Strange Words And Their Meanings A Dictionary Of Unusual Words Found In Prose And Poetry

Introduction: What is this Book? This book is part dictionary, part very portable, extremely selective, and curated encyclopedia. Unusual and interesting vocabulary, but also terms from the sciences & arts; place names & literary references; linguistic curiosities; and names from mythology & zoology. This book showcases words and terms that are all interesting for some reason. Some look or sound beautiful; some are strange in a creative way; some esoteric and deep. Many entries include etymologies and quotations from poetry, literature, etc. showing word usage. In populating this book, subjective taste was unavoidable. Why is a star such as Omicron Draconis chosen over other stars? Simply because the author fancies the name itself. Other entries are chosen due to unique features, or beauty of sound, appearance, or meaning. Included within are interesting places, real and mythological (Shitlington Crags, Shambhala, Muspelheim); names from zoology (dreamfish & wonderpus); cryptozoology (Mongolian death worm); astronomy (El Gordo & Aldebaran); music (protopunk & doodlesack); literature (Prufrockian & purple passages); history (Pavlopetri); mathematics (Whitney umbrella); terms from geology (inselberg & Devonian); and intriguing words such as welkin, smokefall, orison, omnishambles, nemorous, circumvolant, moonglade, meeping, goetic, esperance, cosmoplastic, brontide, and anagalactic. Some of the best entries from the more comprehensive Dictionary of the Strange, Curious, and Lovely are also included. In addition to the many recherché vocabulary words, there are numerous entries from mythology, astronomy, geography, zoology, poetry, and literature. Just a few humans are listed as entries (e.g., Finnish poet Runeberg and English astrologer Sepharial). A liberal sprinkling of English's more elegant prefixes (such as: circum-, cosmo-, proto-, ob-, and para-) and suffixes (-esque, -mancy, -escent, -ium, and -genic) are spread throughout this alphabetized volume. "Brevity is the soul of wit" - Shakespeare, Hamlet This book was designed to be very portable, very casual - yet intriguing & inspiring. The reader is gently introduced to new & interesting words, to strange, beautiful, or elegant words. If you love these types of words and terms, you will likely love this collection! If you are looking, however, for OED-type definitions with every word sense and comprehensive etymology and pronunciations, this book may not be for you. The 10-page "Supplemental Words of Beauty or Interest" appending this volume lists just the words themselves, without definitions - most (but far from all) definitions are relatively apparent or commonly known.

Broken down by category, this comprehensive reference is the go-to guide for readers and writers who want to expand their knowledge of language. This unique reference book strives to define words and phrases that the average person often encounters but which may not be immediately familiar. Batten, kiosk, proctor, coup de grace, alliteration, parsec, corona, renal, joystick, decant, citadel. Broken down into over fifty categories—from cultural essentials like art, history, and sports to modern obsessions like text messaging and hip hop slang—this book is a word lover's dream and a useful handbook for any student. It covers theatre. It even has a section of foreign words commonly used in English. Expand your vocabulary. Improve your writing. Broaden your horizons!

Lists the meaning of hundreds of bizarre and unusual words and includes a guide to coining new words.

This book is a cross-cultural reference volume of all attested numerical notation systems, encompassing more than 100 such systems used over the past 5,500 years. Using a typology that defies unilinear evolutionary models, Stephen Chrisomalis identifies five basic types of numerical notation systems, tracks relationships between systems, and creates a general model of change that incorporates social, historical, and cognitive factors.

Open The Cabinet of Linguistic Curiosities and you’ll find both a word and a day to remember, every day of the year. Each day has its own dedicated entry, on which a curious or notable event—and an equally curious or notable word—are explored. On the day on which flirting was banned in New York City, for instance, you’ll discover why to “sheep’s-eye” someone once meant to look at them amorously. On the day on which a disillusioned San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States, you’ll find the word “mamamouchi,” a term for people who consider themselves more important than they truly are. And on the day on which George Frideric Handel completed his 259-page Messiah after twenty-four days of frenzied work, you’ll see why a French loanword, literally meaning “a small wooden barrow,” is used to refer to an intense period of work undertaken to meet a deadline. The English language is vast enough to supply us with a word for every occasion—and this linguistic “wunderkammer” is here to prove precisely that. So whatever date this book has found its way into your hands, there’s an entire year’s worth of linguistic curiosities waiting to be found.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.