rumbelow

rumbelow n a meaningless word, occurring as a refrain in old sea-songs.

I have heard this word before, notably regarding the old electronics retailers and cup final sponsors in the 90s. I've never known what it meant, though. I am completely thrilled to discover that it doesn't actually mean anything. There's not even any origin beyond "old sea-songs". How wonderful! Does this mean Mr Dictionary is admitting defeat?

porraceous

This delightful-sounding word is nothing to do with pores or dimples, but is a very simple adjective:

porraceous adj leek-green [Origin from Latin porraceus, from porrum a leek] Chambers, 1998

If I'd already known the Latin word for leek, I expect this word would have seemed fairly obvious. It's funny though, I don't tend to think of leeks as being eaten by Romans or anywhere in the Mediterranean really. Is this just because I used to live in Swansea and saw one too many giant inflatable leeks being brandished by rugby fans?

The Food Museum says the first ever mention of a leek was by a Mesopotamian scribe, meaning that its origin is likely to have been in the Middle East over 4,000 years ago. The leek was also apparently the Roman Emperor Nero's favourite vegetable. Blimey.

Hang on, doesn't the colour fade from deep green to white along the body of a leek? I wonder if porraceous refers to a specific bit of the green, or just a greenish colour that is reminiscent of a leek in general?

serein

Roughly speaking, this is pronounced "suh-ran" and I think it's a wonderful word. The definition feels very poetic:

serein n in the tropics, fine rain falling from an apparently cloudless sky after sunset [Origin French, from Latin serum evening, from serus late] Chambers, 1998

Lovely.

And good use of the word "apparently". I was close to replacing the meaning with "fantastic miracle performed by rain witch". Surely this must have cropped up in a David Attenborough documentary at some point? Being in London though, I suppose I'm less likely to have seen it on the weather.

In trying to learn all these words, I've found myself using the archive list of previous posts as a quick testing post for meanings. It feels a bit like being back at school, only at least now my mum isn't cutting my hair to look just like hers. I think mumpsimus is most likely to make it into my active vocabulary so far, though I'm trying to shove in as many as possible. Here's an attempt to use all the words I've learned to date:

Poor old Bob. He may only be a spoffish mumpimus with endless rodomontades, but his nights have been filled with floccillations ever since he found his beloved Fluffy, now no more than a morkin, under his back tyre. He thought Fluffy was irenic. His wife said Fluffy was just a flamfew.

It needs a bit of work, obviously...

morkin

The more I try to find words I've never heard of, the more I feel guilty that I don't already know them. This one, for example, is so small and unassuming that I feel sure I should already know it:

morkin n an animal that has died by accident [Origin from Anglo-French mortekine, from Latin morticina (fem adj) carrion, from mors death] Chambers, 1998

I wonder if there's also a word that specifies "an animal that died of natural causes" or "an animal that died under suspicious circumstances"? Was it the rabbit, in the hedgerow, with the revolver?

rodomontade

I really like this word, the way it rolls off the tongue:

rodomontade n extravagant boasting vi to bluster or brag [Origin from the boasting of Rodomonte in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso] Chambers, 1998

It's another word originating from a work of creative writing, like mumpsimus, and actually I think the two of them make a nice pair: "Have you heard Bob's latest rodomontade?" "Oh, he's just an old mumpsimus" etc.

As to the word's origins, Ariosto was an Italian poet who wrote the romantic epic poem Orlando Furioso in c.1513. Rodomonte is a boastful warrior who joins forces with the King of Africa to overrun Europe. They besiege the Emperor Charlemagne in Paris, but the bulk of the action takes place all over the world in a fantastical love story that even takes a detour to the moon.

"And boastful Rodomont, with vengeful doom,
Gives Paris to the flames, and levels Rome."

(original Italian)
"e Rodomonte audace se gli vanta
arder Parigi e spianar Roma santa."

