The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their OriginsTo untangle the knot of interlocking meanings of these painted words, logophile and mythologist Phil Cousineau begins each fascinating word entry with his own brief definition. He then fills it in with a tint of etymology and a smattering of quotes that show how the word is used, ending with a list of companion words. The words themselves range from commonplace — like biscuit, a twice-baked cake for Roman soldiers — to loanwords including chaparral, from the Basque shepherds who came to the American West; words from myths, such as hector; metamorphosis words, like silly, which evolved holy to goofy in a mere thousand years; and words well worthy of revival, such as carrytale, a wandering storyteller. Whether old-fangled or brand new, all the words included in The Painted Word possess an ineffable quality that makes them luminous. |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century actor American ancient backstory ball baseball beauty became blue café called color comes Companion words include dating back defines derives describe Dictionary drink Dutch early echo etymology expression favorite fear figurative film Gaelic geniza German GONGOOZLE Greek H. L. Mencken humorous immortal inspired Ireland Irish Italian jolie laide language late later Latin legend linguistic literally live look meaning medieval MESHUGGAH metaphor Middle English Middle French modern movie noun novelist Old English Old French Old Norse one’s origins Painted Word painter Paris parkour person Phil Cousineau phrases include play poet poetry recorded referred reflection reveals Roman roots running Scottish secret sense ships Skeat slang someone song soul sound speak sport STEAMPUNK story strange suggests synesthesia talk term thing throw toast town verb Vladimir Nabokov wonder Wordcatcher words and phrases writes wrote YIDDISH