilia of deriving pleasure from the implementation of any form of corporal punishment whether it be in the form of beating, whipping, or spanking of another; sexuoerotic arousal derived fron spanking or whipping school children [From Andreas Dippold, German schoolteacher convicted of inflicting abuse on children including manslaughter]

Dismissory: sending away; permit to depart [from L. dimittere (“send away”) (dismiss) + -ory]

Discalceate: barefooted [dis + from L. calceus (“a shoe”)] 👣

Diversivolent: desiring different things [L. diversi (“diverse”) + –volent-, volens, velle (“to will”; “wish”)]

Dolorifuge: that which drives away sadness, mitigates or removes grief [from L. dolere (“to grieve”) + –fugere (“flee”). Coinage modelled on centrifuge, febrifuge, vermifuge, etc.]

Drapetomaniac: a person with an impulse or intense desire to run away from home [Gk. drapetēs, “a runaway [slave]”) + -mania, “madness”; “frenzy”). Coinage: Dr. Samuel Adolphus Cartwright invented the term “Drapetomania” in 1851 to describe what he believed was the “psychological disorder”(sic) that caused a phenomenon of enslaved Blacks to run away from bondage before the American Civil War (masshist.org)

Drapetomania: an 1837 engraving of an escaped slave in the US

Dyslogy: censure; dispraise; uncomplimentary remarks [modelled on eulogy, Gk. dys (“badly”) + -logy]

“C” Words from Left Field II: Redux. A Supplement to the Logolept’s Diet

Posted on by demonymonic
Literary & Linguistics, Media & Communications, Performing arts, Popular Culture, Society & Culture

<word meaning and root formation>

Cabotin: ham actor; theatrical; poser (perjorative) [from Fr. cabotin (“histrionic”]

Cabotin: thespian trekker going the whole hog

Cacedoxical: heretical (cf. Cacodoxy: heterodoxy) [from Gk. kákos (“bad”) + –doxa, (“opinion” or “glory”]

Cacestogenous: caused by unfavourable home environment (OU)

Calepin: a notebook; a dictionary, esp a polyglot dictionary [It. calepino, named after Ambrogio Calepino ((15th-16th cent. author of a Latin dictionary]

Calepin: Calepino – Dictionarivm Octolingve, 1647 (source: liveauctioneers.com)

Callisteia: beauty prizes; originally a festival held by the women of the island of Lesbos, with a prize for the fairest beauty [name of the festival , named in honour of the Greek goddess of Callisto]

Callithumpian: a noisy band parade or demonstration [alteration of gallithumpian)

Cambist: one skilled in the science of financial exchange; a banker [from L. cambire (“to exchange”)]

Cambist (source: Gumpanat/Shutterstock.com)

Campestral: pertaining to or thriving in open countryside [L. from campester from campus (“field”; “plain”) + -al]

Canard: a fabricated anecdote; an unfounded sensational report; a phoney yarn; a hoax — or to put it in immediately-recognisable contemporary currency…fake news [Fr. canard (“duck”), in the sense of being a hoax] 🦆

Cancrine: reads the same backwards as forwards; palindromic [From Latin cancer (“crab”) + -īnus]

Canatory: pertaining to a singer or singing [from It. cantata from L. cantare (“to sing”) + -ory] (cf. Cantatrice: female singer) 🎤

Caprine: pertaining to a goat; goat-like [L. caprīnus,  from caper (“goat”)] 🐐

Carriwitchet: absurd, riddling question; a condundrum; a kind of hoax; pun [uncertain, possibly a humorous alteration of catechism]

Castrophenia: the belief that one’s thoughts are being stolen by one’s enemies (OU, castro- kastron-(?))

Catholicon: a universal remedy or fix; panacea [Gk. katholikós, (“universal”), from katá, “(according to”) + –hólos, “(whole”)]

Charientism: a figure of speech wherein an insult is disguised as or softened by a jest [from Gk. kharientismós]

Chimera: (also spelt Chimaera) imaginary monster; fanciful; impossible idea; a body; an unjustified fear [from Greek mythology: a fire-breathing she-monster having a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail]

Chimera (image: oldworldgods.com)

Circumforaneous: wandering from house to house, from place to place, from market to market [L. circumforāneus (“itinerant”), from circum- (“around”) + –forum (“marketplace”) + -aneus (“-aneous”)]

Claudicant: (Medic.) limping (L. claudicans from claudio (“to limp”) from claudus (“crippled”)]

Claudicant: I, Claudius?

