… Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading.It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’.You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
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1. My first word this time, is taken from a recently read mystery book, first published back in the 1970s, yet still managing to stay as fresh and absorbing for today’s modern reader.
TRICOTEUSE
….. a delicate little tricoteuse mounted with porcelain plaques …
TRICOTEUSE
Is French for a knitting woman. The term is most often used in its historical sense as a nickname for the women who sat beside the guillotine during public executions in Paris in the French Revolution, supposedly continuing to knit in between executions.
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2. Next up is a word I discovered whilst researching an author website in order to compile a brief biographical detail for his new book promotion.
TOM WRIGHT – POLYMATH
Tom Wright – polymath artist, sculptor, photographer & author is managed exclusively by Colossal Concepts Management
POLYMATH
A person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas; such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems
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3. My final ‘new to me’ word for this time, I discovered whilst preparing my latest ‘Book Beginnings On Friday’ post and is included in the opening lines of ‘St Bartholomew’s Man’ by Mary Delorme
SCRIPTORIUM
The voice came from the scriptorium. There, in the cloisters, monks sat at their manuscripts, murmuring each letter as they wrote, for mistakes on vellum or even parchment were costly.
SCRIPTORIUM
Literally “a place for writing”, is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts by monastic scribes. Written accounts, surviving buildings, and archaeological excavations all show, however, that contrary to popular belief such rooms rarely existed: most monastic writing was done in cubicle-like recesses in the cloister, or in the monks’ own cells. References in modern scholarly writings to ‘scriptoria’ more usually refer to the collective written output of a monastery, rather than to a physical room.
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That’s all from me. What new words have you discovered this time? … I can’t wait to stop by and check them out!
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