Donaldson's Obscure Words - Official Thread

A place to discuss the books in the FC and SC. *Please Note* No LC spoilers allowed in this forum. Do so in the forum below.

Moderators: kevinswatch, Orlion

User avatar
W.B.
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 170
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2003 11:12 am
Location: Florida
Contact:

Post by W.B. »

Here's a little elaboration on two or three of the words:

glode - noun - [obsolete] 1. a place free from brushwood 2. a bright place in the sky; a flash of light - verb - past tense of glide

jacol - noun - obsolete form of jackal

jerrid - noun - a blunt javelin used in military games in Moslem countries (N.B. also spelled djereed and jereed)

The OED and dictionary.com are handy. Though you probably have to visit the local library for the OED.
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
RAnthony
Servant of the Land
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 3:44 am

Post by RAnthony »

Unhermeneuticable would derive it's definition from it's root:

her·me·neu·tics
Pronunciation: -tiks
Function: noun plural but singular or plural in construction
: the study of the methodological principles of interpretation (as of the Bible)

from www.m-w.com

Which, would be something like "a non-methodological principle of interpretation". Basically an "inexplicable conclusion".

All of this would be IMHO, BTW. ;-)

-RAnthony
User avatar
W.B.
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 170
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2003 11:12 am
Location: Florida
Contact:

Post by W.B. »

My humble opinion came up with something similar for unhermeneuticable :) It's just a more general definition, from what dictionary, I forget:

unhermeneuticable - adjective - see hermeneutics - noun - the science of interpretation and explanation; exegesis; esp., that branch of theology which defines the laws whereby the meaning of the Scriptures is to be ascertained (N.B. the word that is actually used in the Chronicles is unhermeneuticable, but in that particular form, it is not to be found in any of the more generally available dictionaries; however, from the above, unhermeneuticable would indicate something that cannot be explained or interpreted or, perhaps more generally, communicated; exegesis is explanation, critical analysis, or interpretation of a word, literary passage, etc., especially in the Bible)

"He perceives some unhermeneuticable peril in—"
-The One Tree, 366

I have more scary words listed on my www link/profile thingy.
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
User avatar
Roynish
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:03 pm
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Roynish

Post by Roynish »

it is rather urvile like and roynish to bump this but what the .........
Guest

Post by Guest »

I am laughing so hard reading this thread...

SRD's use of vocabulary has always struck me on the funny bone. And it definitely adds something to the reading.

As I have been re-visiting the first chron's I have been putting together a list of words that would have required me to search out definitions the first time I read the books back in the 70's - for the express purpose of starting such a thread as this. Frankly some of the words are still a mystery...part of the fun.

I will have to match my list against the compilation in the first entry. One that is missing is chiaroscuro, used many times throughout the books (including ROTE), which relates to the patterning of light and dark shades irregardless of color.

I know it would be a heck of alot of work, but adding a page reference from the books, and even the quoted passage as has been done for some entries, would be an awesome benison to the thread. I have book and page references for my list and would be willing to assist in the process, as it might help me to shake my natural hebetude. :wink:

(The mansuetude of my suggestion should be emphasized. I suggest this with the intent of being irenic rather than invidious and hope it is not considered by anyone to be an adjuration or an effrontery. There is no malific intent. :biggrin: I recognize the potential ineluctibility of completing this inchoate task. Nor is this suggestion meant to be a condign coruscation of my verbosity, which is certainly caducitous. If updating this thread is desuetude, I understand, but I feel that the task is not infrangible. :mrgreen:

I know, I know, by now nystagmus is surely setting in - the obduracy of this sempiternal writing is probably creating a paroxysm of the cranium or a stentorous claxon that you must heed. If there is a puissant roborant in your refrigerator, seek its sapid relief now.

If no such medicament is available to you, then perhaps you are already writing my threnody, and I can only hope that it will be accompanied by tintinnuabulation and that you will not vitiate me. If you feel that cessation of this oratory is exigent, fear not. I will soon answer your orison. :Hail:

I do not rue the temporary extirpation of my somnolence that resulted in this effort. I will close by saying that if this oratory is unhermeneuticable to you, you are not alone...there is no rede...the author himself is at a complete loss!)

Somebody :Help: me!! ahhhhhhhh...
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

:LOLS:

--A
User avatar
Roynish
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:03 pm
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Post by Roynish »

The Seventh Ward wrote:I am laughing so hard reading this thread...

SRD's use of vocabulary has always struck me on the funny bone. And it definitely adds something to the reading.

As I have been re-visiting the first chron's I have been putting together a list of words that would have required me to search out definitions the first time I read the books back in the 70's - for the express purpose of starting such a thread as this. Frankly some of the words are still a mystery...part of the fun.

I will have to match my list against the compilation in the first entry. One that is missing is chiaroscuro, used many times throughout the books (including ROTE), which relates to the patterning of light and dark shades irregardless of color.

I know it would be a heck of alot of work, but adding a page reference from the books, and even the quoted passage as has been done for some entries, would be an awesome benison to the thread. I have book and page references for my list and would be willing to assist in the process, as it might help me to shake my natural hebetude. :wink:

(The mansuetude of my suggestion should be emphasized. I suggest this with the intent of being irenic rather than invidious and hope it is not considered by anyone to be an adjuration or an effrontery. There is no malific intent. :biggrin: I recognize the potential ineluctibility of completing this inchoate task. Nor is this suggestion meant to be a condign coruscation of my verbosity, which is certainly caducitous. If updating this thread is desuetude, I understand, but I feel that the task is not infrangible. :mrgreen:

I know, I know, by now nystagmus is surely setting in - the obduracy of this sempiternal writing is probably creating a paroxysm of the cranium or a stentorous claxon that you must heed. If there is a puissant roborant in your refrigerator, seek its sapid relief now.

If no such medicament is available to you, then perhaps you are already writing my threnody, and I can only hope that it will be accompanied by tintinnuabulation and that you will not vitiate me. If you feel that cessation of this oratory is exigent, fear not. I will soon answer your orison. :Hail:

I do not rue the temporary extirpation of my somnolence that resulted in this effort. I will close by saying that if this oratory is unhermeneuticable to you, you are not alone...there is no rede...the author himself is at a complete loss!)

Somebody :Help: me!! ahhhhhhhh...
My dear friend, your enthusiasm in page referencing is duly noted. I have not checked the current glossary however. Never has novelist been so pretentious and got away with it I would argue. But hey its a method.
User avatar
Landwaster
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 3781
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2002 1:09 am
Location: Brisbane, Qld, Australia
Contact:

Post by Landwaster »

Loved it! Well done!
Do you think I like being this dangerous?
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks for the comments.

After finding the link in this thread to the "Donaldson Ate My Dictionary" site, I started comparing my list against that resource...I find that I have been using it as I continue my re-read. Do either of you know if WB is still updating the DAMD?

Anyway, I am part way through TOT and have found over 80 words that are not on the DAMD list, which I think we can all agree is extensive. I have not yet added all of the definitions to my list. Here is some of what I have done thus far - these definitions came out of an old Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:

Appurtenance, LFB Pg 205, an incidental right, pertaining to property and passing with the property: a subordinate part or adjunct.

Asceticism, LFB pg 238, practicing strict self-denial, especially spiritual discipline

Assize, TIW pg 395, an enactment made by legislative assembly, a fixed or customary standard.

Calumny, LFB pg 333, a misrepresentation intended to blacken another’s reputation.

Castigate, LFB pg 116, to subject to severe punishment.

Catarrhally, LFB pg 250, inflammation of a mucous membrane, esp. chronically affecting the human nose and air passages.

Cloistral, TIW pg 474, suggestive of a cloister or monastic establishment.

Corpulent, TIW pg 90, having a large, bulky body.

Durance, TIW pg 133, archaic form of endurance; also imprisonment.

Evanescent, LFB pg 203, tending to vanish like vapor.

Expiation, LFB pg 121, the act of making atonement, the means by which atonement is made.

Fatuity, TIW pg 448, stupidity, foolishness.

Fulminate, LFB pg 362, to utter or send out with denunciation; to cause to explode.

Kine, LFB pg 87, archaic plural of cow.
User avatar
Roynish
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:03 pm
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Post by Roynish »

Well sapidity has set in. A sempiternal and oblique feeling of obduracy has reigned in my soul.

Apart from that i am feeling fine.
User avatar
stonemaybe
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 4836
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Wallowing in the Zider Zee

Post by stonemaybe »

Is it just me? I read TC, see these words, have a little giggle to myself, think 'what the hell is that about', but in nearly every case the word is kind of self-explanatory. (I think) I don't even try and work out a meaning - ok sometimes I may roll the word around my tongue for pure pleasure! - but mainly the context and pure sound of the word explains what it means. Kind of like onomatapeia for your sixth sense!
User avatar
DukkhaWaynhim
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 9195
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2003 8:35 pm
Location: Deep in thought

Post by DukkhaWaynhim »

Stonemaybe wrote:... Kind of like onomatopoeia for your sixth sense!
I really like that turn of phrase, but thinking about it threatens a paroxysm of thrumming migraine - a sabulous grinding that threatens a rent in the gossamer shift of my sanity.

