A Logolept’s Diet of Obscure, Obsolete, Curious and Downright Odd “L” Words

Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, World history,

”L”’s bells

“L” is the twelfth letter of the alphabet while doubling as the Roman numeral for 50. The letter “L”’s ancestors can be traced to the Semitic lamedh, which may have derived from an earlier symbol representing an ox goad, and the Greek lambda (λ), itself adopted from the Phoenician letter lamed. In English “L”/“l” represents a voiced alveolar lateral continuant. “L” is for “logomaniacs”, “logolepts”, “logophiles”, “logonik”, call them by whatever label you prefer, the following are some worthy additions to the vocabulary of word aficionados from the unorthodox “L” word department.

Labeorphilist: <meaning> a collector of beer bottles, but also of their accoutrements – brand labels, can openers, books on the topic <derives from>[Gk. origin unknown] (cf. Tegestologist who collects beer mats)

Labiomancy: lip-reading; a form of divination by reading lips [MedLat. labiālis (“pertaining to the lips”) + -manteíā (“divination”)] (cf. Labrose: having large or thick lips)

Laconicum: sauna, specifically a dry sweat room; a room in an ancient Roman baths used for hot-air or a steam bath [L. laconicus from Gk. lakōn (“laconic”)]

Laconicum (image: karanisbath.com)

Lactiferous: forming or conveying milk [LateLat. lac (“milk”) +‎ –fer (“carrying”; “bearing”)] 🥛

Lacuna: an unfilled space; a gap; a cavity especially in the bone [L. lacus (“lake” & lacuna (“pool”)]]

Laeotropic: turning to the left or anticlockwise [Gk. laiós (“left”) + –tropḗ, (“turn”; “solstice”; “trope”).] (cf. Laevoduction: movement leftwards)

Lagostoma: hare-lip [Gk. lagos, (“hare”) + –stoma, (“mouth”)]”; “emotion”; “therapy”)]

Lairwite: (also Legruita) (hist.) fine paid to the lord of the manor by his villein in instances where the serf’s daughter committed adultery or fornication (in medieval times it was a punishment for sexual misconduct while maintaining the lord’s authority over his female villeins) [origin unknown]

Lambent: flickering; softly radiant; marked by brilliance of expression [L. from lambere (“to lick up”)] (cf. Lucent: glowing; giving off light)

Laodicean: being lax or lukewarm in one’s religious beliefs; indifferent to religion or politics [L. from Laodicea (“a city in Asia Minor”) +‎ -an]

Laodicean: the ancient city of Laodicea

Lapidate: to stone someone to death [L. lapidātus (“to throw stones at”)] 🪨

Lapidicolous: living under a rock (or stone) [L. lapis (“stone”) + -colere (“to inhabit”)]

Latrocination: the act of robbing or pillaging from someone; overcharging people [L. Latrocinium (“highway robbery”)]

Lavacultophilia: the desire to stare at someone in a bathing suit [L. lavere (“to bathe”) + –culto (uncertain) + -philia] 🩱

Lecanoscopy: to hypnotise yourself by staring into a pool of water, eg, in a basin [Gk. lekane “dish-pan” + –scopein (“examine;” “look at”)]

Lector: a lecturer or (academic) reader at university (UK); a reader of lessons in a church service [L. legere (“reader”)] (cf. Letrice: a female reader in church)

Leguleian: like a lawyer; underhand and legalistic; a petty and argumentative lawyer [L. lēguleius (“pettifogger”) from lēx, lēgis (“law”)]

Lethologica: inability to recall a precise word or name for something or someone [Gk. lḗthē (“forgetfulness”) + -lógos “word”]

Levirate: marriage of a widowed woman to her deceased husband’s brother (practiced in particular cultures) [L. levir (“brother-in-law”)]

Lexiphanicism: showing off by using pretentious words or language (in fact what this blog post may be accused of doing!) [Gk. Lexiphanes (a character in the works of Lucian) +‎ -ic]

