I’m reading King Lear, the Oxford School edition. Shakespeare is always good for a few new words! The Earl of Gloucester (in observing that the king appears to value his two son-in-laws equally): …for equalities are so weigh’d that curiosity … Continue reading →
Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion’s Weblog. Kathy says: “Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.” My word this week is from Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. … Continue reading →
Today’s word is disafforest. It’s going to take some background to explain that one. I’m reading The Story of England by Christopher Hibbert. The forest laws were part of the feudal system that William the Conqueror imposed, extending the boundaries … Continue reading →
My word this week is apostatised. I found it in Color Me English by Caryl Phillips in the essay titled “Shusaku Endo: Confessions of a True Believer.” It’s on page 210, describing the novel Silence by Japanese author, Shusaku Endo: … Continue reading →
My word this week came from the DK guidebook, Eyewitness Travel: Dublin on page 14 in the history section about Richard de Clare, aka Strongbow, who was sent in 1169 from England to handle feuds in Ireland. He married the … Continue reading →
My word this week is sere. I found it in Quatrain by Sharon Shinn: He emerged from the darkness of the tunnel into a sere and broken landscape. According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary (1979), there are two definitions with … Continue reading →
I’m still working through James Joyces’ Dubliners, as annotated by John Wyse Jackson and Bernard McGinley. It’s due today and I have it out on Inter-Library Loan, so I need to finish this! I still have the last and longest … Continue reading →
The last two weeks, my source of words for Wondrous Words Wednesday was “The Sisters,” the first story in James Joyce’s Dubliners. One sentence provided : gnomon and simony. This week, I’m moving on to the second story, a creepy (and not … Continue reading →
Last week for Wondrous Words Wednesday, I learned about the word gnomon from this quote in “The Sisters,” a story in Dubliners by James Joyce: Every night as I gazed up at the window I said softly to myself the … Continue reading →
For those of you curious about my source of new words last week, Oscar Wilde’s children’s stories, I posted a review of that book on Sunday: Book Review: Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde and a Wilde visit to St. Louis. … Continue reading →