DW
"God is real, unless declared integer." - Unknown
Image
User avatar
Roynish
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:03 pm
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Post by Roynish »

Stonemaybe wrote:Is it just me? I read TC, see these words, have a little giggle to myself, think 'what the hell is that about', but in nearly every case the word is kind of self-explanatory. (I think) I don't even try and work out a meaning - ok sometimes I may roll the word around my tongue for pure pleasure! - but mainly the context and pure sound of the word explains what it means. Kind of like onomatapeia for your sixth sense!
Well I think thats BS, but partly correct in thinking about Donaldsons pretentious yet beautiful little "land". When you say those words and roll them around your tongue, -"say them out loud in a conversation with someone, I dare you" they have the effect you are talking about . But do you really know what they mean. Well you are guesing and perhaps thats a point as well. You don't need to know as a reader but some of us here look it up.

And can some one fill me in on what is the latest up to date site for Donaldson definitions. I guess its not the first page of this post. Help please.
User avatar
MsMary
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 7126
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 9:19 pm
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Post by MsMary »

This thread is awesome. 8)

I don't know how I never noticed it before. My husband is a walking dictionary, but when I ask him a word from an SRD book, he often doesn't know it. He and I have often laughed. about how many obscure words SRD uses.
"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
***************************************
- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?

- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.



Image


__________________________

THOOLAH member since 2005

EZBoard Survivor
Guest

Post by Guest »

And can some one fill me in on what is the latest up to date site for Donaldson definitions. I guess its not the first page of this post. Help please.
Roynish, go here: naples.net/~dsaddison/srdamd/

As related in one of my posts above, even this awesome resource could use updating, if the originator chooses or has the time to do so. I have been slowly compiling a list of obscurity during my latest re-read of the chrons and comparing it to the list at the url above (DAMD).

I haven't done any additional work on my list since my posted dated 2/27/06, but will pick it up again one day soon to see if there are any additions to the DAMD.
User avatar
Torrent
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 208
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2003 11:55 am
Location: Lost in Translation

Post by Torrent »

I just looked up what geas means but it was in none of my dictionaries and I don't have an OED.

Wikipedia says:

A geas' (also ges], geis, gease geissi, plural geasa) has two interpretations in Irish mythology and folklore.

First, it is a vow or obligation placed upon a person (usually a hero, such as Cuchulainn) in Gaelic mythology. Traditionally, the doom of the hero comes about due to his violation of such geasa, usually by accident.


Later, it took the aspect of a taboo or prohibition. A geas can also be compared with a curse. If someone placed under a geas breaks it, the infractor will suffer dishonour or even death.

There is a considerable similarity between geasa (which are a phenomenon of Gaelic mythology) and the foretold deaths of heroes in Welsh mythology. This is not surprising given the close origins of all the variants of Celtic mythology.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geas
User avatar
Roynish
<i>Elohim</i>
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2003 2:03 pm
Location: Newcastle, Australia

Post by Roynish »

The Seventh Ward wrote:
And can some one fill me in on what is the latest up to date site for Donaldson definitions. I guess its not the first page of this post. Help please.
Roynish, go here: naples.net/~dsaddison/srdamd/

As related in one of my posts above, even this awesome resource could use updating, if the originator chooses or has the time to do so. I have been slowly compiling a list of obscurity during my latest re-read of the chrons and comparing it to the list at the url above (DAMD).

I haven't done any additional work on my list since my posted dated 2/27/06, but will pick it up again one day soon to see if there are any additions to the DAMD.
Thanks Man I had forgot about that resource.
User avatar
Ur Dead
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2295
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:17 am

Post by Ur Dead »

As far as I found , dnear is either a term used in programming (varible) or it has to do with depth of visuals reguarding to optics or camera focal setting.


Stoo
The injecting,smoking,or free basing of any illegal substance

or something to do with a warehouses, storehouse, shop, supply, shop or stocks

That's all I could quickly find.
What's this silver looking ring doing on my finger?
User avatar
iQuestor
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 2520
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 12:20 am
Location: South of Disorder

Post by iQuestor »

unhermeneuticable TOT-p 366 - from hermeneutics: the study of the methodological principles of interpretation (as of the Bible). Pitchwife refers to a "peril" which defies "the methodological principles of [spiritual or religious] interpretation." see The Gradual Interview on SRD's website, July 2006. www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... able&none=
User avatar
amanibhavam
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 1497
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2002 9:54 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by amanibhavam »

Just found the following website:

phrontistery.info/clwdef.html

Someone should point it out to Mr Donaldson... what a goldmine of words nobody has _ever_ heard of! It's still time to insert a few flosculations to gnathonize us foppotees!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
love is the shadow that ripens the wine

Languages of Middle-Earth community on Google Plus
Pink Floyd community on Google Plus
Post Reply

Return to “The First and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”