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

“C” change?

Continuing the A–Z series of out-of-the-norm, non-mainstream quirky words…this time exploring lexical items starting with the ostentatiously curvy letter “C“, the third letter and second consonant of the modern English alphabet. “C” comes from the same letter as “G”. The Semites named it gimel. The sign is possibly adapted from an Egyptian hieroglyph for a staff sling, which may have been the meaning of the name gimel. Another possibility, contested by some classical scholars, is that it depicted a camel, the Semitic name for which was gamal. The utility of “C” extends to the Romans’ numeral system where it represents the number for “100”, “C” for century!

Word 

Meaning

Derivation

Cacodoxy

bad doctrine or wrong opinion

Gk caco ("bad") + -doxia ("opinion")

Cacogen

an anti-social person

Gk caco ("bad") + -genēs ("offspring")

Cacophemism

a perjorative expression used  instead of a mild one

Gk caco ("bad") + -logía ("speech")

Cagamosis


an unhappy marriage

origin unknown

Calcographer

one who draws with crayons and pastels✍️

L calco ("thread", "trample on") + graphe ("write")

Callpygous

having beautiful buttocks

Gk kallos ("beautiful") + -pūgē ("buttocks")

Camelot

newspaper vendor ️ 

F origin unknown

Carpophagous

fruit-eating    

Gk karpós ("fruit") + -phágous ("eating")

Catapedamania

an impulse to jump from high places

Gk cata ("downward") + -ped ("ground") ⛰️ 

Catchpole

sheriff's deputy, esp one who makes an arrest for failure to pay a debt

OE cace ("catch") + Med L pullus (a chick")

Celerity

swiftness of movement  

L celer ("speedy"; "swift")

Celsitude

loftiness, esp in rel. to position or standing

L celsus ("high"; "lofty")  

Cenobite

monk; member of religious order

Gk koinos ("common") + -bios ("life")

Cereologist

someone who studies crop circles, esp one who believes they are not man-made or formed by other terrestrial processes ⭕️ 

L Ceres (Roman goddess of agriculture ") + -logy ("study")

Chaetophorous

having bristles

Gk khaítē ("hair") + -phoros ("bearing")

Chasmaphilous

fond of nooks & crannies

Gk chasma ("abyss"; "cleft") + phil 

Chiliad

divide into parts of 1,000; Millennium

Gk khilioi ("thousand")

Chorizent

someone who challenges the authorship of a major work, esp one who believes that the Iliad & the Odyssey were not penned by Homer ✍️ 

origin unknown

Chryosophist

a lover of gold ⚱️

Gk chrys ("gold") + -philos ("phile")

Cicisbeo

male companion of a married woman

origin unknown

Cicerone

a guide for tourism information ℹ️ 

L from Cicero, agnomen of Roman orator, (2th BCE

Clerisy

class of the intelligentsia; group of learned & literary people

Gk klēros ("heritage")

Concision

tenseness & brevity of speech & writing; saying much in a few words

L concīsus ("cut short")

Consign

deserved & appropriate, esp a fair & fitting punishment 

L con ("altogether") + -dignus ("worthy"; "appropriate"

Copacetic

completely satisfactory; in good order

origin unknown

Coruscating

sparkling; glittering

L coruscatus ("to vibrate", "glitter")

Cosmocracy

rulership of the world; global government ️ 

Gk cosmo ("universe") -krátos ("rule"; "power")

Coterminous

having the same boundaries

Eng, (18th.

Crepuscular

resembling or rel to twilight

L crepusculum ("twilight")

Cruciverbalist

one who is skilled at or enjoys solving crosswords  里 

L cruci ("cross" + -verbum ("word"). Neologism, 1977)

Cryptarcy

secret government or rulership 

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret")

Cryptogenic

(disease) of unknown origin

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret") + genēs ("offspring")

Cryptonym

a code or secret name 

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret") + -nym ("name")

Cumbent 

"lying down"; "reclining"

L incumbere ("lie or lean on")

Curiosa

pornographic books

L curiosus ("curious")

Curlicue

calligraphic twist or curl in the design object; decorative

Eng, (18th. "Curly" + "cue" ("pigtail")

Cursoril

limbs adapted to running (zool.)

