Reading "Crome Yellow" by Aldous Huxley I am coming across some beautiful old words that I would like to add to my vocabulary. It's been fun looking them up and hoping I will remember to bring them into conversation.
My three favorites so far are:
1 Peripatetic - walking or traveling about; itinerant.
I like this one because I really like the word 'nomadic'.
'Peripatetic' doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily, but, it still conjures up some interesting characters in my mind.
2 Prodigious - impressively great in size, force, or extent; enormous, extraordinary, marvelous.
His cousins are so over used. Prodigious. "What a prodigious idea!" I like it.
3 Portentous - marvelous; amazing; prodigious.
How come I have never heard the word the prodigious?!
Well now I have. Not pretentious...portentous.
I am going to sneak them in future blog posts. That's a promise.
I found this great article about favorite old words that this Linguistic Major thinks should be brought back to life again. Here are a few exerts from the article with Erin McKean’s explanations (also quite amusing):
Bibesy
Noun – “A too earnest desire after drink.” – “Bibesy” may have been completely made up in the 18th century and it’s unclear whether it ever made it into common use, but it could easily be used today: “Wedding guests waited anxiously for the bar to open; bibesy should be expected after such a long, dull service.”
Freck
Verb intr. – “To move swiftly or nimbly” – I can think of a lot of ways to use this one, like “I hate it when I’m frecking through the airport and other people are going so slow.”
Jargogle
Verb trans. – “To confuse, jumble” – First of all this word is just fun to say in its various forms. John Locke used the word in a 1692 publication, writing “I fear, that the jumbling of those good and plausible Words in your Head..might a little jargogle your Thoughts…” I’m planning to use it next time my husband attempts to explain complicated Physics concepts to me for fun: “Seriously, I don’t need you to further jargogle my brain.”
Deliciate
Verb intr. – “To take one’s pleasure, enjoy oneself, revel, luxuriate” – Often I feel the word “enjoy” just isn’t enough to describe an experience, and “revel” tends to conjure up images of people dancing and spinning around in circles – at least in my head. “Deliciate” would be a welcome addition to the modern English vocabulary, as in “After dinner, we deliciated in chocolate cream pie.”
Brabble
Verb – “To quarrel about trifles; esp. to quarrel noisily, brawl, squabble” – Brabble basically means to argue loudly about something that doesn’t really matter, as in “Why are we still brabbling about who left the dirty spoon on the kitchen table?” You can also use it as a noun: “Stop that ridiculous brabble and do something useful!”
Full Article here:
