~ Wondrous Words Wednesday ~

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermudaonion's Weblog where we share words we’ve encountered in our reading. Join in the fun and be sure to leave a link to your post over at Bermudaonion.  

Here are some of the words I came across while reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: 

 

This flag was removed & presented to a chieftain, who wore it proudly until the scrofula took him. 

Scrofula:   {origin: Middle English (1350-1400)}

~ primary tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands, especially those of the neck

( no longer in technical use ) Also formerly called: the king's evil  tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands

 

Autua subsisted in his Polynesian Eden on wild celery, watercress, eggs, berries, an occasional young boar (he risked fires only under cover of darkness or mist) & the knowledge that Kupaka, at least, had met a condign punishment. 

Condign:  {adj. (origin late Middle English (1375-1425)}

~ Well-deserved; fitting; adequate

 

 

Oh, we ate with Ayrs's daughter, too , the young equestrienne I'd glimpsed earlier. Mlle. Ayers is a horsey creature of seventeen with her mama's retroussé nose.

Retroussé: (adj.) (French)

~ (especially of the nose) turned up

 

This Oriental rug, battered divan, Breton cupboards crammed with music stands,   Bösendorfer grand, carillon, all witnessed the conception and birth of Matryoshka Doll Variations and his song cycle, Society Islands. 

Carillon: (noun) (French)

1. a set of stationary bells hung in a tower and sounded by manual or pedal action, or by machinery.

2. a set of horizontal metal plates, struck by hammers, used in the modern orchestra.

 

After I’d finished, V.A. kept swinging his head to the rhythm of the disappeared sonata; or maybe he was conducting the blurry, swaying poplars. “Execrable, Frobisher, get out of my house this instant!” would have aggrieved but not much surprised me. 

Execrable: (adj.)

1. utterly detestable; abominable; abhorrent.

2. very bad: an execrable stage performance.