Friday, June 17, 2005
Weird and Wonderful: Don’t Be Camstairy or Lucifugous, Read This Post!
More of Erin’s Weird and Wonderful Words:
cunctipotent
[kungk-TIP-uh-tunt]an ill-sounding synonym for omnipotent, with the same meaning. Cunctitenent means ‘having all things’.
flosculous
[FLAHS-kyuh-lus]an adjective meaning ‘like a flower’ or ‘flowery’. Also written flosculose. From a Latin word meaning ‘little flower’, which also gives us floscule, ‘something shaped like a little flower’ or ’ a flowery speech’ and flosculation, ‘speaking in a flowery way’.
noctograph
[NOCK-toh-graf]a tool for writing used by a blind person. The noctograph seems to have used an early form of carbon paper, with wires to guide the pen or stylus of the writer. The word also means ‘a device or log to track the progress of night watchmen or guards on their rounds’. From Latin words meaning ‘night’ and ‘writing’.
camstairy
[kam-STAIR-ee]a Scots adjective meaning ‘perverse, willful, or obstinate’. Possibly related to cam, ‘crooked’.
sudorific
[soo-duh-RIFF-ik]an adjective meaning ‘causing perspiration’, either through effort or in a medical way. Also, thankfully more rarely, ‘consisting of sweat’.
lucifugous
[loo-SIF-yuh-gus]an adjective meaning ‘shunning the light’. From Latin words meaning ‘light’ and ‘to flee’. This was usually used as a near synonym for ‘nocturnal’ but seems much more poetic; instead of seeking the night, they are shunning the light. A similar adjective is lucifugal.