Claviger: club-bearer; key-keeper or caretaker [L. from clavi- (“clavi”) – + -ger (“bearing, bearer”)] 🔑

Comiconomenclaturist:  a connoisseur of humorous names; a specialist in the creation of funny names [from L. comicus (“of comedy”) from Gk. komikos (“of or pertaining to comedy”) + L. nōmenclātūra nomenclature (“naming”) + -ist]

Key: OU ➨ origin unknown

“B” Words from Left Field II – Redux: A Supplement to the Logolept’s Diet

Posted on by demonymonic
Creative Writing, Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, Society & Culture

<word meaning and root formation>

Badaud: a person given to idle observation of everything, with wonder or astonishment; a credulous or gossipy idler; an urban bystander who “rubbernecks” (gawks) at some incident [Fr. from Old Occitan badau, from badar, from Medieval Latin badare (“to gape”; “yawn”)]

Badaud, a type in French literature (Gérard Auliac, Le Badaud sculpture)

Baffona: a woman with a slight moustache [It. from baffo (“moustache”)]

Balmaiden: a female surface miner [Cornish: bal (“mine”) + -maiden (“a young or unmarried woman”)]

Balmaiden: (Cornwall, Eng. 1890)

Balistarius: a crossbowman [Gk. ballístra from bállō, (“I throw”) + -ius]

Balletomane: a person fanatically devoted to ballet; balletmaniac [from Fr. balletomane]

Balletomane: Billy Elliot (film)

Balneal: pertaining to bathing or baths [L. balneum (“bath”) + -al, -ary] (cf. Balneotherapy: treatment using natural water)

Balneal: Roman Baths, UK (photo: romanbaths.co.uk)

Banausic: common, ordinary, mundane, undistinguished, dull, insipid [Gk. banausikós, (“of or for mechanics”), from bánausos, (“mechanical; ironsmith”)]

Bandobast: protection of a person, building or organisation from crime or attack [Pers. band-o-bast (“tying and binding”), from Urdu. bundobast]

Baryecoia: dullness of hearing; deafness (OU)

Basial: pertaining to kissing (OU) 💋

Battue: the driving of game towards hunters by beaters; massacre of helpless people [Fr. battue, (“beaten”), from L. battere]

Biverbal: relating to two words; punning [L. bi (“two”) + from LateL. -verbālis (“belonging to a word”)]

Brachiation: the act of swinging from tree limb to tree limb (as performed by primates) [L. bracchium, (“arm“) + -tion] 🐵

Breedbate: someone looking for an argument; originator of quarrels [Breed from OldEng. brēdan, from Proto-Germ. brōdijaną (“to brood”) + MidEng. –bate (“contention”), from OldFr. batre (Fr. battre), from L. battere.]

Byrthynsak: the theft of a calf or a sheep; stealing as much as you can carry (OU)

Byrthynsak (source: thekashmiriyat.co.uk/)

Key: OU = origin unknown

“A” Words from Left Field II – Redux: A Supplement to the Logolept’s Diet

Posted on by demonymonic
Creative Writing, Literary & Linguistics

<word origin and root formation>

Abderian: pertaining to foolish or excessive laughter [from Abderian, from Abdera (town in Thrace where Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher, lived) +‎ -ian]

Abderian: Democritus, by Hendrik ter Brugghen – Heraclitus, 1628 (credit: rijksmuseum.nl)

Acapnotic: someone who doesn’t smoke; a non-smoker [Gk. a (“not”) + –capno, –kapnós (“smoke”)] 🚭

Acataleptic: incomprehensible; one who suspends judgment as a matter of principle believing certainty is impossible [Gk. akatálēptos, (“incomprehensible”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + –katalambánō, (“I seize”)]

Accolent: dwelling near by; neighbouring [ac + -colo (“to move”; “to revolve around” 🔜 “to sojourn”; “to dwell”) + -ent]