[from Canto 65, taken from Project Gutenberg]

It's perhaps needless to say that things don't go too well for old Rodomonte. He's cruel, haughty and scornful and the poem ends with his death. Beware boasters: don't get cocky.

spoffish

Time for a quickie. This sounds like something from the Beano or perhaps Harry Potter:

spoffish (archaic) adj fussy, officious [Origin obscure] Chambers, 1998

I love it when even the dictionaries don't know the origin of a word. Where did spoffish come from, I wonder?

irenic

I feel rather sad that I've never heard this word before, not only because it must surely be in fairly common usage, but because it has such a lovely meaning:

irenic or irenical adj tending to create peace; pacific [From Greek eirene peace] Chambers, 1998

There are a few derivatives. Irenology is the study of peace and irenics is a branch of theology that promotes peace between Christian churches. Perhaps it's not used very often because of a perceived limitation due to the link with Christianity rather than multiple religions? Or perhaps it gets used lots and I've just been spending too much time watching The Wire to listen out for peaceful words.

mumpsimus

Only two days in and I've already used two F-words. Hmm. Should I be using some kind of system? Should each letter of the alphabet be proportionally represented? Maybe I should focus on words that will help me win at scrabble? Oh well, I'll worry about that tomorrow. Today's dictionary browsing has already yielded the delightful "mumpsimus":

mumpsimus n a view or opinion stubbornly held, even when shown to be misguided; a person holding such a view, or one adhering stubbornly to old ways. [Origin from an ignorant priest's blunder (in an old story) for the Latin word sumpsimus, we have received, in the mass] Chambers, 1998

The only reason this word exists is because a priest said the word wrong in mass. That's already brilliant, but particularly so because it wasn't even in real life - it was a fictional priest in a story. Also, I love the definition. It implies that when everyone pointed out his mistake he just put his fingers in his ears, sang "la laa laa" loudly and pretended he'd meant to say it that way all along.

I also like the fact that it can describe the opinion as well as the person. So it could be either "There's no shaking that Louis Walsh from his mumpsimus" or "There's no shaking that mumpsimus, Louis Walsh". I can already think of twenty places on the internet where this word is going to come in very handy.

floccillation

I heard the word "flocculent" at a reading last night and decided to look it up to make sure it means what I think it means. I'm guessing some sort of adjective characterised by the ability to flock?

flocculent adj woolly; flaky; flocculated Chambers, 1998

Okay, and so "flocculated" means?

flocculate vt and vi to collect or mass together in tufts, flakes or cloudy masses Chambers, 1998

They're both derivatives listed under the main entry for "floccus":

floccus n a tuft of woolly hair; a tuft, esp at the end of a tail; the covering of unfledged birds [From Latin floccus a lock or trifle] Chambers, 1998

There are some more fantastic derivatives listed there though. My two favourites are:

floccillation n fitful plucking at the bedclothes by a delirious patient Chambers, 1998

floccinaucinihilipilification n (facetious) setting at little or no value Chambers, 1998

I keep giggling in the middle of the second one, so instead today I'm going to learn "floccillation" (pronounced flock-sill-ation). I'm imagining a sentence along the lines of "Hastings' description of the poor woman's floccillation meant that Poirot was immediately able to identify the poison used". Of course it's unlikely to come up every day, but then again I do watch an awful lot of Poirot.

flamfew

Okay, first day. I'm already paranoid that I'm going to choose words that everyone else already knows, so the first one had better be good. I'm flicking through a 2,000-page 1998 Chambers dictionary that I have to hand, although I'm thinking that it's no longer very NEW, as proudly proclaimed on the cover. May have to rectify this over the next 100 days.

So, after flipping through the left-hand pages of the dictionary (must remember to favour the right-hand next time), I've decided to pick the word "flamfew". It's already marked as obsolete and it only prompts around 2,000 hits from google, which makes it a perfect word to learn and try to resurrect. Here's the definition:

flamfew n a fantastic trifle or gewgaw. [From French fanfelue] Chambers, 1998

Three problems. Problem One: do they mean "a fantastic trifle or a fantastic gewgaw" or do they mean "a fantastic trifle OR a gewgaw", implying that flamfew is just another word for gewgaw? Problem Two: Is a trifle meant to be something of little value or is it a spongy cake with fruit and custard? Problem Three: What on earth is a gewgaw? Blimey. Looks like I'm going to get two new words for the price of one today.

gewgaw n a toy; a trifling object, a bauble. adj showy without value. [Origin unknown] Chambers, 1998

Not a truly fantastic trifle cake then.

Gewgaw rhymes with "queue-gore" and flamfew is just as it looks. So, a flamfew is basically the same as a gewgaw, only a bit more whimsical or fanciful. Picture it as the difference between a nodding dog on a car dashboard (gewgaw) and a nodding dog on the dashboard of a unicorn-drawn Mini Cooper (flamfew).

More tomorrow. In the meantime I'm going to try and spot as many flamfews as I can and point them out to people.