Libidinist: a lewd or lustful person; oversexed lecher [L. libidinor (“I indulge”) {🔜 “libido”} +‎ -ist] (cf. Donjuanism: (esp of a man) exhibiting compulsive sexual behaviour)

Libidinism AKA Donjuanism (image: classical-music.com)

Librocubucularist: someone who likes to read in bed [L. liber (“book”) + cubiculum (“bedroom”), from cubō (“lie down”)] 📕 🛌

Limbate: possessing a border [L. limbatus (“bordered”) + -atus (“-ate”] (🔙 Limbus: border)

Litterateur: professional writer; a person interested in and knowledgeable about literature [L. littera (“letter”; “writing”)] ✍️🪶

Logicaster: a person who is pedantic in argument; a petty logician [Gk. lógos (“speech”; “reason”) + -aster (“little”; “petty”; “partial”; “incomplete”)]

Logodaedalus: artificer in words; one manipulates words with skill or cunning; skilled in coining words [Gk. logos (“word”) + –daidalous (“cunning worker; “skilful”)]

Logomachy: a battle about words; a verbal war [Gk. logos (“word”) + –machesthai (“to fight”)]

Logorrhoea: extreme and overwhelming prolixity; verbal diarrhoea [Gk. logos (“word”) + –rhoe (“to flow”)]

Longanimity: capacity to suffer patiently; forbearance [LateLat. longanimis (“patient”; “forbearing”) +‎ -tās]

Longiloquent: extremely long-winded [L. longus (“long”) + loquent (“talking”)] (cf. Loquacious: characterised by excessive talk; wordy; garrulous)

Lotologist: someone who collects lottery tickets as a hobby [origin unknown]

Lubberland: a mythical paradise reserved for the lazy [poss. from Swed. lubber (“fat lazy fellow” + -land] (cf. Cockaigne: an imaginary land of plenty, supposedly a medieval paradise of extreme luxury, comforts and easy life)

Lucubrator: a person who studies during the night [L. lūcubrō (“work by candlelight”) + -or] 🌃

Lupanarian: pertaining to a brothel [ L. lupanar (“brothel”), from lupa (“prostitute”; literally “she-wolf”), from lupus (“wolf”)](cf. Lupine: pertaining to wolves) 🐺

Lustrum: period of five years; (hist.) a ceremonial purification of the people of Rome undertaken every five years [L. lūstrum (“a purificatory sacrifice”)]

Lychnobite: a person who works at night and sleeps during the day [Gk. lúkhnos (“lamp”) and bíos (“life”)🏮

Lygerastia: a condition of someone who is amorous only when the lights are turned out [Gk. lyge (“twilight”) + –erastes (“lover”)] (cf. Amaurophilia: a preference for having sex blind-folded or in total darkness)

Lysistrataphobia: (path.) a fear that women will subvert men and take over the world [Gk. from Lysistrátē, (“Army Disbander”), 5th cent. BC play by Aristophanes about a woman (Lysistrataphobia) who hatches a plan to have Athenian and Spartan women withhold sexual privileges from their men-folk until the men bring the Peloponnesian War to an end]

Lysistrataphobia (image: Era Journal)

A Logolept’s Diet of Obscure, Obsolete, Curious and Downright Odd “K” Words

Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, World history,

Kafkaesque “K’s”

The letter “K” is derived from the Semitic letter kaph, possibly from an earlier Egyptian hieroglyph for a hand. In Greek it became “kappa”, and in that form passed into the Roman alphabet. In English it generally represents a voiceless velar plosive consonant with the same sound as the “hard” form of “c”, as in kitten. That’s the skinny on how the letter “K” found its way into the English alphabet, now for word nerds here’s a selection of uncommon, archaic, quirky, even strange and weird words which begin with “K”.

