There are many among you, dear readers, who are already aware of the oeuvres of Daphne Wayne-Bough. If not, then why not pay a visit to possibly the most stylish blog in Brussels? The reason for this outburst of bloggy philanthropism? Why, Daphne has provided a Word du Jour of her own for today’s dose of the intellectual version of a Vodka & Tonic. To say she needs no introduction would be a bit silly now I’ve written one, so I’ll settle for “here goes”:
NEW WORDS: TURPID
This word features more than once in Volume 3 of Philip Pullman’s « His Dark Materials ».
This word is not listed in my Collins English Dictionary which has every obscure word that Anthony Burgess ever flummoxed me with, although it was last updated 22 years old so perhaps I’m a bit out of touch. Dictionaries don’t last forever.
It sounds like it should be a cross between « turgid » and « torpid ».
TURGID
1. swollen and distended; congested
2. pompous and high-flown; bombastic (of language)
TORPID
1. apathetic, sluggish or lethargic
2. (of a hibernating animal) dormant; having greatly reduced metabolic activity
3. unable to move or feel
Neither does it feature in a number of online dictionaries, so officially it still does not exist.
However, WikiAnswers tells us that TURPID means:
base,wicked,disgraceful,shameless
and is obviously derived from the noun TURPITUDE meaning depravity.
It would seem logical that every noun should have an adjective derived from it, and the addition of « turpid » is simply the correction of a long overdue oversight. The power of the internet has now usurped that of the Magisterium, and Messrs Oxford, Collins, Webster et. al. must bow to people power. If a word doesn’t exist, we will simply invent it.
To succeed where Anthony Burgess failed – beating the dictionary – takes some doing.
Thanks for the information. I for one will be finding an excuse to drop it into conversation in the near future!
At first I assumed this was Daphne going all wierdplay.
Then I googled, and realised even Daphne would’t be devoius enough to plant fake articles all over the internet.
That’s not a typo – it’s an ancient South Yorkshire word meaning “evil and twisted”.
There’s another possible “ancestor” – turbid, meaning obscure or confused (of thought), cloudy or muddy (as in liquid). But it’s a wise word that knows its own father.
Ché: Well, one lives and learns! “Weirdplay”? That’d be a good name for a band!
Autolycus: I suppose that’s a root or branch of “turbulent”? I’ll need to check – as soon as they stop cracking the whip here.
Does Daphne really ‘oeuvre’?!! And I thought she was a lady.
Looking on the bright side – Scrumpy still can’t spell for shit…..
Used the word turpid this evening and it made entire sense to me – means lazing in the sun (metaphor) ie. turtle like, slow and satisfied with the here and now etc. (ie. not cottoned -on, a bit of a wallower, not sharp). As opposed to torpid, which means to me, full, lazy and inanimate because satieted.