Wednesday Words

I don't have any new words this week. Instead, I'll share some excerpts from the chapter "All About Words in the book Classics in the Classrooom by Carol Jago. I love reading about this stuff, and Jago's writting keeps me interested.

"Children who read build huge vocabularies from immersion in the world of language. They aren't consciously trying to learn new words; it just happens. Those for whom reading is a trial avoid books.As a result they learn many fewer words per day, per week, per year than their reading peers. By the time they are handed a copy of Great Expectations in ninth grade...many students are familiar with fewer than 80 percent of the words in Dickens' novel. Vocabulary experts tell us that for reasonable reading comprehension a student needs to know 90-95 percent of the words."

"We can only reasonably teach about 300-400 words per year through direct instruction. What teachers can do is help students develop habits of mind for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary. Children making good progress as readers add between 3,000 and 5,000 new words to their vocabulary per year through incidental exposure....[T]he children who are the furthest behind in vocabulary development are also the one adding the fewest words per year....Learning 400 carefully targeted words can improve comprehension significantly."

"...[F]or vocabulary instruction to make a difference, it must be productive. That is, it must involve teaching a target set of words that generates knowledge of a much larger set of words. [Recommended are:]

❧ teaching prefixes, suffixes, and roots;

❧ teaching students to derive meaning from context; and

❧ teaching words as part of semantic groupings."

Jago goes on to explain that she gives out bookmarks on which students are to list unfamiliar words with page numbers as they read. This has been a technique I've only recently started using myself. The only difference with me is that I do not record the page number, I record the meaning.

So I devised a template of bookmarks that I plan to use this year. A new bookmark for each new book. And I plan to save all the bookmarks as the students finish until the end of school. And each day, I plan to have the students add the new words they have recorded on their bookmarks to a word wall for the selected book. If they are like me, keeping new words before you is a necessity to familiarity.

I've added a picture below of the bookmark template. If you open the picture in a separate window, then cut and paste it into PowerPoint, you might be able to use it. If that doesn't work and you do not want to design your own, leave a comment and I'll e-mail you one.

Wednesday Words

rachitic - rickety.

pelican - a Christian symbol of charity and the Resurrection used by many of the great Christian medievalists.

Aquinas (where I came across the word) wrote of Christ as "our Pelican" and the "Pelican of mercy," Augustine used the Pelican metaphor to refer to the Resurrection, and Dante refers to Christ as "our Pelican" in his Divine Comedy' s "Paridiso." For some interesting information about the Christian metaphor pelican, see here and here. This could make an interested children's lesson.
pulviscular - fine dust. I met pulviscular in one of those roundabout ways while reading Classics in the Classroom by Carol Jago (which has occasioned a post of its own). The word occurs in a quote from Why Read the Classics? "A classic is a work which constantly generates a pulviscular cloud of critical discourse around it, but which always shakes the particles off." I looked up pulviscular only to find it is not in any dictionary I have or in any online dictionary. Did I misspell it when I wrote it down? No. So how do you find out about a word not in the dictionary? Google! Yes, I found it has only 48 Google entries, most referring to this very quote. According to Martha Barnette, Calvino's translator may have invented the word.

Wednesday Words

vituperative - to revile harshly; scathing.

obsequy - a funeral. This word is interestingly related to obsequious which means obedient or dutiful. Does "obedient until death" come to your mind? (Phillipians 2:8)

oxter - Scottish for armpit. I came across this in Country Days (Taylor), "I was up to my oxters in....". I'll about guarantee that if you use oxters instead of armpits next time, heads will turn.

contemn - to treat with contempt; from the Latin "temnere," to despise. Though the spelling and pronunciation are similar, I don't think I've come across contemn before.

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I am about a month behind in reading from The Intellectual Devotional.
So today I opened it to where I'd left off, and the day's selection was on Raphael.Raphael painted his School of Athens in 1508, a fresco and commissioned bythe pope, as the philosophy installment of four frescoes on the major disciplines (theology, poetry, philosophy, and law).

It is one of my favorite illustrations. I love how Raphael incorporated so many of the ancient Greeks in the fresco. I would love to find a book or extended article detailing the characters featured.









This is a detail at the very heart of the painting. Plato is represented on the left with his finger pointing up "to indicate his interest in abstract, ethereal concepts" and Aristotle is on the right with his hand palm facing down to indicate "his preference for concrete subjects and worldly affairs." (from pg. 122, The Intellectual Devotional)

Wednesday Words

seriatim - in a series; one after the other. From Latin for "row" or "chain." Formed from the same model as verbatim (word for word) and literatim (letter for letter).

solecism - nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; a breach of good manners; a mistake. From the Latin soloecismus for "speaking incorrectly." Literally, an inhabitant of Soloi, a city in ancient Cilicia where a dialect regarded as substandard was spoken.

lubricious - lewd; lustful; having a smooth, slippery quality. From the Latin lubricus meaning slippery, smooth. Obvious derivations are lubricate and lubricant. When studying rocks in geology, lubricity is one of the defining characteristics, particularly of graphite.