Kakistocracy: <meaning>government by the worst, less qualified and most unscrupulous citizens <derived from>[Gk. kákistos, (“worst”) + -cracy]

Kalogram: a monogram which uses the person’s full name [origin unknown)

Kalokagathia: combination of good and beautiful [Gk. kalós kaì agathós (“beautiful and good”)] (cf. Kalopsia: the delusion that things are more beautiful than they really are)

Kareeza: sexual intercourse which avoids climax (a method of coitus reservatus) [It. carezza (“caress”) neologism coined 1896 by US obsterician Alice Stockham]

Katabasis: (myth.) Ancient Greek hero journeying to the underworld; a downward journey; a retreat especially a military one [Gk. katá “”downwards”) + –baínō (“go”)] cf. Anabasis (a going or marching up; esp a military advance (from book by Xenophon)

Katabasis

Katoptronophile: a person aroused by having sex in front of mirrors [Gk. katopron (“mirror”) + phile] 🪞

Katzenjammer: confusion; uproar; a severe headache due to a hangover [Germ. katze (“cat”) + –jammer (“distress”) (19th. popularised by American cartoon “Katzenjammer Kids”]

Katzenjammer Kids

Kenodoxy: the love, study or desire of vainglory [Gk. kenos (empty” + -doxy]

Kerdomeletia: an excessive desire for material wealth [Gk. kerdo (“gain”; “profit”) + unknown origin]

Kinesipathy: the practice of treating illness with exercise [Gk. kinēsis (“movement”; “motion”) + -pathy (“suffering”; “emotion”; “therapy”)]

Kirkbuzzer: someone who robs churches [Nth MidEng. Kyrie (“church”) + -buzzer)] ⛪️

Klebenleiben: a pathological reluctance to stop talking about a particular subject [Germ. kleben (“to glue”) ?+ unknown]

Kleptocracy: government by thieves; government by people who exploit their hold on power to steal the country’s resources [Gk. kleptēs (“thieves”) + -cracy]

Korophilia: an attraction to young men or boys [kóros (“boy”; “youth”) + -philia]

Kosmokrator: (also Cosmocrator) the ruler of the world [Gk. kosmo (“world”) + –kratos (“the god and personification of power and strength”)]

Kosmokrator: a mantle ascribed to Alexander the Great

Kouros: statue of young Greek nude male [Gk. kouros (“youth”; “boy, esp of noble rank”)]

Kraken: enormous, legendary sea monster (said to have appeared off the coast of Norway) [Norway. krake (“malformed or overgrown, crooked tree”)]

Kraken (source: medium.com)

Kritarchy: rule by judges in Ancient Israel [Gk. kritēs (“a judge”)]

Krukolibidious: a person who’s aroused by staring at someone’s crotch [origin unknown]

Ktenology: science of putting people to death [Coined by US psychiatrist and neurologist Leo Alexander, etymology unknown)]

Kurveyor: (South Africa: a trader who transports goods by ox cart); a travelling merchant who sells dry goods from a cart [Dutch. origin unknown)]

Kyle: narrow strait or channel of water between two separate formations of land [Scot. Gaelic. caol (“narrow”; “thin”; “strait”) ]

A Kyle

Kyphorrhinos: humped nose [origin unknown] 👃🏽

Kyriology: (also Kyriolexy) the use of literal or simple, expressions rather than figurative or obscure ones [Gk. kúrios (“literal”) + -logy]

A Logolept’s Diet of Obscure, Obsolete, Curious and Downright Odd “J” Words

Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, World history,

”J”-curve words

The letter “J” (pronounced “Jay”), the 10th letter of the Latin alphabet, has got an interesting history as a Johnny-come-lately “bookend” of sorts…”J” is the English alphabet’s “Hawaii”, the last to achieve letterhood. This 26th and final letter was introduced as a swash, a typographical embellishment for the already existing “I”. Phonetically, the vowel “I” and the consonant “J” used to sound the same and were interchangeable until a clear phonetic distinction between the two was made by an Italian grammarian (GG Trissino) in 1524. When Roman numerals were in their heyday “J” or “j” were used on the end of a sequence of numerals…so for “123”, instead of writing CXXIII, it be could rendered as CXXIIJ. Here’s a scattering of “J” words unlikely that you will find popping up in everyday intercourse.

