My favorite word is...

[Fridgemagnetman]

I knew about the alphabetical order of vowels in abstemious[ly] and facetious[ly]. I totally missed the reverse order in "unnoticeably". I will now hang my head in shame for 7 seconds.

Top marks for the STQ. (Shame time quotient)

My STQ is still above ten seconds.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Dum Spiro Spero

Jut clicking 'Like' wasn't enough to express how great that is.

 

[LadyBird84]

Welcome! I had to google amigurumi and I'm glad I did because I got to see some cute stuff.

 

[ainely]

I love words so much!! This is a great thread. Thank you for creating it. I am thinking of this stream of words right now: "πολυφλοίσβοιο θαλάσσης" It sounds like "Pol-oof-LOIS-boyo tha-LA-sayhs". Is that not BEAUTIFUL?! It means "loud-roaring sea" and is from Homer's Iliad, Book 1, line 34.

uh, i've just rembered this quote from Homer's Iliad.
I study ancient greek at school and I spent the year taking exams.
You'd probably love there!!

 

[Gritches]

Hello Nicole, welcome to the forum

I love words. They can be so fun and whimsical.

My favorite word is: Scuttlebutt! It's a fun word to say, and I use it at every appropriate opportunity.

 

[ainely]

I've been thinking..my favorite word probably isn't a word but a latin verb (I study latin at school too) ''excrucior'' and that means ''I am tortured by feelings'' from carme 85, Catullo.
Then ''ποικιλόθρον'' from Saffo in ancient greek and that means ''streaked throne'' and ''Miser'' also in latin.
And I'm madly in love with italians words like ''estremo'', ''logorare'', ''variegato''.

I like Harry Potter too. I'm a Slytherin proud.

 

[Progster]

Then ''ποικιλόθρον'' from Saffo in ancient greek and that means ''streaked throne''

Interesting. In modern Greek, "ποικιλία" means "variety".

 

[ainely]

Interesting. In modern Greek, "ποικιλία" means "variety".

exactly! it derives from ''πολύς''

 

[NicolePfisher]

I'm a huge fan of words myself, I love dissecting them and thinking about the history and meanings behind them. I haven't really thought about which one I would pick as a favorite though, I'd have to think about that more. I'll say instead a Latin phrase that I really like: "Dum Spiro Spero".

I like word origins, too. I find word dissection and origin particularly useful in writing and making names for characters. One of my favorites was naming a character "critare", old french for "to cry out". Not to go too into detail, but the word, when pronounced with English phonetics, had a lightness to it. I sort of softness and femininity that also evoked the idea of quiet weeping and not just crying out. Perfect for a melancholic ballerina.

Seeing that we have some Potterheads in here, did you guys know that Diagon Alley was named after the diagonal line? The greeks considered diagonal lines as illogical or not "worldly" in a sense. Nearly every character's name in that book had a meaning. Also all the spells, locations, etc. Rowling put so much thought into everything.

 

[ainely]

did you guys know that Diagon Alley was named after the diagonal line. The greeks considered diagonal lines not practical or "worldly" in a sense. Nearly every character's name in that book had a meaning. Also all the spells, locations, etc. Rowling put so much thought into everything.

mhh, i don't know the origins of Diagon Alley but I know the meaning of the spells because they derive from Latin like 'expecto patronum'
And i hate/love J.K Rowling, she's like the most brilliant witch of her age.

 

[Crossbreed]

Hello & welcome, @NicolePfisher
I don't so much have a favorite word as I view words & names as a sort of menagerie. Knowing etymology & onomastics, I coin them as necessary.

As the 1:6 scale hobby became more inclusive, I coined more cross-genre terms, like sextilian. (The term playscale originated in dollhousing.)

I created Nissiah as a middle name for one of my daughters. It is Hebrew-based and means "standard-bearer of YHVH."

 

[Progster]

exactly! it derives from ''πολύς''

''πολύς'' means "much" or "a lot".

 

[Crossbreed]

''πολύς'' means "much" or "a lot".

It is the source of the English prefix poly- (as in polygon & poly-technical).

 

[Nightingale121]

Welcome, @NicolePfisher!

I like work origins, too.

I love gregarious because it comes from Latin "grex" which means flock, like a flock of sheep. Gregarious people like to flock, they are social.

Another is Obfuscate from Latin: fuscus- which means dark.

Makes perfect sense!

I like word origins as well.
This also works as a technique to deduce the meaning of words you don't know. If you know about the possible Latin or Greek origins, for example, you will be able to make at least an educated guess about the word's meaning.

Then ''ποικιλόθρον'' from Saffo in ancient greek and that means ''streaked throne''

Interesting. In modern Greek, "ποικιλία" means "variety".

exactly! it derives from ''πολύς''

Also, "throne" actually derives from θρόνος, which means throne as can also be deduced from the translation of ποικιλόθρον that was provided by @ainely.

did you guys know that Diagon Alley was named after the diagonal line? The greeks considered diagonal lines as illogical or not "worldly" in a sense. Nearly every character's name in that book had a meaning. Also all the spells, locations, etc. Rowling put so much thought into everything.

mhh, i don't know the origins of Diagon Alley but I know the meaning of the spells because they derive from Latin like 'expecto patronum'

I didn't know this about Diagon Alley either, but I agree with @ainely when it comes to many other spells and names.
Not all of them derive from Latin though.
For example, there's the spell Glisseo. I couldn't deduce this one because of my knowledge of Latin but rather because I'm also into music. I associated this spell with the musical term glissando (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glissando) immediately.
It derives from the French word glisser apparently. Glisser doesn't derive from Latin either, at least from what I could find out by a quick research.
See this site for further information about the origin of the word glisser: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glisser

 

[ainely]

It derives from the French word glisser apparently. Glisser doesn't derive from Latin either, at least from what I could find out by a quick research.

I can't tell you if 'glisser' is a latin word but i can say for sure that Italian, French, Romanian, Spanish and Catalan are all Romance languages that derive from the Latin.

Also, "throne" actually derives from θρόνος

yes, you're right.