FREE BOOKS! That is what was scribbled on the piece of paper taped to one of the many boxes that sat on the benches in the lobby. The boxes were loaded – no, overloaded – with books. Textbooks and books about teaching, the school environment, various subjects, school psychology, child development, and so forth. But one little gem stuck out among all of them.
It was a “Concise Edition Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language.” What was even more amazing was the date of the book: a 1966 copyright! The year I was born! Obviously, this was meant for me. Waiting for me. Out of the stack it came, and into my loving arms it went.
I love dictionaries. Especially the old ones. In fact, those are the only kind I have. My first dictionary was a paperback. It was blue. When I was five or six, I remember laying on my belly in the corner of our dining room with the Sunday New York Times and the funnies section with my dictionary, looking up words I didn’t know. Each word I looked up inevitably led to me looking up another word I didn’t understand. I used that dictionary so much that the cover crumbled, and my Dad fixed it by taping it together with some sort of yellow tape. It looked like yellow electric tape, but much wider. I used that dictionary through elementary, middle and high school.
On Valentine’s Day 1984, I was gifted another dictionary by my Dad. It was a slim pocket dictionary, much smaller in size than my first paper
back, but it was the perfect size to carry with me to school and then when I began college. Back in my day, college was in the classroom, tests were given in bluebooks, and term papers were typed (sometimes several times) on a typewriter! It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I was able to save enough money to buy a computer. In those days, when you turned
the computer on, you got an amber or green colored C:\ That was it. And there certainly was no dictionary or internet! Thus, my dictionary(ies) (yes, I had several by then) continued to be my go to!
But, my eye was always on my sister’s dictionary. It was a hard cover and huge. The size of a boot box, she got it from our Mom and Dad in 1970, I used to sneak into her room and flip through the pages, treating it with the same care one would treat a Bible.
To me, a dictionary is a Bible of sorts. It’s a key to language and all of the words that construct that language. It enables us to READ the Bible and any other book around. When we don’t know a word, we go to the Dictionary and look up its meaning. When we don’t know how to spell a word, we go to the Dictionary and try to match the phonetic spelling in our minds.
I am proud to say that I’ve got my sister’s Dictionary. (Ssh! Don’t tell her! She might want it back!) When she went off to college, it was too large for her to lug with her, so it stayed behind. Ignored. Lonely. But I quickly remedied that. That sacred book of words has traveled with me through several degrees and in all of my moves – several apartments, a townhouse, a condo, a single wide trailer, a doublewide trailer, a 1920s Craftsman, and now my current home. It has its own designated spot on our home library shelf, right beside the little worn pocket dictionary from Dad.
Now this 1966 gem of a dictionary sits on my desk in my office. Daily, I pull it out and randomly flip to a page and find a word. It has all of the ‘old fashioned’ words, like farinaceous, mellifluous, and quaestor. You are not going to find words like blert, chillax, or coulrophobia, never mind ghosting, side hustle, LARP, and shrinkflation!
Of course, an actual paper and bound dictionary is rarely used these days. Sadly, even I–a dictionary aficionado–tend to Google words. The ease of a rapid response is just hard to exist!
So what is farinaceous?
My 1966 dictionary says:
“1. Consisting of or made from flour or meal. 2. Mealy. 3. Starchy.
According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/farinaceous:
Farinaceous, adjective - far·i·na·ceous ˌfer-ə-ˈnā-shəs
1: having a mealy texture or surface
2: containing or rich in starch
Mellifluous?
1966 says:
“flowing sweetly and smoothly; honeyed; said of words, sounds, etc.”
Merriam-Webster online?
Mellifluous, adjective - mel·lif·lu·ous me-ˈli-flə-wəs mə-
1: having a smooth rich flow, a mellifluous voice
2: filled with something (such as honey) that sweetens, mellifluous confections
Quaestor?
1966 says:
“in ancient Rome, 1. Originally a judge in certain criminal cases. 2. Later, any of certain state treasurers.
Merriam-Webster online says:
one of numerous ancient Roman officials concerned chiefly with financial administration
As for the newer words? Check them out at:https://www.merriam-webster.com/ or watch for them on Facebook with my WORD for TODAY!
Keep reading, people!
Gera
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