Feb 11 2009
Wondrous Words - new meme!
I was looking around for a Wednesday meme, so I could make a quick post today and at least get something posted (sorry I’ve been absent for a couple of days!), and I encountered a new one that’s been started by Bermuda Onion , and which has been picked up as well by Minds Alive on the Shelves. You share new words you’ve discovered in the previous week, and post the context in which you discovered them.
And so…I’ll be cheating, for my very first post. Sorry about that! 
I don’t have time to go looking and reminding myself, so I’ll share one I discovered a while ago.
- orison - this means “a prayer” or “reverent petition to a deity.” I first found this word in Lord Foul’s Bane, by Stephen R. Donaldson, when the Lords of the Land performed their “orisons” at the end of each day. The word was also used in Hamlet: “Nymph, in thy orisons / Be all thy sins remembered.”
It was amusing to me that I didn’t know the meaning of the word, because I have two degrees in Religious Studies! But I know it now.
I’m sure Donaldson used it because it has such an, I don’t know, “ornate” quality, which fit the atmosphere he was creating in the book. Evidenced by its use in Hamlet, it’s become one of those old words we just don’t see any more.
Whatever people think about Donaldson’s “Thomas Covenant” fantasy novels, one thing I’ve always liked about Donaldson’s writing is that he so frequently makes me scurry to a dictionary. Not many writers can do that any more.
Which is going to make this Wednesday meme a lot of fun. Let’s see if I can keep finding new words in my reading. And if you find new ones yourself, write about them and post your links here, and at the Bermuda Onion blog. Have fun!
******************************
******************************
________________________________________
Thanks, Kathy! I’m really enjoying this already. I can’t wait for next week.
Lisa — I’ve been finding the same thing lately, that I don’t have as complete a vocabulary as I thought I did. And it makes me very happy! I just love learning new words.
Karen — Woo! Another NaNo person! I always tend to finish my novels (or novellas, really), within the 30-day period, so they’re never novel-length. A couple of them were written in deliberate manga/anime-style, though, and I’d love some day to turn them into an actual manga (if I could find an artist). I do have other novels I’ve done, though, that are full-length full-blown novels, but I never do those for the NaNo. What about you? Have you written things that you intend to complete as full novels, and try to publish at some point?
Fleur — Good for your mother! I really laughed when I realized I’d never heard the word before. I took all the wrong religious studies courses, obviously. Heehee!