Donaldson's Obscure Words - Official Thread

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Lauralin
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Post by Lauralin »

I was rather struck by how many times "formication" was used, so I looked it up.
Formication, n. a sensation of the body made by the creeping of ants on the skin"
Whay is there even a word for that in English??? :?

I think this one's close enough for caesure, from Websters New Twentieth-century dictionary:
cae-su'ra, n.; pl. cae-su'ras, cae-su'rae, [L., a cutting, felling, from caedere, to cut.]

1. The break or pause in the line of a verse: in Greek or Latin verse, the caesura falls within the metrical foot; in English verse, it is usually about the middle of the line....
2. a pause showing rythmic division in a molody
Last edited by Lauralin on Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:43 am, edited 3 times in total.
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The Dreaming
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Post by The Dreaming »

Caer Sylvanus wrote:I'd also like to add the word "grue" from Ch. 4 of WGW. As far as I know, a grue is something that will eat you if you walk around in the dark for too long.
Hahaha. Someone old enough to remember the old text adventures. God those games were funny.

I am pretty sure grue is a noun meaning "gross stuff of a biological, and at one point multicellular origin." For example, a warrior might get lots of grue on himself and his weapon in the course of a particularly bloody battle.

This is just my perception of the words meaning. I am not an English teacher, I just read a lot, and that is how you pick up vocabulary.

It's dark in here...


Really dark...


Grues like the dark...

You are dead. Score: 2
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Roynish
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Post by Roynish »

Pussiance-Used so frequently

From Macquarie Dictionary- pusillanimous-lacking strength of mind or courage.
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W.B.
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Post by W.B. »

What book did you find pusillanimous in?
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stephen R. Donaldson Ate My Dictionary
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Roynish
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Post by Roynish »

W.B. wrote:What book did you find pusillanimous in?
In the Australian Macquarie Dictionary. Which has the infamy of daring to print a definition under C**T- Dry as a Nuns C**t.

They held back from that unfortunately in my opinioin.
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W.B.
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Post by W.B. »

Heh, like the example, shows some character. :-) I meant the Covenant book the word was in, though.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stephen R. Donaldson Ate My Dictionary
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Roynish
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Post by Roynish »

W.B. wrote:Heh, like the example, shows some character. :-) I meant the Covenant book the word was in, though.
Well in none. I was looking for puissance (spelling) Which is over used. And as I noticed also redolent in WGW.
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DukkhaWaynhim
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Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

Puissance - means power or might. Comes from French. I'll look up a formal definition and get back to you later.

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Post by W.B. »

Roynish, speaking of unorthodox dictionaries, have you ever looked at Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary? If on the off-chance you haven't, it's a good laugh.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stephen R. Donaldson Ate My Dictionary
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Seareach
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Post by Seareach »

Sorry, haven't got time to read this entire thread, but thought I would mention this webpage incase it hasn't been brought up before--I checked your lexicon Landwaster and some of the words found on this aren't on your list.

naples.net/~dsaddison/srdamd/

Enjoy! :D
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Post by kaseryn »

I'm reading Eriksons stuff atm, under SRD's advisement and 'crepuscular' leapt out of the page at me.. clearly the respect is mutual :)
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Post by I'm Murrin »

Pray tell where! I missed that (and I've read the Malazan books twice).
kaseryn
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Post by kaseryn »

Well i'm on Memories of Ice right now.. with Gruntle having just passed through Saltoan.. dont think it was far back.. i'll see if i can find it again :)
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Post by I'm Murrin »

Don't worry - I just started (today) rereading MoI. It's used about three pages into the prologue (MoI is the best so far - enjoy!).
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Post by kaseryn »

Ahh.. he musta used it more than once then, as it was quite recently in the instance i mention.. around the time Brood and Rake have their standoff.. :)
kaseryn
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Post by kaseryn »

Am enjoying it very much now thanks.. i was wearying a bit of all the unexlpained world building and characters at one point, but things are making more sense now.. good stuff :)
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What the hell is a cosp?

Post by Sunbaneglasses »

Could not find it in the old Websters Collegiate:cosp?
kball1
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another cymar definition and usage in book

Post by kball1 »

Cy*mar"\ (s[imac]*m[aum]r"), n. [F. simarre. See Chimere.] A slight covering; a scarf. See Simar.

