Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermudaonion's Weblog where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the new button (or the old graphic), and join the fun! (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)

From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

p.16 "For though elated by his rank, it did not render him supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to every body."
SUPERCILIOUS: haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
ORIGIN: 1520-30. [Latin superciliōsus, from supercilium, eyebrow, pride : super-, super- + cilium, lower eyelid; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots.]

From The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

p.40 "A handful of women ululate as the proceedings begin."
ULULATE: to lament loudly and shrilly.
ORIGIN: 1615-25. [Latin ululāre, ululāt-, ultimately of imitative origin.]

7 comments:

  1. Great words out of some great books this week! Thanks for participating!

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  2. Having read Pride and Prejudice at least 10 times, I think i know the meaning of every word there :)

    Here are my words

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  3. Imagine finding a new word in an old book like P & P. Good for you. It's a good one too. Glad you played along today.

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  4. Odd word....

    http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com/2009/11/wondrous-words-wednesday.html

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  5. You have won a special award at my blog. Please stop and pick it up. Please let me know you have gotten it.

    http://readwithtea.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharon-from-bookworms-blog-thank-you-so.html

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  6. I really like the words you have chosen.
    Ululate intrigued me so much that I needed to hear how it sounded so I looked it up on freedictionary.com

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  7. Oh, my -- I hope women keep their ululating to themselves!!

    I thought maybe supercilious would be just a really ridiculous face :)

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