Monday, July 11, 2011

verdant



verdant [ˈvɜrdnt] a.

1.) Covered with growing plants or grass; green; fresh; flourishing; as, verdant fields; a verdant lawn.
2.) Unripe in knowledge or judgment; unsophisticated; raw; green; as, a verdant youth (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary).

Etymology: French verdoyant, from Old French, present participle of verdoyer, to become green, from Vulgar Latin viridiare, from Latin viridis.

"And as migrating birds, nation by nation,
wild geese and arrow-throated cranes and swans
over Asia's meadowland and marshes
around the streams of Kaystrios, with giant
fight and glorying wings keep beating down
in tumult on that verdant land
that echoes to their pinions, even so,
nation by nation, from the ships and huts,
this host debouched upon Skamander plain" (The Iliad by Homer, Robert Fitzgerald, 1974).

(The Voyage of Life: Youth, Thomas Cole, 1840)
____________________________________________________

This week's honors in the "Climbing the Mountain" challenge go to D4. He wrote:
"Why aren't you exercising your nous, Bruce." Said Alfred, "You've been in desuetude lately, the death of Selina Kyle is germane to this, I'm sure." To which Batman responded: "I will not face your obloquy right now, Alfred. I'm effete, please leave me alone."
Some of the words seem a little crow-barred in (especially "desuetude"), but well done, I like the Batman theme. The words this week are (five of) emulous, propitiatory, prima facie, lineament, hermetic, violon d'Ingres, and weltschmerz. Good luck and thanks for reading!

29 comments:

Melanie said...

So essentially how I wish my yard looked!

Drake Sigar said...

I like this one, easy to remember, easy to say.

D4 said...

They WERE crow-barred in. It was difficult not to, for me. But you can't really lose with Batman on your side, can you?

DEZMOND said...

a beautiful word with a beautiful meaning (the first one :)

Anonymous said...

My ability to form a sentence with the words you choose to blog about often renders me verdant. I don't even know if that's the correct use of the word.

Jenny Woolf said...

Are you familiar with Mr. Verdant Green? He's a naive undergraduate at Christ Church Oxford, and the book was very popular in the 19th century. The meaning of "Verdant" is of course your second one.

Daily Car Reviews said...

Wow absolutely great!
love this artwork!
+1

Bart said...

my backyard is verdant. is that rite?

Unknown said...

I only know this one from fantasy novels

Mai Yang said...

everything you write here is fantastic :D

Shaw said...

If I had to guess, I would have that verdant had something to do with green.

Zombie said...

I can actually pronounce this one! lol.

MRanthrope said...

props for the geeky Batman tie-ins.

Lydia Kang said...

I love this word. One of the local agricultural societies uses it in their radio promos: "Working towards a more just, verdant world." I love that.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Bravo, D4. Well done!

Unknown said...

I like this word. It conjures images of lush fields and the works of the romantic poets.

And congrats to D4 - that is a brilliant sentence.

The Onion Gypsy said...

brilliant!

Unknown said...

Love the bottom pic. Awesome post and thanks for the word.

dwizzt said...

Verdant. That's how my mind is right now. *grins*

+follow

Once Upon A Time... said...

re your comment: just found it randomly on google...

never heard of this word! thanks for sharing!

jos xx

Anonymous said...

Love that Thomas Cole painting. Also love the Batman theme. :-) Very clever.

shari said...

That's one I've heard of and used... many times. For nature lovers, it's part of the vocab.

The lush, verdant woods were alight with a plethora of fireflies rising up like embers from a just-banked fire.

Shahan said...

Wow, a word of the day I actually know for once, love it.

shari said...

I'd like to submit something for the challenge... do you have an email to send to? Or do I just post it in the comments?

Chain said...

Verdant.. yeah.. almost like cheese

Mr. Cactus said...

Congrats D4 good choice with Batman and Alfred.

T. Banacek said...

Knowing a little French helped out on this one.

Marian said...

i could've guessed that it has something to do with green

i said...

I love this word! Reminds me of "verde", green in Spanish, a very appropriate similarity.

Post a Comment