Her body shaded with a light cymar. --Dryden.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
-----
a cymar draped her limbs like the finest sendaline.
--
the one tree, pg 102 & pg 104
kball1
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pellucid

Post by kball1 »

pellucid
Pronunciation: p&-'lü-s&d
Function: adjective
1 : admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion
2 : reflecting light evenly from all surfaces
3 : easy to understand
--
the one tree, pg 105
Daphin's mien remained pellucid; but Chant's smile hinted at fierceness.
--
www.merriam-webster.com
----
kball1
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Post by kball1 »

all at Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary unless noted

skirling 108 -- 'sk&r(-&)l, 'skir(-&)l
intransitive senses, of a bagpipe : to emit the high shrill tone of the chanter; also : to

give forth music
transitive senses : to play (music) on the bagpipe

cotillion 109 -- kO-'til-y&n, k&-
1 : a ballroom dance for couples that resembles the quadrille
2 : an elaborate dance with frequent changing of partners carried out under the leadership of one couple at formal balls
3 : a formal ball

glauconite 109 -- 'glo-k&-"nIt
a mineral consisting of a dull green earthy iron potassium silicate occurring in greensand

carbuncle 109 -- 'kär-"b&[ng]-k&l
1 a obsolete : any of several red precious stones b : the garnet cut cabochon
2 : a painful local purulent inflammation of the skin and deeper tissues with multiple openings for the discharge of pus and usually necrosis and sloughing of dead tissue

thurible 109 -- 'thur-&-b&l, 'thyur-, 'th&r-
CENSER: a covered incense burner swung on chains in a religious ritual

eldritch 109 -- 'el-drich
WEIRD, EERIE

corybantic 109 -- "kor-E-'ban-tik, "kär-
like or in the spirit of a Corybant; especially : WILD, FRENZIED
Corybant: In Oriental and Greco-Roman mythology, any of the wild, half-demonic beings who were priests, votaries or attendants of Cybele — ancient Phrygian goddess of nature and 'Great Mother of the Gods' — whose rites were celebrated with music and ecstatic dances.

glodes 109 -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
save a lyttel on a launde, a law as it were,
A balw berw bi a bonke the brymme bysyde . . .
Hit hade a hole on the end and on ayther syde,
And overgrowen with gresse in glodes aywhere;
And al was holw inwith, nobot an olde cave’
‘but a little way off on the level there was a kind of low,
A smooth barrow on a bank sloping down to the brook . . .
It had a hole at the end and one to either side,
And grass grew over it all in great clumps;
Inside it was hollow and only an old cave’. (2171—2182)

jacol 109 -- (furry animal?? -- jackal??)

morganite 110 -- 'mor-g&-"nIt
a rose-colored gem variety of beryl

catenulate 110 -- k&-'ten-y&-l&t
shaped like a chain <catenulate colonies of bacteria>
dictionary.com

imbricated 110 -- 'im-br&-"kAt
OVERLAP; especially : to overlap like roof tiles

ophite 110 -- O"phite
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
- A mamber of a Gnostic serpent-worshiping sect of the second century
- Of or pertaining to a serpent. [Obs.]
- a kind of marble spotted like a serpent. A greenish spotted porphyry,
being a diabase whose pyroxene has been altered to uralite;
-- first found in the Pyreness. So called from the colored spots which
give it a mottled appearance.
[1913 Webster]


carillon 110 -- 'kar-&-"län, -l&n; 'kar-E-"än
1 a : a set of fixed chromatically tuned bells sounded by hammers controlled from a keyboard
b : an electronic instrument imitating a carillon
2 : a composition for the carillon

viscid 113 - adjective - 'vi-s&d
1 a : having an adhesive quality : STICKY
b : having a glutinous consistency : VISCOUS
2 : covered with a sticky layer

spilth 113 - noun - 'spilth
1 : the act or an instance of spilling
2 a : something spilled b : REFUSE, RUBBISH

puissance 116 - noun - 'pwi-s&n(t)s, 'pyü-&-s&n(t)s, pyü-'i-s&n(t)s
STRENGTH, POWER

lacustrine 117 - adjective - l&-'k&s-tr&n
of, relating to, formed in, living in, or growing in lakes

theurgies 123 - noun - 'thE-(")&r-jE
the art or technique of compelling or persuading a god or beneficent or supernatural power to do or refrain from doing something

jaconet 123 - noun - 'ja-k&-"net
a lightweight cotton cloth used for clothing and bandages

adamantine 126 - adjective - "a-d&-'man-"tEn, -"tIn, -'man-t&n
1 : made of or having the quality of adamant
2 : rigidly firm : UNYIELDING
3 : resembling the diamond in hardness or luster

jerrids 135
The Talisman - by Sir Walter Scott - Chapter 3
The Eastern warrior, raising himself in his stirrups, and shaking aloft his lance, replied, "Hardly, I fear, shall I find one with a crossed shoulder who will exchange with me the cast of the jerrid."
"I will not promise for that," replied the Knight; "though there be in the camp certain Spaniards, who have right good skill in your Eastern game of hurling the javelin."

feoffment 136 - noun - 'fef-m&nt, 'fEf-
the granting of a fee

falchion 154 - noun - 'fol-ch&n
1 : a broad-bladed slightly curved sword of medieval times
2 archaic : SWORD
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