Jabberwock: nonsense; gibberish [from “Jabberwocky”, dragon-like creature in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass (1871)]

Jabberwocky (the Jabberwock)

Jactancy: boastfulness; vainglorious boasting [L.jactare (“to throw”; “speak out”; “boast”)]

Janiform: having two faces looking in opposite directions [L. Janus “”Roman god”) + –fōrmis (“having the form of”)]

Janizary: (also Janissary) a follower or supporter; (hist.) member of Ottoman Turkish infantry, (14—(19th. [Turk.Yeni (“new”) + -çeri (“troops”)]

Janizary (source: Pinterest)

Jargonaut: one who uses excessive jargon [comb. Of “jargon” and Gk. -naut (“sailor”)]

. Jejunator: one who fasts [L. Jejunus (“fasting”) + -ator]

Jejune: dull; insipid; lacking in substance; superficial; naive; simplistic (of writing or ideas) dry and uninteresting [L. Jejunus (“fasting” – ie, being empty in a figurative sense)]

Jentacular: relating to breakfast; specifically to one taken early in the morning or immediately upon getting up [L. from ientō (“to have breakfast “) 🍳

Jeremiad: prolonged complaint; angry or cautioning harangue; lamentation; catalogue of woes [Fr. jérémiade, after Biblical prophet Jeremiah (Old Testament)]

Jeremiad of Jeremiah

Jesuitical: cunning; equivocating; quibbling [Fr. jsuitique (pertaining to the Jesuits)] (behaviours once attributed to the Jesuits)

Jovialist: a convivial person [L. ioviālis (“relating to the Roman god Jupiter”) + -ist]

Jumboism: admiration for bigness [(19th. circus elephant, Jumbo + -ism]

Jumentous: smelling strongly of horse urine or of some similar beast of burden [L. jumentum (“yoke-beast”)]

Jurisconsult: legal expert [L. jus (jur) (“law”) + consultus (“skilled”)]

Jurisconsult

Juvenescence: state of growing younger [L. juvenis (“young”) + -cence (?)]

Juvenilia: the works (literary, artistic, musical) of one’s youth (cf. Juvenal: a youth) [L. iuvenīlia (“of or pertaining to youth”)

A Logolept’s Diet of Obscure, Obsolete, Curious and Downright Odd “I” Words

Adult education, Creative Writing, Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture

The odd word and “I”

I, that single vertical stroke, is the most selfish letter in the entire English alphabet. It’s all about “I”, “I”,”I”! By which we mean “me”, “me”, “me”. The opposite of “U”, its more outward-looking brother vowel. No surprise we get “individual”, “idiosyncratic”, “intransigent” and “IPhone” from the letter “I”…”I” is all about “Isness”. Linguistically, “I” corresponds to the Semitic yod (early symbol for hand?) and the Greek iota (I). Anyway, having impugned I’s reputation, let’s accentuate the positive side of the letter—also the Roman numeral for “1”—by feeding the word-maniacs and lexical tragics out there with a sampler of I-words almost none of which succumb to the pitfall of self-centredness.

