Thursday, June 9, 2011
consanguinity
consanguinity [ˌkɒnsæŋˈgwɪnɪti] n.
1.) The condition of being of the same blood; relationship by descent from a common ancestor; blood-relationship. (Opposed to affinity, i.e. relationship by marriage.)
2.) [Fig.] Oneness of nature; relationship, affinity (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd Ed.).
Etymology: From Latin consanguineus : con-, variation of com-, with + sanguineus, of blood.
"When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress tells me gravely, 'They do not make them so now,' not emphasizing the 'They' at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so rash. When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; and, finally, I am inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more emphasis of the 'they''It is true, they did not make them so recently, but they do now'" (Walden, Henry David Thoreau, 1854).
39 comments:
Never heard of this one before!
This is a familiar word to lawyers because the degrees of consanguinity determine who may legally marry each other. Not a terribly burning issue anymore, but still.
awesome new word!
that's not easy to pronounce, but sounds interesting. Not sure we need it in the form of a noun in everyday speech.
first time i hear it!
If you go back far enough, don't we all share the same blood?
I do like to use the word "sanguine", so this just ups my game!
I knew it had to be about blood... sanguine. Sangre. Makes sense. I love knowing some root words. Helps with figuring out meanings of other words. Well, Latin roots, I suppose, are the only ones I'm somewhat familiar with.
I love the word sanguine, so this just tickles me pink. :D
I need to reread Walden.
thats awesome. never knew that, now i know
yes, i have to admit it - i took your advice and changed my sub title. I had to look out for the word "poignant" - you english people, have far toooo many words! I liked the meaning, so you should consider yourself "lucky" that you've contributed to my blog. somehow.
glad to hear that finally you will be focusing more on my stories. it would be great to hear some of your thoughts about them - and not simply grammatical corrections.
with regards to this word - it's so easy to pronounce, does it have italian origins? It resembles so much to our language (semitic-italian)...
jos xx
I love being able to guess at a word's meaning before reading the definition, because of breaking parts down. I knew right away it was going to be something "together" (con) and "blood" (sanguin). Interesting choice of words today!
This is way better than Merriam-Webster word-of-the-day emails!
friends are not consanguineous brothers.
wow, great
A big word that lol. The Victorian snobbery would have loved a word like this.
I'd get looked at like a satanist if i used this word
nice definition
I'm never sure whether to feel dumb that I've never heard of these words before or enlightened that I'm leanring a new word. I'm going to go with enlightened!! ;) Thanks for making me smarter!
I should totally use this to refer to my family~
Hm. This seems somewhat familiar - possibly due to some horrendous readings I did through my first year at uni. I like it better now.
Makes sense...in Spanish, blood is sangre and that's what sounds similar to the word, consanguinity
I think I'm gonna start calling everyone in my family this, haha.
Now it makes sense. Thanks.
cool word. i dont know any ancestors in my family though haha
I boycott the word sanguine in all of its forms, purely because of my prejudice against shitty vampire novels. It's good to have you back!
Great post here as always.
that's pretty weird, couldn't you just say ancestor?
Consanguinity, haha I'm going to blow peoples minds with this word!
it was very common to exist consanguinity in monarchy times; today in small villages/tribes also can happen.
when nieces have their uncles' sons and cousins with cousins and so on.. :// yew
gump sat alone on a bench...
nice, one more hard word for me to use :)
i´ve never heard of that word before D:
cool blog you got here
nice, i always mix this word up with congeniality which definitely isn't the same thing :p
Great word, I feel that being blood related is somehow overrated.
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I really like this blog's mission statement. I, too, feel that some words are underused in everyday life. Then again there are words that aren't all that useful but are interesting to know. Off the top of my head I'd say 'psithurism' is one of them. (It means, "the rustling sound of leaves")
I knew this one.
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