Aceldama: field, or scene, of bloodshed [Gk. akeldamákh (“field of blood”). Originally from Aramaic] 🩸

Acephalist: an individual who acknowledges no head or superior [Gk. aképhalos (“headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + kephalḗ (“head”) + -ist]

Acousma: ringing or buzzing noise in head; illusory auditory perception of strange nonverbal sounds [Gk. ákou(sma) (“something heard”)]

Acrologic: Of or pertaining to initials or acronyms [Fr. acrologique, from acrologie from Gk. acr (“high”; “extreme”; “tip”) + -ique (“-ic”)

Acrologic (photo: palmerandpenn.com.au)

Acronychal: occurring at nightfall [ákronux, (“nightfall”)] 🌃

Acyrology: incorrect diction; imprecise or improper use of a word [Gk. akurología), ἀ- (a-, “not”) + –kuros, (“authority”) + –logia, (“speech”)]

Adiabolist: person denying existence of the Devil [a + -diabol + -ism from French diabolique, from Latin diabolicus]

Adumbral: dark; shadowy [L. ad (“to”;”toward”) + Sp. –umbral (“doorstep”; “threshold”)]

Afreet: (also spelt Ifrit) (Arabian mythology) an evil spirit or giant monster; a powerful type of demon in Islamic culture [possibly from Arab. afara, (“to rub with dust” or “to roll into dust”)]

Afreet: The ifrit Al-Malik al-Aswad (The Black King)

Agastopia: admiring a particular part of someone’s body (OU) 👁️ 👁️

Agonist: one that is engaged in a struggle (as in “antagonist”) [Gk. agōnistḗs, (“combatant”; “champion”)]

Airmonger: someone who is attracted to visionary ideas and projects; quixotic, a hopeless visionary [air + L. –mangō (“dealer”; “trader”)]

Aischrolatreia: worship of filth, dirt, smut; cult of obscenity [Gk. aischros (“shameful”; “ugly”), from aischos (“disgrace”) + -latreia (“latry”)]

Allagrugous: grim and ghastly; sour; woebegone [Scot. Gaelic. origin uncertain]

Allision: intentional collision, especially of ships [Late L.  allision-, allisio, from Latin allisus (allidere (“to strike against”) from ad- + -lidere, from laedere (“to hurt”) + -ion] 🚢 🛳️

Allochthonous: Originating in a place other than where it is found (esp in geology); foreign [Gk. állos (“other”) + –khthṓn (“earth”; “ground”)] (cf. Autochthonous: native to the place where it is found; indigenous)

Altivolent: flying high [L. altus (“high”; “deep”) +  –volō (“I fly”)] ✈️

Ambisinister: unskilled or clumsy with both hands [L. ambi (“both”; “around”) + sinister (“on the left side; unfavourably located)] 🙌

Amphigean: found or occuring throughout the world; across all geographic zones [Gk. amphí, (“on both sides”) + –geō (“earth”)] 🌍

Anabiosis: return to life after seeming death; a state of suspended animation [Gk. aná (“again”) + -biōsis, from –bioun (“to live”), from -bios (“life”)]

Antibasilican: opposed to the principle of monarchy [anti (“-against”) + –basilike (“royal”; “kingly”)] 👑

Apanthropy: dislike of being in the company of other people; love of solitude [Gk. apó (“from”; “away from”) + –ánthrōpos, (“human”)]

Apanthropy (source: playground.com)

Apaetesis: a matter put aside in anger to be taken-up later (OU)

Aurulent: gold-coloured [L. aurulentus (“golden”)]

Autoangelist: one who does his own communicating [self + -angelist(?)]

Autothaumaturgist: someone who pretends to be notable or feigns an air of mystery about him or herself [Gk. auto (“self”) + –thaumaturgist (“performer of miracles; a magician”)]

Autothaumaturgist (image: comicartcommunity.com)

Key: OU = origin unknown

Note: some of the sources I have drawn on in the Redux A–Z, in addition to those previously acknowledged in the original Logolept’s Diet, include Peter Bowler, The Superior Person’s Great Big Book of Words (1996) and ‘Luciferous Logolepsy’ (arcane.org/)