Iamatology: <meaning> study of remedies [<derivation>Gk. iama (“remedy”) + -logy]

Iatrarchy: government by physicians) [Gk. iatros (“doctor”; “healer”) + –arkhein (“to rule”)] (cf. Iatramelia: medical neglect)

Iatrarchy (image: kansaz.in)

Ichthyic: of resembling or pertaining to fish [Gk. ikhthús (“fish”) + Eng. -ic]🐠

Ichnogram: footprint [Gk íkhnos (“foot imprint”) + -gramma (“that which is drawn”)] 🐾 👣

Iconolagny: sexual stimulation from pictures or statues [Gk. eikon (“likeness”; “image”, “portrait”) + –lagnia (“lust”)]

Ideocrassis: intrinsic peculiarity or unique feature [Gk. ideo + uncertain (poss. Pre-Greek)

Ideopraxis: one compelled to carry out an idea [Gk. ideo (“idea”) + –praxis “doing”)] 💡

Idioglossia: private, idiosyncratic language developed between children [Gk. ídios “own”, “personal”, “distinct”) + -glôssa (“tongue”)]

Idiolect: distinctive, individual form of speech [Gk. ídios “own”, “personal”, “distinct”) + légō (“I speak”)]

Impecunious: little or no money [L. pecūnia (“money”) + -ōsus (“full of”)]

Imperator: ruler; military commander [L. imperare (“”to order”; “command”)]

Imperator source: http://www.roman-empire.net/army/army-pictures.html

Ineluctable: irresistible or inescapable [L. in (“not”) + -eluctari (“struggle out”)]

Incivism: neglect of duty as a citizen [Fr. incivisme (“non-compliance”; “anti-social behaviour”)]

Incondite: not well assembled; poorly constructed; unpolished [L. un (in) (“not”) + -conditus (“to put in”; “restore”)]

Incult: uncultivated; coarse [L. in + –cultus (“to till”; “cultivate”)]

Incunabulist: (cf. Incunabulum) one who collects early books [L. in (“into”) + -cunae (“cradle”) + Eng. -ist] 📚

Infelicious: unhappy, unlucky [Gk. in (“not”) + L. -felicitas (“happiness, fertility,”)]

Infonaut: a voyager in cyberspace/virtual reality; a frequent or habitual user of the internet [ “info” from “information” [L. īnfōrmātiō (“formation, conception; education”) + Gk. –nautēs (“sailor”)]

Infracaniniphile: someone who champions or favours the underdog [Neologism, L. infra (“below, under, beneath”) + -canino (“dog) + -phile (“to prefer”)

Interamnian: situated between or enclosed by rivers [L. inter- (“in between”; “amid”) +‎ amnis (“river”)]🏞️

Intercolline: situated between hills [L. inter “between”; “amid”) [L. inter- (“in between”; “amid”) +‎ coll (“hill”) + Eng. -ine]

Intercrural: the area between one’s legs [L. inter (“between”; “amid”) + -crūs (“leg”)]

Interstices: small spaces (figuratively as well as literally) [L. inter- (“in between”; “amid”) +‎ –stes (“standing”)

Irenic: peaceful; conducive to peace; non-confrontational (cf. Irenology: the study of peace [Gk. eirēnē (“peace”) from Eirene, Greek goddess of peace] ☮️

Iridal: of, like or pertaining to the rainbow [origin unknown]

Irresiant: having no residence [origin unknown]

Irrison: the act of laughing at another [origin unknown]

Isagogic: introductory (cf. Isagoge: academic introduction to a subject, chiefly to do with Christian theology) [Gk. eisagōgē (“lead-in”) + -ics)]

Isorropic: (geom.) of equal value [Gk. isos (“equal to”; “the same as”; “equally divided”) + –rropic (?)]

Ithyphallic: indecent; immoral; esp a statue with the representation of an erect penis [Gk. ithúphallos, “Bacchic phallus,” lit. “straight penis” + -ic)]

Ithyphallic symbol

Itinerarian: traveller [Neologism: Late Lat. Itinerari (“to journey”) + an]

Itinerarian Marco Polo

Ivresse: drunkenness; intoxication [OldFr. ivre (“drunk;” “inebriated”) + –esse (fem. form of noun)]

Izzard: an archaic word for Z [OFr. et zede (lit. “and zed”)]

Izzard