Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wondrous Words Wednesday - March 10, 2010

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Kathy aka Bermuda Onion where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun.

LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave

satsumas - The mother -- long auburn hair with rather frazzled ends -- sat cross-legged and barefoot, surrounded by the peelings and the uneaten segments of satsumas. (p. 235)

satsumas: a kind of mandarin orange.

THE CREATION OF EVE by Lynn Cullen

chopines - I told them how in Rome women teetered around on twelve-inch-high chopines, claiming the need to keep above the mud and refuse littering the cobblestones but in truth wishing to show off the jewels encrusted on their heels. (p. 32)

chopines:
a shoe having a thick sole, usually of cork, suggesting a short stilt, worn esp. by women in 18th-century Europe after its introduction from Turkey.

civet - From her girdle, she wore a silver pomander the size of a lime, from which excluded the musky scent of civet. (p. 51)

civet:
1. a yellowish, unctuous substance with a strong musklike odor, obtained from a pouch in the genital region of civets and used in perfumery.

2. any catlike, carnivorous mammal of the subfamily Viverrinae, chiefly of southern Asia and Africa, having a coarse-haired, spotted coat, rounded ears, and a narrow muzzle.

What new words did you discover this week?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Those are some great words. Here's mine:

Mirandize - to advise (a person being arrested) of his or her rights under the Miranda ruling.

Grandiloquent - speaking or expressed in a lofty style, often to the point of being pompous or bombastic.

Monomania from The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott. It means to have a pathological obsession with one thing or another.

bermudaonion said...

I couldn't picture a chopine in my mind, so I googled it under image and I think I'd break my neck if I had to wear those! Thanks so much for participating!