Word Of The Day

[Altobelli]

ESOTERICA plural noun (es-uh-ter-I-kuh)

plural noun
1. things understood by or meant for a select few; recondite matters or items.
2. curiosa.

Quotes

At the G20 he was in his element—an instinctively global leader wading through esoterica that most people couldn't grasp, taking charge by dint of his superior knowledge.
--*"Why Gordon Brown Struggles So Mightily," Newsweek, June 11, 2009

When Dan Brown unleashed The Da Vinci Code in 2003 ... he was simply bringing this obsession with esoterica into the mainstream.
--*Frances Stonor Saunders,*"Leonardo da Vinci: the myth and the man," The Guardian, October 21, 2011


Origin

Esoterica is a noun derived from the Greek adjective esōterikós “belonging to the initiate, inner, esoteric.” Esōterikós has a distinguished history in ancient Greek philosophical systems (Pythagorean, Aristotelian, Stoic). Esoterica, if not coined by Ogden Nash (1902–71), was popularized by him in a poem of his published in The New Yorker in 1930. The poem contains the line “The postal authorities of the United States of America Frown on Curiosa, Erotica and Esoterica, And I guess / That's a break for the American Railway Express,” referring to the notorious obscenity trials over James Joyce’s Ulysses that had been going on since 1922 and were finally settled in 1933.

[alfinyalcabo]

plural noun
1. things understood by or meant for a select few; recondite matters or items.
2. curiosa.

Quotes
At the G20 he was in his element—an instinctively global leader wading through esoterica that most people couldn't grasp, taking charge by dint of his superior knowledge.
--*"Why Gordon Brown Struggles So Mightily," Newsweek, June 11, 2009

When Dan Brown unleashed The Da Vinci Code in 2003 ... he was simply bringing this obsession with esoterica into the mainstream.
--*Frances Stonor Saunders,*"Leonardo da Vinci: the myth and the man," The Guardian, October 21, 2011


Origin
Esoterica is a noun derived from the Greek adjective esōterikós “belonging to the initiate, inner, esoteric.” Esōterikós has a distinguished history in ancient Greek philosophical systems (Pythagorean, Aristotelian, Stoic). Esoterica, if not coined by Ogden Nash (1902–71), was popularized by him in a poem of his published in The New Yorker in 1930. The poem contains the line “The postal authorities of the United States of America Frown on Curiosa, Erotica and Esoterica, And I guess / That's a break for the American Railway Express,” referring to the notorious obscenity trials over James Joyce’s Ulysses that had been going on since 1922 and were finally settled in 1933.

Whats this ? Guess the word? Lol

[Altobelli]

You caught me before I edited it

[Altobelli]

Whats this ? Guess the word? Lol

Now that would be a good thread if done properly alf......

[alfinyalcabo]

Now that would be a good thread if done properly alf......

yes it would,don't forget yo do your predictions as well.

[Altobelli]

Good job you reminded me as I would not have time tomorrow.

[Altobelli]

COTERMINOUS adjective (koh-tur-muh-nuh s)

adjective
1. having the same border or covering the same area.
2. being the same in extent; coextensive in range or scope.

Quotes

They would reach the city of Gugs--which is coterminous with the whole kingdom--through the proper burrows, emerging in a cemetery not far from the stair-containing Tower of Koth.
--*H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937),*The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, 1943

The estate of Dale of Allington had been coterminous, with the parish of Allington for some hundreds of years ...
--*Anthony Trollope,*The Small House at Allington, 1864


Origin

Coterminous came to English in the late 1700s. It is a reformation of the earlier adjective conterminous.

[Balanbam00]

Thalassophile


. A lover of the sea, someone who loves the sea/ocean.

[Altobelli]

OROGENY noun (aw-roj-uh-nee)

noun
1. Geology. the process of mountain making or upheaval. Also called orogenesis.

Quotes

Ogden Tweto, the foremost expert on the Laramide orogeny believes the New Rockies began to emerge 72,000,000 years ago, with the process terminating about 43,000,000 years ago.
--*James A. Michener,*Centennial, 1974

The southern mountain range, like the one at the lower tip of the peninsula which was folded during the same orogeny, was a refuge for the flora and fauna of a continent during the Ice Age.
--*Jean M. Auel,*The Clan of the Cave Bear, 1980


Origin

The -geny of orogeny is easy to recognize and common, meaning “production, formation,” related to genesis, another Greek noun. The oro- part is not as common or its meaning so obvious. It comes from the Greek noun óros (stem ore-) “mountain, hill,” from a complicated Proto-Indo-European root er-, or-, r- (with other variants) "to move, rise, excite." This root is the source of English are (of the verb to be), and the Latin verb orīrī “to arise, be born,” which has the present participle stem orient- “rising, rising sun, east.” Orogeny entered English in the 19th century.

[Altobelli]

MUMPSIMUS noun (muhmp-suh-muh s)

noun
1. adherence to or persistence in an erroneous use of language, memorization, practice, belief, etc., out of habit or obstinacy (opposed to sumpsimus).
2. a person who persists in a mistaken expression or practice (opposed to sumpsimus).

Quotes

Another misnomer in which the news media perseverate is "Fighting Irish." Surely that must be a prime example of mumpsimus, the pig-headed persistence in error.
--*Leon C. Chesley,*"Vocabulary Test for Football," New York Times, November 28, 1993

To qualify for keen enjoyment of Naming Day in Eden, by Noah Jonathan Jacobs, you should be dictionary lover .... You should relish such stories as that of the medieval monk who, having said "mumpsimus" instead of "sumpsimus," insisted that he liked "mumpsimus" better and would continue to say it.
--*John T. Frederick,*"Speaking of Books," The Rotarian, December 1958


Origin

Mumpsimus entered English from a story, which perhaps originated with Erasmus, of an illiterate priest who said mumpsimus rather than sūmpsimus (1st plural perfect indicative of Latin sūmere to pick up) while reciting the liturgy, and refused to change the word when corrected.