Yvonne
1. PYRRHIC
Jude pushed back his chair. ‘We should probably let Monica know about Stefan. If Violet never told her, it’ll come as a shock to her that she isn’t the next of kin. And it’ll probably make her revisit any idea she might have of challenging Violet’s will. I don’t imagine that will go down well. Even if Klemmie doesn’t want the money, there’s someone else with a claim to it, and he doesn’t strike me as the sort of man to turn it down, even if he doesn’t need it.’ And Stefan, by the look of it, could afford a Pyrrhic victory over the cousin he’d never known existed.
PYRRHIC –
A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.
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2. ANCHORITES
3. IMMUREMENT
CARMEL BENDON
Carmel is a writer and presenter on “all things medieval” to academic and general audiences. She has a PhD in Medieval Literature and a 1st Class Honours in Early English, both degrees from Macquarie University where she lectured in English Literature and Medieval Studies. Her specialist research field is Medieval Mystics and this was the basis of her successful non-fiction book Mysticism and Space. Other academic publications include chapters and articles on St Augustine, Julian of Norwich, and Hildegard of Bingen, and on anchorites and the practice of immurement. More generally, she has published on Geoffrey Chaucer, Jorge Luis Borges, and Oscar Wilde, and has been a contributor to the International Dictionary of Literary Biography.
Carmel is now concentrating on writing fiction and Grasping at Water is her debut novel. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, a faithful dog, and a wild garden, and is the proud mother of three adult daughters.
ANCHORITES –
A religious recluse, the anchorite’s was one of the most extreme of the religious lives of the Middle Ages.
Someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. Whilst anchorites are frequently considered to be a type of religious hermit, unlike hermits they were required to take a vow of stability of place, opting for permanent enclosure in cells often attached to churches. Also unlike hermits, anchorites were subject to a religious rite of consecration that closely resembled the funeral rite, following which they would be considered dead to the world, a type of living saint. Anchorites had a certain autonomy, as they did not answer to any ecclesiastical authority other than the bishop.
IMMUREMENT –
Is a form of imprisonment, usually until death, in which a person is placed within an enclosed space with no exits.
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4. DJINN –
A helicopter buzzed over the forest’s edge, seemingly close enough to part the quivering palm fronds. Cora couldn’t make out the livery, or even whether the craft was civilian, military or commercial. It hovered over the beach, stirring up a djinn of sand.
DJINN
The Djinn (also known as Genie and Djann) are supernatural beings, skilled in magic, with the ability to control the elements and grant wishes.
The Sand Djinn are magical creatures of animated sand. They have magic power over sand and can morph it into weapons to kill. Sand Djinn are often blamed by local people for creating droughts and bad sand storms.
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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 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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Two of these words are new to me: immurement and djinn. I had to smile about that last one…. we watched the live action version of Aladdin last night (2019, with Will Smith) so it’s too bad I didn’t know the word then. I could have impressed my husband by calling the genie a djinn instead! (not that I have the slightest idea how to pronounce it!)
Hi Kelly,
It seems as though, in the original Arabic version, the word djinn was spelt jinn, so I am assuming that is pronounced with a silent ‘D’. Any other pronunciation could become quite tricky? 🙂
When we visited, our niece insisted that we sit through the live action Aladdin, much to hubbie’s horror! However, as our G.niece and G.nephew were both there causing havoc and chaos, he didn’t have to concentrate too much and no questions were asked afterwards!
The process of immurement sounds horrific. The only positives being that the cell or enclosure usually had two or three windows for the transfer of food and waste. Also, the anchorite was allowed to communicate with any passers by. On the other hand, I wonder how much the anchorite was open to ridicule and abuse, when they could do nothing to fight back!
I think that all four of this time’s words have the potential for legitimate use in everyday conversation, so perhaps that’s my challenge for discovering them!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that your 2020 reading has got off to a good start 🙂
I knew djinn but would have guessed the others wrong. For some reason, I thought pyrrhic had something to do with fire. Thanks for playing along today!
Hi Kathy,
Pyromania is an impulse control disorder in which individuals repeatedly fail to resist impulses to deliberately start fires, in order to relieve tension or for instant gratification – but I can see why you might have thought that pyrrhic came from the same family of words. I never even noticed the sound similarity!
Thank you so much for hosting WWW each week, I always enjoy it when I can take part 🙂
Well now, I’ve actually heard of a Pyrrhic victory but don’t think I would have been able to define it, so thank you for that. Anchorites and immurement I did not know, new words to me. Djinn is familiar to me as a reader of weird fiction. I do enjoy your wondrous words posts, Yvonne.
Hi Cath,
Given your liking for non-fiction reading, I am not surprised that you know many of the words I probably come across in my fiction books. If I read more NF, I would probably spend a good proportion of my time with Google open in an adjoining browser, to check out definitions of new to me words and phrases.
There are plenty of times when I think I recognise a word and can often guess at a meaning in context with the rest of a sentence. However I would be completely stumped if asked to provide a clear definition for the word!
I did wonder whether P.R. Black might have used Djinn in a slightly different context than usual in ‘The Beach House’, which I have yet to read. As far as I know, this is going to be a straightforward thriller story, but perhaps I am in for a surprise or two!
I’m pleased that I managed to offer you a couple of new words for your repertoire and I hope that your 2020 reading is getting off to a good start 🙂
Yes, thank you, my 2020 reading is off to a good start, I’m doing a bit of planning and *trying* (ho ho) to get the tbr mountain down a bit. We shall see…
I actually popped back because I forgot to ask in my comment whether you’re feeling a bit better now? Awful lot of lurgies around at the moment. 🙁
My 2020 reading resolutions are already falling by the wayside, as I have just come across a site on Twitter called Booktasters, who connect readers with authors – books in exchange for reviews basically!
I haven’t actually hit the ‘join’ button – yet! 🙂
My sickness bug has gone, although I still have no appetite and I have been left with a horrible cough.
Hubbie has had a horrendous cough for over 4 weeks now and it is just getting worse, he can’t even put two words together. The health professionals seem to think it is a viral infection though, so they are just allowing things to take their course!
Thanks for asking and I hope you two have managed to avoid all the sickness and bugs 🙂
I had to laugh at your 2020 resolutions falling by the wayside, potentially anyway. It’s all very tempting. I said I wouldn’t buy any new books but two new ones transferred themselves onto my Kindle somehow or other. LOL
Oh gosh, while I’m glad you’re a trifle better I’m really sorry to hear how ill your husband is. Yes, that is apparently the problem with viruses, they don’t respond to medication so just have to take their course. That can take weeks or even months. I do hope he starts to recover soon. So far, we’ve been ok. My daughter had the sickness bug but we managed to avoid it, a miracle as we had both her and our grandson here on NY’s day and she fell ill that night.
You take care. xxx
Thanks for your kind thoughts and I hope that you both continue to stay healthy 🙂
I have still not pushed the ‘join’ button yet, but Booktasters do keep messaging me! 🙂