Word of the Day
guerdon
noun
a reward, recompense, or requital.
More about guerdon
Guerdon 鈥渁 reward, recompense, or requital鈥� is a variation of Old French werdoun, continuing a trend in which the w in Germanic-origin borrowings often becomes gu when adapted into French and other Romance languages. For other examples, compare the cognate pairs ward and guard, warranty and guarantee, and William and Guillaume. Old French werdoun comes from Medieval Latin widerdonum, which in turn was adapted from Old High German 飞颈诲补谤濒艒苍, with a phonetic change from l to d because of the influence of Latin 诲艒苍耻尘 鈥済颈蹿迟.鈥� 奥颈诲补谤濒艒苍 is a compound of widar 鈥渁gain, back鈥� (which survives today in the German expression auf Wiedersehen 鈥渦ntil we meet again鈥�) and 濒艒苍 鈥渞eward鈥� (cognate to Latin lucrum 鈥済ain, profit,鈥� as in English lucrative). Guerdon was first recorded in English in the mid-14th century.
how is guerdon used?
黑料网 a Cannes Film Festival. It has been an unruly jungle. Unruly and luxuriant. The movies have climbed over each other in excellence, every new one transcending the last as it reaches towards that gilded guerdon, that light-giving cynosure of legendary tree-forms, the Palme d鈥橭r.
BIRON. When tongues speak sweetly, then they name her name, And Rosaline they call her: ask for her; And to her white hand see thou do commend This seal’d-up counsel. There’s thy guerdon; go.
[giving [Costard] a shilling]
guerdon
disjecta membra
plural noun
scattered members; disjointed portions or parts.
More about disjecta membra
Disjecta membra 鈥渄isjointed portions or parts鈥� is a term from Latin that is altered from the phrase 诲颈蝉箩别肠迟墨 membra 辫辞脓迟补别 鈥渓imbs of a dismembered poet,鈥� which appears in the writings of Horace (known to his Roman contemporaries as Quintus Horatius Flaccus). The reason for the spelling change is simple grammar: in the original Latin, the possessive adjective 诲颈蝉箩别肠迟墨 鈥渄ismembered鈥� matches the possessive noun 辫辞脓迟补别 鈥渙f a poet.鈥� The endings are different because 辫辞脓迟补别 is irregular; though it looks feminine with its -ae ending, it is in fact a masculine noun. With 辫辞脓迟补别 removed from the phrase, 诲颈蝉箩别肠迟墨 changes to match the neuter subject noun membra, becoming disjecta. Even in modern Spanish, the feminine-looking noun poeta 鈥減oet鈥� is still masculine, and typical masculine -o adjectives modify it. Disjecta membra was first recorded in English in the early 18th century.
how is disjecta membra used?
One gets the notion that these boys are starting again from the beginning, with the separate tone and the separate sonority. Notes are strewn about like disjecta membra; there is an end to continuity in the old sense and an end of thematic relationships. In this music one waits to hear what will happen next without the slightest idea what will happen, or why what happened did happen once it has happened.
As she led the way westward past a long line of areas which, through the distortion of their paintless rails, revealed with increasing candour the disjecta membra of bygone dinners, Lily felt that Rosedale was taking contemptuous note of the neighbourhood; and before the doorstep at which she finally paused he looked up with an air of incredulous disgust.
disjecta membra
paludal
adjective
of or relating to marshes.
More about paludal
Paludal 鈥渙f or relating to marshes鈥� is based on Latin 辫补濒奴蝉 (stem 辫补濒奴诲-) 鈥渟wamp, marsh,鈥� plus the adjectival suffix -al. 笔补濒奴蝉 has one of several possible origins, inspiring significant debate among linguists. One common hypothesis is that 辫补濒奴蝉 originally meant 鈥渟ubmerged, filled (with water)鈥� and derives from an Indo-European root meaning 鈥渢o fill; many,鈥� which would make it related to Latin 辫濒脓苍耻蝉 鈥渇ull鈥� (as in plenty) and 辫濒脓谤别 鈥渢o fill鈥� (as in complete) as well as cognate to English fill because of Grimm鈥檚 law; learn more from the recent Words of the Day pruinose and cordiform. Alternatively, 辫补濒奴蝉 could be connected to terms related to movement of water, from Latin pluere 鈥渢o rain鈥� (compare French pleuvoir and Spanish llover) and Latin 辫濒艒谤腻谤别 鈥渢o weep鈥� (compare French pleurer and Spanish llorar) to English fleet, float, flood, flotsam, and flow. Paludal was first recorded in English in the 1810s.
how is paludal used?
A church, an ancient heap of flints, rises up, cavernous, through mist and marshes. The 鈥淐athedral of the Marshes,鈥� they call it. This is Blythburgh on England鈥檚 windswept Suffolk coast. The landscape here is oppressive, bleak. And what man once made is quickly being lost to nature: sea erodes land …. Victorian antiquaries restored the place to something of its former glory. But today, few come to worship in Blythburgh鈥檚 paludal 鈥渃补迟丑别诲谤补濒.鈥�
The land we were standing on was a project technically known as BA-39 …. BA-39 had proved, not that further proof was really necessary, what enough pipes and pumps and diesel fuel can accomplish. Nearly a million cubic yards of sediment had made the five-mile journey, resulting in the creation鈥攐r, to be more accurate, the re-creation鈥攐f a hundred and eighty-six paludal acres. Here were all the benefits of flooding without the messy side effects…
paludal