Med L cursorius ("of running")

Cyesolagnia

attracted to pregnant women

Gk cyeso(?)

+ -lagnia ("lust")

Cynoid 

dog-like; canine  

Gk kyn ("dog") + oid ("resembling")

Cynosure 

anything that attracts attention; object of interest   

Gk kunosoura (lit. "dog's tail") an association der. from the shape of the constellation Ursa Minor

Cereologist: pondering the enigma of the crop circle ⭕️

Chorizent: Not Homer!

The Cruciverbalist’s playground

Cynosure: all eyes on Ursa Minor, aka “the Little Dipper”

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

Now for plan B

The letter “B” has quite a backstory on route to its destination in the English alphabet. Its equivalent second letter in Phoenician, beth, was part of that ancient language’s alphabet more than 3000 years ago. It looked a little different, but it made the same sound as “B”/”b”. The shape of the letter resembled the floor plan of a house, and the word beth meant “house.” In Hebrew, the letter was called beth, bet or bayt which also means “house.” (‘The Letter B Once Had A Much Longer Name’, (2014), www.dictionary.com). Here’s a far from definitive selection of unusual, obscure and archaic words beginning with “B” – useful additions to the vocabulary of any budding lexiphile, logophile or verbivore out there.

Word

Meaning

Derivation

Babeldom


a confused sound of noise

ME babble + OE -dōm ('state')

Bacchanal

drunkard; reveller 

L bacchanalis (from the god Bacchus)

Bahadur

self-important official 

Persian bahādur ('brave', 'valiant')

Balatron


joker; clown 

L balatrō ('jester'; 'buffoon') 嵐

Barmecide

an insincere benefactor (someone who promises but doesn't deliver)

Per Barmeki ('The Arabian Nights', family name)

Barratry

inciting riot or violence

OF Barraterie (der from 'deceive')

Bathykolpian

deep-bosomed

Gk bathys ('deep') + kolpos ('breast')

Bedswerver

an unfaithful spouse  

Eng (17th, Shakespeare

Benedict

benign; a newly-married after being a long-time bachelor

L  bene ('good') + -dicte ('speak')

Bersatrix

babysitter ‍

Fr berseaux ('cradle') + trix  (fem. suffix)

Bibliognost

well-read individual: person with a wide knowledge of books  

Gk biblio ('book') + -gnōstēs ('one who knows'j

Bodacious

remarkable; unmistakable; sexy; voluptuous 

Eng 'bold' + 'audacious'

Boursocrat

Stock exchange official

origin unknown

Brio

enthusiastic vigour

It 'mettle'; 'fire'; 'life'

Bromaphile

lover of food; a "foodie"

Gk brôma ('food') + -phile ('lover')  

Bromopnea

bad breath

Gk brômos ('stink') + nea 

Brumal

wintry; of, like or pertaining to winter 略 

L brūmalīs ('relating to the winter solstice')

Burrole

an eavesdropper  

origin unknown

Bywoner

agricultural labourer 

Afrikaans from Mid Dutch bi + ('dweller')

ADDENDUM

Barbigerous

bearded; bearing a beard 倫‍♂️ 

L barbiger ("beard"; + -gero ('bearing')

Bavian

baboon; insignificant or unskilled poet

baviaan  

Belliferous

bringing war

L bellum ('war') + ferō ('to bear')

Bloviate

talk at length in empty, pompous, inflated fashion 

Eng (19th. 'blow' (as in boasting, orig. to describe politicians)

Brobdingnagian

immense in size; gigantic 

Eng (18th. novel by Jonathan Swift ✍️ 

Appendage: from Ulrika M-Luck

Bellatrix: female warrior

Bellator: male warrior

<Latin origin>

Bavian

: even with the best quill in the world!

