Word of the day

[Richard Ruck]

OK, an easy one to get us going again...

bestiary

• noun (pl. bestiaries) a descriptive or anecdotal treatise on various kinds of animal, especially a medieval work with a moralising tone.

— origin mid 19th cent. : from medieval Latin bestiarium, from Latin bestia ‘beast’.

Not sure about the 19th. century bit. I would have thought the usage would have dated from much earlier. However, this is what the OED says so I suppose it must be true.

Perhaps the Latin form was in general usage before that time.

[huntertitus]

Or a description of the footballer George's life?

[J.R.]

Or a description of the footballer George's life?

.... who had many famous quotes, the best being....

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered !"

[AndrewH]

I have been told that "yeo" means river. In Barnstaple we have the river Yeo, which is either the River River or the yeo Yeo.

On our way to CH we had to drive through a town called Uckfield which got it's name from the river Uck which had a signpost saying "River Uck" next to it.

You can guess what letter someone kept adding.

The council eventually took the sign down.

In Bedfordshire there is a River Hit, they tried a funny shaped sign with no room for the additional letter! (didn't work, someone added a bit of ply!)

[Angela Woodford]

Amicia - an attractive shade-loving perennial plant with heart-shaped leaves!

I have got an extra job in a plant centre with lots of unusual varieties. The only way I can remember the name of this plant is to sing to it

Amici(a) quotquot estis -

I might have a look at the Carmen and see how many plant names I can fit into it.

Munch

[Richard Ruck]

azan

• noun - the Muslim call to ritual prayer made by a muezzin from the minaret of a mosque (or now often played from a recording).

— origin mid 19th cent.: from Arabic 'adan ‘announcement’

[Richard Ruck]

This one sounds a bit silly....


groupuscule

• noun a political or religious splinter group.

— origin mid 20th cent. : from French, diminutive of groupe ‘group’.

[cj]

I like this one! I shall try to use it today.

[Richard Ruck]

I like this one! I shall try to use it today.

Did you find a suitable opportunity, Cath?

I still think it's a silly word!

[Richard Ruck]

OK, I challenge you to insert this one into a normal conversation:


dicynodont

• noun - a fossil herbivorous mammal-like reptile of the late Permian and Triassic periods, with beaked jaws and no teeth apart from two tusks in the upper jaw of the male.

Dicynodon and other genera, infra-order Dicynodontia , order Therapsida .

— origin mid 19th cent. : from modern Latin Dicynodontia (plural), from Greek di- ‘two’ + kuon ‘dog’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

[cj]

I like this one! I shall try to use it today.

Did you find a suitable opportunity, Cath?

I still think it's a silly word!

Unfortunately not, but today we have a pre-school committee meeting, so it may come into play then. You're right, RR, it does sound silly, like a Bush-ism, fabricated on the spur of the moment.

[cj]

OK, I challenge you to insert this one into a normal conversation:


dicynodont

• noun - a fossil herbivorous mammal-like reptile of the late Permian and Triassic periods, with beaked jaws and no teeth apart from two tusks in the upper jaw of the male.

Dicynodon and other genera, infra-order Dicynodontia , order Therapsida .

— origin mid 19th cent. : from modern Latin Dicynodontia (plural), from Greek di- ‘two’ + kuon ‘dog’ + odous, odont- ‘tooth’.

Anyone who has kids should be able to do this. Most of them are fascinated with dinosaurs. I think this should be the challenge with Word of the Day - to fit the day's chosen word into conversation. We could get points for it!

[Richard Ruck]

OK, try this one:


velarium

• noun (pl. velaria) a large awning used in ancient Rome to shelter an amphitheatre from the weather.

• an inner ceiling used to improve acoustics in a theatre.
— origin Latin.

[Katharine]

Could the gazebo contraption we put up over a jazz group that plays for our jazz night trains be called a velarium?

The trains go to the half way station at Tan y Bwlch, where there is a barbecue and a bar and jazz playing. (Thursdays in August if anyone is interested!)

[englishangel]

obviously from the word for wing.

Like those sail thingies that interior designers like to use.