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

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/)

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

Ancient history, Creative Writing, Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, Society & Culture

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

”Y” words from the lexical womb

“Y” (pronounced the same as “why” or “wye”) is the 25th and penultimate letter of the English alphabet. “Y” appears in the Semitic alphabet as waw, which it shares with several other Latin letters, namely F, U, V and W. n the Classical Greek alphabet “upsilon” or “ypsilon” represents the letter Y. In mathematics “Y” is the 2nd unknown variable, following “X”. Y is a consonant but also can be a vowel in the articulation of certain sounds (eg, the semi-vowel “yes”).

{word} <meaning> <derivation>

Yale: (Euro. myth.) mythical animal resembling a horse (or antelope) with a tusk in combination with the the tail of an elephant (used in heraldry) [etymology uncertain but believed to be derived from the Hebrew word yael (“ibex“)]

A Pair of yales adorning St John’s College, Cambridge

Yam: (Hist.) was a postal system or supply-point route messenger system extensively used by the Great Khans; a posting-house along a road (Marco Polo: a yam was a waystation where a “large and handsome building” housed messengers and horses in “rooms furnished with fine beds” fit for a king, decorated with “rich silk” and “everything they can want.”) [Mongolian. örtöö, (“checkpoint”)]

The Yam system: described as a kind of “medieval pony express” operating within Mongolia (source: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Yarborough: hand of cards (whist) or bridge with no card above a nine; a weak hand [Eng. from toponymic surname, from Yarburgh (Yarborough) in Lincolnshire, from OldEng.  habitational or topographic name eorðburg (“earthworks”; “fortifications”)]

A Yarborough hand (source: Science matters)

Yardland: unit of land area equal to 30 acres (¼ of a hide🄰); also called a Virgate) [MidEng. yerdlond, from yerde (“yard”; “measure”) + –lond (“land”)]

Yardland or virgate

Yare: (esp of a vessel) answering swiftly to the helm; easily handled; marked by quickness and agility; nimble; prepared [from OldEng. gearu (“ready”)]

Yarling: wailing; howling [Eng. from “yarl”, “to yarl”, a deepguttural vocal style with affected pronunciation, characteristic of male grunge and post-grunge singers of the1990s and early 2000s]

Yaud: a worn out or old horse; a workhorse (Scot. mare) [MidEng.? yald from Old Norse. jalda (“mare”) of Finno-Ugric origin, cf. “jade”] 🐴

Yealing: person of the same age as oneself (of uncertain origin)

Yellowplush: a footman [from character in Yellowplush Papers, a series of satirical sketches by William Makepeace Thackeray (1850s) (compounding of “yellow” + “plush”)]

Yellowplush

Yegg: a burglar of safes; safecracker (origin unknown)

Yegg

Yobbery: hooliganism; characteristic of the (bad) behaviour of a yob; a rowdy, disruptive youth [coined 1970s by inverting the spelling of “boy”]

Yogibogiebox: a container holding the assessories used by a spiritualist [a compound of yogi +‎ bogey +‎ box. Coined or introduced by James Joyce in Ulysses (1922)]

Yogibogiebox (Ulysses’)

Yogini female yogi [from yoga from Sanskrit. yuj (“to join or unite”)]

Yoicks:  a hunting cry used to urge hounds after a fox or other quarry; expression of surprise or excitement (origin unknown but appears related to fox-hunting) (cf. Yikes: exclamation of alarm or surprise)

Yonderly: mentally or emotionally distant; vacant or absent-minded [from “yonder” from Eng. “yon” and from Dutch. ginder (“over there”)]

Yoni: symbol representing female genitalia [Sanskrit. yoni (“female reproductive organ”; literally “the womb” or (“the source”)]

Yowndrift: snow driven by the wind (Scot. Eng.? origin uncertain)

🄰 English unit of land measurement originally intended to represent the amount of land sufficient to support a household

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

Leisure activities, Literary & Linguistics, Local history, Media & Communications, Regional History

Meet the “Z” family of words…Zeta, Zelda, Zara, Zack, Zee and Zed

Z is the twenty-sixth and not-so-lucky last letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and other western European languages. It is most commonly pronounced zed, as used in international English. But in the US, and sometimes in Canadian and Caribbean English, the preference is for zee. A third, archaic variant pronounces the letter “Z” as izzard, whose usage today is confined to Hong Kong English and Cantonese. “Z” derives from the Greek letter zetareaching English via the customary pathway of Latin. The ancient Greek “Z” was a close copy of the Phoenician Zayin (I) (meaning “weapon” or “sword”). Around 300 BC, Roman censor Appius Claudius Caecus relegated the letter Z to the ancient history archives, striking it from the alphabet allegedly due to his distaste for the letter, owing to it “looking like the tongue of a corpse”🅐.