Brobdingnagian
: Gulliver in Brobdingnag

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

The Big A! In the beginning was A.

Words, Words, Words”, mused Shakespeare’s brooding and enigmatic eponymous protagonist in Hamlet [Act II, Scene II]. Indeed, for those wordsmiths, verbivores and aficionados in the grips of logolepsy (fascination or obsession with words), words, lexemes, morphemes, lógos, verba, call it whatever you like, are the very stuff of the world. If you are like me and take a delight in being exposed to new words, always looking to add to the building blocks of your vocabulary, then your interest might be piqued enough to browse the following list of words, a select lexicon with entries which include the obscure, the archaic, the unusual, the peculiar and (sometimes) the downright creepily weird. To begin at the beginning, the letter “A”, primus intra pares among the strictly-ordered glyphs. “A” in the Latin alphabet is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.

Word

Meaning

Derivation

Abactor

cattle thief or rustler

L Late Latin abigō ('drive away')  

Achloropsia

[cf. Acyanopsia colour-blind blue]

colour-blind green 

Gk a + clor ('green') + -podia (rel. to 'sight')

Acephalous

lacking a (clearly defined) head

Gk akephalous ('headless')

Acersecomic

one who has never had his or her hair cut

Gk akersekómēs ('young with unshorn hair')

Acrologic

pertaining to initials; using a sign to represent a word denoting its initial letter or sound, assoc with hieroglyphics & acronyms

Fr acrologique  

Adelphogamy

a form of polyandry;  marriage of 2 or more brothers & 1 or more wives (context: Royal marriages in Ancient Egypt, usually between siblings)

Gk adelphi ('brothers') + -gamus ('marriage')  戮 

Adventitious

occurring as a result of an external factor or by chance, rather than by design or inherent nature; coming from outside, not native

L adventicious (coming to us from abroad")

Agelast 

someone who never laughs; a humourless person

Mid Fr agélastos ('not laughing')

Agersia

not growing old in appearance 

Gk a ('not') + geras ('age')

Agnomen

an epithet; an appellation appended to a name (eg, Rufus the Indolent)

Anc Rome a 4th name occasionally bestowed on a citizen in honour of some achievement 

Agnosy

ignorance esp universal ignorance; unenlightened; bereft of spiritual understanding or insight 

Gk agnōsia ('ignorance')

Aleatory

something dependent on the throw of dice or on chance; random; (esp in indurance)

L alea a kind of dice game 

Amanuensis 

Iiterary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts 

L a manu-ensis ('slave at handwriting') + 'belonging to')

Ambivert

someone who a balance of extrovert & introvert features in their personality

L ambi ('on both sides') + vertere ('to turn')

Aneabil

unmarried; single

origin unknown

Anecdotage

someone with a tendency to be garrulous; anecdotes collectively 

Gk anekdota ('unpublished') + -age

Anemocracy

government by the wind or by whim  

Gk anemo ('wind') + -cracy ('rule')

Anhedonia

inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities

Fr anhédonia+ ('without pleasure')

Animadvert

criticise or censure; speak out against

L animadvert-ere ('to notice or remark on a subject')

Antanaclasis

a literary trope whereby a single word is repeated, but in 2 different senses (for effect, a common form of punning)

Gk antanáklasis ('reflection'; 'bending back')

Antelucan

pre-dawn

L ante ('before') + luc ('light')

Antemundane

existing before the creation of the world  

L ante ('before') + Fr mondain ('of this world')

Antipudic

covering one's private parts

anti +  L pudendum ('genitals'; shame')

Apodysophilia

feverish desire to undress (a form of exhibitionism)

origin unknown

Appurtenance

accessory associated with particular lifestyle, eg, luxury

OFr from L appertinere ("belong to")