Wednesday Words

...a day late.

deipnosophist - someone skilled at table talk

jeremiad - a tale of sorrow, disappointment or complaint; derived from the French jeremiade after Jeremiah the prophet

bijouteie - a collection of trinkets or ornaments

grouse - (the verb, not the noun) to grumble, complain


..................................

Today, I go to Toastmasters, and although I am scheduled to be vote counter today, not grammarian, I will ask to be the host of the word-of-the-day, a job of the grammarian. And guess what word I will share? Deipnosophist, someone skilled at table talk.

At every Toastmasters meeting, we have Table Topics in which an assigned person asks three people to answer a question about the topic of the day. Last week the topic was seafood. I am not good at extemporaneous speaking. At all. I think better when I am at the computer typing. But last week, I won Table Topics with my little story of an experience my sister and I had eating seafood, langoustines, to be exact, at the beach. It was a hilarious event at which we still get so tickled we cannot speak for laughing. I would like to get more adept at communicating off the top of my head--one reason for going to Toastmasters.

So today I will share my new-found word, deipnosophist. (FYI, it is pronounced dipe-NOS-uh-fist.) Since we also have a word card visible during Toastmasters, I typed and printed this on cardstock and have had it sitting on my desk all week to take to the meeting. Because I have seen the word several times a day and cannot help but say the word when I see it (it has an interesting feel in the mouth) , the word has worked its way into my usage a bit easier. I think keeping it visible is the key. MagistraMater Carol mentioned this earlier about sticky notes in various places with new words. It does help!

Wednesday Words

nimiety - the state of being too much; excess.

fugacious - fleeting; lasting but a short time; from the Latin fugax meaning "ready to flee;" derivations are fugitive, refuge, and fugue which literally means "a musical flight."

celerity - rapidity of motion or action; quickness; from the Latin celer, "swift" and related to the word accelerate.

polymath - a person of great or varied learning; one acquainted with various subjects of study.


Are you a polymath? I have felt like a polymath this week: Monday, I subbed in English; Tuesday, Earth Science and English; today, math; and Friday, criminal justice (of all things!).

Wednesday Words

interlocutory – of the nature of, pertaining to, or occurring in conversation; according to Cotton Mather, an interlocutory way of teaching is what we call catechizing.

phantasmagoria – a display of optical effects and illusions; a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined.

ménage – a household, housekeeping.
hagiography – biography of saints or venerated persons.

lieutenant – a person who takes the place of another.


Now before you think I'm off my rocker because I have lieutenant listed as a new vocabulary word to me, bear with this explanation. True, I've heard, read, and used the word lieutenant before. But always in association with a military rank, and I've always had trouble spelling it. It has always seemed so foreign. I've never thought about it before, but it is foreign!

As I read this word today in John Donne's "Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward," Donne writes

"Who sees God's face, that is self life, must die;
What a death were it then to see God die?
It made his own lieutenant nature, shrink;
It made his footstool crack, and the sun wink."

And then the footnote:

"The word lieutenant is formed from two Old French words: lieu, which means "place," and tenant, which mean "hold." A lieutenant is a placeholder, that is, a person who takes the place of another."

As I read this explanation, I realized all at once, Why, yeah. I see now what combined had been obscure but separate, clear. Lieu and tenant. It makes perfect sense now. I even can spell it correctly now.

I just love it when the obscure becomes clear. Even when it is so simple.

Wednesday Words

I found the missing vocabulary card laying on top of the dryer. In my haste and absentmindedness, I must have laid it down to move clothes from the washer to the dryer.

I have realized that I have made no notation as to where my new words came from. Some I remember, but most I do not. So, while I will still keep new words under the month I find them, I will also note where I found them. One way I'm doing this is to use an index card as a bookmarker which also serves a that book's new vocabulary.
fatuous – foolish, silly, inane

aseity – to have being or existence within oneself

pejorative – having negative connotations

desultory – marked by the lack of definite plan or purpose; not connected with the main subject

sfumato – in painting, the blending of one tone into another to create soft, hazy outlines; from the Italian for "to evaporate"

One of my ongoing struggles is to incorporate new words into my writing and speech. This week I will try diligently to use fatuous and pejorative this week.

What are your new words this week?

Wednesday Words

My large index card containing all the new words that I've come across since January 1 is missing.

I've searched high and low, up and under, inside and out, over and beyond, and still, there is no card filled with words and definitions. I suspect it is hiding between two pages of a book I've not thought of yet. So, Wednesday Words will become Wednesday's Word today.