Zabernism: misuse or abuse of military authority; bullying [From the German name for Saverne, a town in Alsace involving a 1913 incident of an overzealous soldier who wounded a cobbler for laughing at him, ultimately triggering an intervention from the army who took over the power from local authorities]

Zaftig: having a full, rounded figure; pleasingly plump (esp of a woman) [Yiddish. zaftik, (“juicy” or “succulent”) from zaft, (“juice” or “sap”)]

🅐 a more likely explanation is that the “z” sound had disappeared from Latin at that time making the letter useless for spelling Latin words…a few centuries later it made a comeback to the A(to Z) team resuming its place as № 26

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

Ancient history, Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture, Society & Culture

“X”-factor words

The letter “X” is the 24th letter of the Latin alphabet, as well as the Roman numerical symbol for “ten”(10). It derived from the Phoenician letter samekh, meaning “fish”, then circa 900BC the Greeks borrowed the samekh letter and renamed it Chi, giving it its present shape, the meaningful symbol of two diagonally-crossed vertical strokes. X is notable for its versatility and is powerfully ingrained in popular culture with so many different applications – it can signify the unexpected in everyday life, the mysterious phenomena or the unknown value of something; X can be defiantly undefinable. “X marks the spot” (see at bottom) or it can be a cautionary viewer-rating for television or films; it can represent a chromosome juxtaposed with its succeeding letter of the alphabet, “y”; it can stand in place of the word “Christ” as in “X’mas”; and it can be a shorthand affectionate or amorous sign-off between two correspondents (XXX or XOXO), the “kisses” in “kisses and hugs”; or the “crosses” in the perennial game of “noughts and crosses”; there’s “Generation X” of MTV-land and there’s “X” the rebranded moniker for the US-based social media website formerly known as Twitter (‘Before X Was X: The Dark Horse Story Of The 24th Letter’, January 09, 2019, www.dictionary.com)

Xanthippe: an ill -tempered woman [Gk. history: Socrates’ Athenian wife]

Xanthippe

Xanthocomic: yellow-haired [Gk. xanthós (“yellow”) + (?)-kómēs (“harmony”) from -kome (“hair of the head”) (?) (cf. Xanthochroic: having yellow skin) 👱

Xenagogue: a tour guide; someone who conducts or directs strangers [Gk. xeno, xenós (“stranger”; “foreigner”) + -agōgos (“to lead”)] (cf. Xenodochy: hospitality; reception of strangers)

Xenarthral: resembling a sloth, an anteater or an armadillo [Gk. xenós (“foreigner”) + -árthron (“joint”)

Xenarthral (image: Encyclopedia Britannica)

Xenodocheionology: (studying) the history of hotels or inns; the lore of hotels or inns [Gk. xenodocheion (“inn”) + -o- + –logy]

Xenodocheionology: The Don CeSar, Florida, AKA “The Pink Palace”

Xenoglossia: supposedly when someone is able to speak, understand or write in a foreign language that he/she has never learnt or studied [Gk. xeno + -glossia (“speak)] (cf. Xenoglossophobia: fear of foreign languages)

Xenoglossia (image: sanaco.com)

Xerothermic: both dry and hot [Gk. xērós, (“dry”) + -thermós, “heat”) +‎ ic] (cf. Xerarch: growing in dry places) (cf. Xerasia: abnormal dryness of the hair) (cf. Xerostomia: excessive dryness of the mouth)

Xiphias: swordfish; a genus (the type of the family Xiphiidae) of large scombroid fishes comprising the common swordfish [Gk. xíphos, (“sword”)] 🗡️ 🐟

Xylopolist: one who sells wood; a timber merchant [Gk. xylo (“wood”) + –polist (“I barter”; “sell”)] 🪵

Xystus: (Hist.) architectural element in Anc Greece for covered portico of the gymnasium; covered walkway for exercises [from Gk. xustos, (“smooth”) (ie, polished floor of the xystus)

Xystus (source: facebook.com)

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“X marks the spot!” (from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)