Aptronym§

the name of a person which neatly matches or is amusingly appropriate to their occupation or character (eg, possessor of the highest-ever recorded IQ, Marilyn vos Savant; a Russian hurdler by the name of Marina Stepanova)

neologism, purportedly coined by US columnist Franklin P Adams

Archimage

great magician, wizard or enchanter 慄‍♂️ 

New Latin from Late Gk archimagus

Aristarch

a severe critic

after Aristarchus of Samothrace, a Greek grammarian, (2nd BC)

§ the concept  of aptronym  gives legs to the theory of nominative determinism which hypotheses that people tend to gravitate towards jobs that fit their surname, eg, a BBC weather presenter with the name Sara Blizzard ️ 



ABACTOR (Image: American Fine Art)

ADELPHOGAMY

ARISTARCH: Aristarchus of Samos

The Chautauqua Movement, a Pioneer American Institution in Life-Long Learning

Chautauqua Lake (Image: cullencartography.com)

On August 12 this year Booker Prize-winning novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times while giving a lecture in the lake resort community of Chautauqua in western New York State. It remains unclear to what extent Rushdie’s assailant was motivated by the Iranian fatwa against the Anglo-Indian author who suffered serious if not life-threatening injuries in the attack. The attempt on Rushdie’s life for engaging in free speech occurring at the Chautauqua Institution is ironic, given that organisation’s long tradition of the free exchange of ideas. [‘Chautauqua, where Salman Rushdie was attacked, has a long history of promoting free speech and learning for the public good’, Charlotte M. Canning, The Conversation, 25-Aug-2022, www.theconversation.com].

Source: the guardian.com

For all the wrong reasons the crime has shone a light on the Chautauqua Institution with its nearly 150-year-old history. The organisation was the brainchild of a Methodist minister and a Midwest businessman, initially established in the 1870s to provide training to Sunday school teachers and church workers. The first Chautauqua ”event” organised was at Lakeside, Ohio (1873), quickly followed the next year by Chautauqua, New York. Although founded by Methodists the Chautauqua concept was from the start non-denominational in spirit [‘Chautauqua‘, Wikipedia, http://en.m.wikipedia.org]. In the tranquil lakeside outdoor setting of Chautauquaⓐ, the roots what would grow into an institution of seasonal (summer) education and culture programs for adults took shape.

Source: the attic.space

Non-sectarian Chautauqua From its parent base in western New York a movement soon spread across the US with “Daughter Chautauquasas” springing up everywhere…at the movement’s peak, around 1915, there were about 12,000 such rural-based communities, all independent of the parent institution. While some Chautauquas remained religious-oriented, the movement as a whole became more secular and wider in its scope, coinciding with the Progressive Era (circa 1890–1920), a time in which political and social reforms were flourishing in America (Canning). A factor in this was that Chautauquas tended to foster free thinking which was incompatible with the strain of evangelical Christianity permeating the organisation. Chautauqua philosophical emphasis was on life skills, self-improvement and transformation of lives, ‘What is Chautauqua, the site of the Rushdie attack has a long history’, Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, 13–Aug–2022, www.washingtonpost.com).

Redpath Chautauqua, “circus like promo” (Source: Culture Under Canvas, Harry P Harrison)

