Yvonne
Wondrous Words Wednesday … Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading
The meme has been beautifully hosted for some time by the lovely Kathy @ BermudaOnion blog.
However, Kathy has decided to pass the reins over to a new host, so please say a huge Thank You! to Kathy, and Welcome! to Mareli @Elza Reads
My first selection of words this time are taken from a lovely book which I reviewed in November 2020
“The dolls displayed in the shop were intriguing but her father pulled her swiftly past them, to the door at the back marked Staff Only. On the other side was a strange lift that her father said was called a paternoster. They jumped in, and watched two floors drop past before getting out again.”
” He usually avoided town, fearing he’d see acquaintances of his mother, however he welcomed this opportunity to leave the eyot with the wallhanging in tow. To his best recollection, a shop on Turl Street sold zoetropes and other Victorian optical toys; it seemed to him they might know what the wallhanging was for.”
“Some people find when limerence wears off, love is left.”
PATERNOSTER – A paternoster or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can step on or off at any floor they like. The same technique is also used for filing cabinets to store large amounts of documents or for small spare parts. The much smaller belt man-lift which consists of an endless belt with steps and rungs but no compartments is also sometimes called a paternoster.
ZOETROPE – A 19th-century optical toy consisting of a cylinder with a series of pictures on the inner surface that, when viewed through slits with the cylinder rotating, give an impression of continuous motion. Also called thaumatrope.
LIMERENCE – Limerence is a state of mind which results from a romantic attraction to another person and typically includes obsessive thoughts and fantasies and a desire to form or maintain a relationship with the object of love and have one’s feelings reciprocated. Limerence can also be defined as an involuntary state of intense romantic desire.
This word comes from a book I reviewed in December 2020!
‘Check this out, Donna.’ He took out a stringed instrument I’d never seen before and said it was called a dulcimer. It was wooden, oblong-shaped with curves on either side and a fretboard down the middle.
DULCIMER – A dulcimer is a stringed folk instrument which basically comes in two different varieties:
The hammered dulcimer – which has strings stretched over a sounding board with a trapezoidal shape, generally setting on a stand, angled in front of the player who strikes the strings with two small hammers called mallets
The Appalachian dulcimer – often referred to as a mountain dulcimer, is a narrower version of the zither family instrument, having three to five strings with a fingerboard that’s fretted which is held in the lap of the player who strums it with a small stick, sometimes referred to as a quill or plectrum, with the right hand while controlling the chords or melody with the left hand.
This word comes from a book which I also reviewed in November 2020
He could hardly believe his ears. The cream of England’s womanhood had been taught scatological camouflage. And he had been embarrassed just escorting her to the lavatory.
SCATOLOGICAL – The interest in or treatment of obscene matters especially in literature. Obscene language or literature, especially that dealing pruriently or humorously with excrement and excretory functions.
Wondrous Words Wednesday … Is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading.
It is hosted by Mareli, over at ‘Elza Reads‘
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 Mareli and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your own words of the week, or simply say Hi!
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Dulcimer I knew. Paternoster I’d heard of but did not know what it meant at all. LOL The others are all new to me. ‘Limerence’ is certainly an interesting word, and has a ‘real’ meaning if you know what I mean? Sometimes the meaning of a word just sounds like nonsense or it feels unnecessary to have an actual word for the explanation.
Hi Cath,
I too had heard of a few of these words, but couldn’t have put an accurate definition to them (paternoster, dulcimer & limerence)
I know what you mean about words having ‘real’ meanings! Personally I would probably class ‘scatological’ as one of those words?
It’s a bit like the modern trend of having a ‘National Day’ for just about everything, from apples to socks and everything in between! There only used to be mother’s and father’s days and it has expanded exponentially from there!!
A sign of the times and my age, I guess 🙂
Paternoster is a surprise. Of course, I was familiar with the Latin Pater Noster, but not that there is a word paternoster and that it means elevator, how peculiar.
I knew thaumatrope, but not zoetrope, and I am familiar with the first word as I volunteered as a Victorian to a nearby stately home and the “governess” was making these with children.
Dulcimer looks fascinating, I googled it. Another really fascinating round-up of new words.
Hi Anca,
The Latin ‘Pater Noster’ never came up when I searched for the word, or I would have included it as an alternative definition, because I didn’t know that one – so sorry about that!
I really should have remembered what a dulcimer is, as we have seen it played many times by Chinese musicians, when we have visited the EPCOT Centre in Disney World. Another age related lapse, Oops!
I didn’t know either zoetrope or thaumatrope, however am I right in thinking this would have been the early fore-runner of what I would have known in my childhood as a kaleidoscope?
Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy these WWW posts, especially when I Blog Hop to other participants and I know one of their words! 🙂
I had a search online and it was inspired by the rosary, hence the paternoster, the verbatim translation from Latin is “Our Father”, but it represents the Lord’s Prayer.
Thanks 🙂
Hi Yvonne!! Look how lovely your post is!! THANK YOU…. I really do appreciate it tremendously.
I just love to learn about new words (or new to me!) and to get some background on the origin of words.
Interesting fact about paternoster: Paternoster is a coastal town in South Africa in the Western Cape. I’ve actually never thought about what it means! I just checked the Afrikaans dictionary (it’s an Afrikaans little town). The best I can get there is from the latin Pater Noster that means The Lord’s Prayer. Wow. Now I’ve also learned something new from a place just a couple of 100km’s from us in my very own country!
Thank you so much for participating, I hope to see you again in two weeks for WWW!
Lots of Love,
Mareli & Elza
Hi Mareli,
I made posting on Wednesday by the skin of my teeth, so I’m pleased it looks okay and I also really like the look of your button at the bottom of the page! It is great to see the meme really brought back to life 🙂
I am also a real lover of words, so I always have good old fashioned pen and paper to hand, just in case I hear a new to me word on the TV or when we are out and about, aside from all the great new words I discover in my reading!
As Pater Naster when used in the Lord’s Prayer, is Latin, I checked that out too and it seems as though many of the Afrikaans were also Catholic, so that all ties together nicely. I can’t believe what a coincidence it is that you live so close to one of my words! 🙂
Take Care and Stay Safe 🙂
The Thief of the Winged Horse sounds like a wonderful title!
I’ve heard of paternoster (though I’m not sure I knew it’s meaning previously), but not the other two words.
Happy New Year!
Hi Nikki,
A very “Happy New Year” to you and yours also!
I really liked both the title and the cover of ‘The Thief On The Winged Horse’ and whilst I’m not sure whether it is a genre which you generally read, I have left you a link to my review, just in case you want to check it out.
https://www.fiction-books.biz/reviews/the-thief-on-the-winged-horseby-kate-mascarenhasblog-tourreview/
I had heard of at least three of my words, but couldn’t have got anywhere close to a reasonable definition for them.
I just love words and checking out those which are new to me. My regular online crossword puzzle is the first thing I do each morning, whilst I am drinking my breakfast mug of coffee at about 5.30am. The puzzle sets me up for the day, although I get really annoyed if I don’t get 100% every day!
I hope that you are all safe and well during yet another lockdown. Maybe by the latter half of the year we might get to know what the ‘new normal’ will be 🙂
What a great set of words! The only one I could have defined without a doubt was dulcimer since my son-in-law has a gorgeous hammer dulcimer that sounds beautiful when he plays it.
My first thought when I read the paragraph for paternoster was that it was going to be a slang term for a lift/elevator that is so rickety that the occupants automatically pray the Pater Noster (Our Father)! Who knew it was a real thing?!
I ‘ve heard the word zoetrope, but could not have described what it is.
I figured scatalogical (another word I’ve heard, but couldn’t define) had to do with excrement since that’s how animal droppings are referred to for identification purposes. Example: I knew a coyote was in the area since I saw its tell-tale scat with the pointed end.
Limerence is totally new to me and I like it!
Hi Kelly,
After I began checking out some of the words, I found that I did know a couple after all, although they might as well have been new to me up until I did the research!
I have now begun ‘tagging’ my WWW words, so that I can search for them here on the blog. It will stop me posting and researching the same word more than once, as I think I definitely must have a few age related issues coming on! 🙂
Dulcimer is indeed one of those words, as I explained to Anca … “I really should have remembered what a dulcimer is, as we have seen it played many times by Chinese musicians, when we have visited the EPCOT Centre in Disney World” That was also a hammer dulcimer and it sounded beautiful. I would have loved to have a peaceful performance just for myself. It’s a pity your son doesn’t live over here!
I do have to agree with Cath though, that we do seem to making up ‘nonsense’ words, just to give everything a label. I don’t know why, but I had cause to check something out in the urban dictionary the other day and I must admit that some of the words left me speechless – and I thought myself to be quite open minded!
This age thing is definitely a real pain in the ‘derriere’ 🙂 🙂
The thought of you scrolling through entries in the Urban Dictionary made me smile. My kids acquainted me with that site years ago and I’ll admit, it can be quite eye-opening!
Hi Kelly,
I have delved into the depths of the UD once or twice before, although then I went straight to the words I wanted and no further. I don’t say that I was actually ‘browsing’ the pages this time, but I probably saw more than I needed to! 🙂