Hopefully, my treasured card will appear before next Wednesday. I'll have to start a new one tonight.

Today's one word is interesting to me. Not the definition or the spelling, but the derivation.

pedigree — a genealogical chart

Pedigree is derived from the French pied de gru meaning a crane's foot.

Look at the picture. Get it?
The diagram lines of a pedigree looks like a crane's foot.

Interesting, huh?

Wednesday Words

If you remember a little while ago, I told you that I began keeping track (well, sorta) of new vocabulary words that I run across in my reading. This past weekend I decided I would try to post a few every Wednesday as Wednesday Words.

Carol at MagistraMater has really taken off with these vocabulary words! Carol has just posted her recently accumulated list. I love to see words that are new to others just like I love to see what books others are reading.

The Story behind these Words
I started reading Drums, one of my chosen Spring Reading Challenge books, in February. The reason I wanted to read it was because David McCullough said in The Course of Human Events that reading Drums in school began to create a love of history in him. So, I had to read it! (If you've not heard the audio The Course of Human Events, you must! Hearing McCullough audibly relate his story is worth the cost of the CD. If you really don't want to spring for it, a transcript of the address is available here. Just try to imagine McCullough's voice speaking the words as you read.)

My copy of Drums alerts me that it is a Scribner School Paperback making me think it is one of those watered-down, weak school books similar to those that were common back in the '60s. I flipped to the back (that's how I start a new book--at the back; I'll blog about how I begin new books one day) to find a hefty "study guide." This study guide, though, is unlike any I've encountered in "school" issue books. Then I notice that the original copyright date is 1925. Well, it might be better than I thought.

And yes, it was much better than I thought, despite the fact that it took be forever to read its 400+ pages. I could not stay awake to read this book. Or any book. After one or two pages, the book promptly fell in my face as I dropped off to sleep. But, I finally finished it last week.

Remember I said this was a "School Paperback" book? And I expected watered-down writing? Well, there is nothing watered-down with this book. The vocabulary in Drums had me stretching my arm over to the opposite side of my nightstand to grab my handy-dandy electronic dictionary. I had to reach many times. At least before I fell asleep.

And here's why. Here are just a few of the standard words from this "School Paperback." Books aren't written like this anymore. Not for fifth or sixth grade. Or eleventh or twelfth grade for that matter.

caparison - horse accouterments; a decorative harness

objurgation - harsh criticism; rebuke

salubrious - healthy

phrenetic - frenzied

lugubrious - mournful

slattern - untidy

pusillanimous - cowardly (I love saying that word pusillanimous!)

raconteur - a person who excels in telling anecdotes

diseuse - a woman who is a skilled reciter

tocsin - a warning signal

truculent - harsh, contentious

(I have to admit that I stopped keeping up with the new vocabulary after the first 125 pages because there were just so many words I didn't know. These above words came within those first pages.)

How the depth of school material has changed.

Winter Reading Vocabulary

I decided to jot down each new word (and a short definition) that I came across in my reading during the Winter Reading Challenge. [Addendum: Rather than keep bulky dictionaries in all my reading spots around the house, I have a Franklin Electronic Dictionary (that speaks!) beside my morning reading spot. Because this dictionary is so handy and easy to use, I look up more words than I would if I had to drag out a print dictionary. This tool has been so useful that I bought another one recently for my nightstand.]

This would be my only hope of adding new vocabulary to my old, tired mind. Maybe, I thought, if its written down and I look at it often enough, it might just make its way to my mouth in usage. If not, at least I would be more familiar with the word than I am now.

Then I decided this might be a good exercise to encourage others to do. I use a large 5 x 7 inch index card. It is stiff enough to hold up over the year that I will use it.

Here are the words I've accumulated so far during this year's reading:

periphrasis — use of longer phrasing in place of a shorter form of expression

prolix — unduly prolonged or drawn out; wordy

redactor — editor

redact — to put into writing

vitiate — to make ineffective, impure, corrupt, faulty

gnomon — the pin of a sundial

cetology — the science of whales

vacuity — emptiness

perfidious — dishonest; faithless

gam — a school of whales

penultimate — next to the last (like a chapter in a book)

nociception — the perception of pain

nefarious — wicked

provenance — origin;, source

transmogrify — to alter greatly

modicum — a bit; tiniest amount

instantiation — a philosophical term describing the relation between a substance and a property

diddle — to cheat

noumenon — a fixed object or event as it appears in itself independent of perception by the senses

My memory is so poor now that when I next read or hear one of these words, it will "ring a bell," but the bell will have to ring many times before the door of my mouth opens to use the word easily.

How do you learn and use new vocabulary?