Chautauquas under ”the Big Top” By the early 1900s Chautauquas were evolving away from permanent independent assemblies to a new variant (aided by the expansion of railways), the spawning of itinerant Chautauquas, where promoters took the Chautauqua idea on the road, travelling to different country regions and setting up temporary “circuit” or “tent” Chautauquas with an itinerary of week-long programs packaged as “culture” experiences. A host of “performers” would be engaged to appear on the circuit at these events—lecturers and speakersⓑ, showmen, singers, musicians and dancers, politicians, opera stars, magicians, preachers—comprising a series of “travelling talent circuits”ⓒ. These Chautauquas added entertainments to the traditional serving of education and religious instruction intended to be “morally uplifting” and culturally enhancingⓓ [‘“The Fourth American Instiution” Understanding Circuit Chautauquas‘, Brittany Hayes, U.S. History Scene, www.ushistoryscene.com]. The tent Chautauquas, the most prominent of which were the Redpath Chautauquas, were in competition with the popular entertainment of the day, vaudeville. The Chautauqua circuit sought to elevate itself above vaudeville which it viewed as a baser and more vulgar form of entertainment (Wikipedia). The tent Chautauqua circuit catered for a wide variety of entertainment, resulting in a wide gulf in quality…at the lower end its engagement in animal acts and slapstick comedy blurred the line with the vaudevillian world [The Chautauqua Movement’, The Colorado Chautauqua, (2020), www.chautauqua.com. Some observers in fact characterise the tent circuits as “Chautauqua” in name only, having appropriated it to add cachet to their business enterprise [‘The Lingering Magic of Chautauqua’, Paul Hendrickson, Washington Post, 01-Jul-1978, www.washingtonpost.com.

Kansas Tent Chautauqua, 1906

Chautauquas made a contribution at the local level to the enrichment of rural Americans‘ social lives and fostered individual self-improvement. Some observers also saw the movement as a buffer against the effects of rapid urbanisation in that period by giving support to local communities and their traditional values…a counterweight to the centripetal forces luring especially the young to the cities, emphasising the virtues of small town “good life” in rural America (Canning).

Source: joplinglobe.com ࿏

Decline of the Chautauqua The 1920s was the last great decade of Chautauquas. By the Thirties with the devastating economic impact of the Depression taking its toll, the movement’s popularity was on the wane. Hastening its fall was a combination of factors – the rise of the car culture made extended travel more accessible for rural dwellers; other forms of entertainment were supplanting the Chautauquas’ appeal, especially the advent of sound movies and commercial radio; new educational opportunities for women were opening up; etc [‘Chautauqua in Santa Barbara’, Michael Redmon, Santa Barbara Independent, 14-Sep-2016, www.independent.com; Ables].

Criticism of Chautauqua Chautauqua’s cachet at its high water mark was undeniable—President Theodore Roosevelt described the movement as ”the most American thing in America”—however it was not without its detractors. Famed novelist and Noble laureate Sinclair Lewis was dismissive of the Chautauquas’ educational merit and intellectual pretensions. Lewis’ Main Street describes the movement as a “combination of vaudeville performance, Y.M.C.A. lecture, and the graduation exercise of an elocution class…” (Hayes). Chautauquas in their heyday effected positive change in the lives of people, helping working class and middle-class women in particular to acquire the educational and vocational training to allow them “to launch ‘real careers’ (‘Chautauqua Movement’). The movement nonetheless had its limitations. Chautauqua enunciated freedom of expression and thought but did not have an overt political stance. It never challenged the White Protestant hegemony in American society…(it) was “not revolutionary and never led the charge on issues like suffrage or civil rights” and racial inequality (Canning).

Still in the business of providing adult education today, the Chautauqua Institution was a pioneer of the principle of what we call life-long learning, which takes many worldwide forms such as TED Talks, University of the Third Age, and a raft of other continuing education programs.

Photo: oldsite.chq.org

Endnote: the Chautauqua circuit movement was to some degree a throwback to the earlier Lyceum movement which flourished before the American Civil War. Public lyceums anticipated the Chautauquas by organising circuits of adult public education programs involving travelling lecturers and teachers – featuring 19th century American luminaries such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and even Abraham Lincoln.

Chautauqua (pronounced “Shuh-TAW-Kwa”) etymology: believed to be an Iroquois (Seneca) word, possibly meaning either or both “a bag tied in the middle” and/or ”two moccasins tied together”.

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ⓐ the idea of an outdoor setting was gleaned from camp meetings in rural South and West

ⓑ giving literary readings and drama recitals

ⓒ speakers who featured on the Chautauqua circuit included the women’s suffragette leader Susan B Anthony, inventor Thomas Alva Edison and national politician William Jennings Bryan

ⓓ “look up and lift up” was a slogan of Chautauqua