thersitical

ther•sit•i•cal (ther-SIT-i-kuhl)  adj

Definition:
scurrilous; foulmouthed; grossly abusive

Origin:
1640–50; after Thersites, in the Iliad, an ugly, loud, abusive Greek soldier in the Trojan War, L < Gr Thersite-s < dial. (Lesbian) thersos, boldness

Related:
Synonyms: scurrilous, foul-mouthed, caustic, abusive


Sentence Examples:
• "Richard Taruskin, the meticulous scholar I first met eight years ago and through correspondence came to know and like, has lately turned into a sloppy, thersitical journalist, more judgemental than Dr. Johnson." -The danger of music: and other anti-utopian essays, Richard Taruskin, 2009

• And first, it may be said, there is a pelting kind of thersitical satire, as black as the very ink ’tis wrote with——(and by the bye, whoever says so, is indebted to the muster-master general of the Grecian army, for suffering the name of so ugly and foul-mouth’d a man as Thersites to continue upon his roll——for it has furnish’d him with an epithet)——in these productions he will urge, all the personal washings and scrubbings upon earth do a sinking genius no sort of good——but just the contrary, inasmuch as the dirtier the fellow is, the better generally he succeeds in it. -The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne

• It seemed to bear a thersitical message of malevolence and intent to harm. Why this self-appointed friend, mere acquaintance to him, should resort to such disquieting shenanigans, manifested by ominous mimicry and threatening contortions, Fuchs could not imagine. -Twelve O'Clock Sharp, Michael Eisele, 2006

The Storyline
... which was pierced by a theristical tirade, from the man Anna had just helped, regarding the insufficiency of the assistance.

Why This Word:

Here was the situation in the Iliad. Agamemnon, the lord of men, tried to test the mettle of the Greek troops by urging them to retreat home. After Agamemnon's speech, Thersites arose and railed at the leader. He is described as a bandy-legged, homely hunchback with one club foot and clumps of scraggly hair. He does not conceal his absolute scorn for the leader whom he accuses of taking all the best spoils of war from men (i.e., Achilles) who are superior to him. Odysseus then arises and beats Thersites into silence.

It always seemed strange to me that Thersites/thersitical dropped out of the language, though the OED has attests its use once in the 20th century. After all, reference to Stentor's magnificent voice, mentioned in Book V of the Iliad, bequeathed the adjective "stentorian" to us, so that one often hears reference to the stentorian voice of House doorkeeper who intones, "Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States." Thersites appears in Book II of the Iliad, arguably before one can get too bored to lay down the book. And, to top it off, his abuse of Agamemnon before the assembled troops makes him a much more memorable creature than Stentor. Nevertheless, he has been lexically short-shrifted.

Sources: Dictionary.com, Dr Bill Long

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

quodlibet

quod•li•bet (KWOD-luh-bet)  n

Definition:
1. a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts
2. a philosophical or theological point proposed for disputation; also : a disputation on such a point

Origin:
1350–1400;  Middle English, from Medieval Latin quodlibetum, from Latin quodlibet, neuter of quilibet any whatever, from qui who, what + libet it pleases, from libe-re to please

Sentence Examples:
• As you may know, Marcy Weckler has made several fine contributions in the WLP choral catalogue. Here, she has created an interesting quodlibet making clever use of the treasured hymns "Were You There" and "Amazing Grace."
• The most rousing quodlibet was one whose three simultaneous lines began: "Blue moon. You saw me standing alone." "Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly." "Sh-boom, sh-boom. Ya-da-da-da da-da-da da-da-da."
• Yet all of this gives us at least a contextual basis for assuming that when Tinctoris quoted in his quodlibet a famous work that was then ascribed to Dunstable, along with 'L'Homme arme' as tenor, he may in effect have been using or have invented an illustration of he quodlibet principle that would reflect in microcosm the affinity between the earlier.

The Storyline
As she rummaged in her purse for some change, the music from her earphones, from a passing car and the sounds of the city formed an odd quodlibet in her ear.

Why This Word:

What a shift of meaning this humble if slightly exotic term has undergone. Though the first sense has fallen out of day-to-day use, it is usually given in dictionaries because philosophers at times have cause to refer to some medieval quodlibet.

These disputations, often on subtle points of logic or religious doctrine, were frequently exercises or improvised oral examinations for students, in the same spirit as moots (mock court cases) are for the legal fraternity. This may be why this Latin word was given to them, as it derives from quod, what, plus libet, it pleases, so roughly “what pleases you” or “as you like”. It seems to have had much the same idea behind it as the modern hand-waving whatever — argue away, the word seems to be saying, the result is of little consequence.

How it got from philosophy to music is intriguing, not least because it didn’t happen in English. In the late Middle Ages in Germany, quodlibet started to be applied to type of humour that featured daft lists of items loosely combined under an absurd theme — one example was objects forgotten by women fleeing from a harem. Something similar happened in France, where a quodlibet became a witty riddle — even today, avoir de quolibet means to produce clever repartee on demand.

The German idea of the humorous conglomeration was first applied to a musical composition by Wolfgang Schmeltzl in 1544 and the name later became the usual term in that language for facetious combinations of tunes haphazardly combined. Famous examples exist in works by Bach and Mozart in the eighteenth century. In this connection it certainly lives up to the idea behind the Latin word, since the aim is to produce a humorous amalgam of tunes to please the audience.

While the disputational sense is recorded in English from the twelfth century, the musical one only appears in 1845 and was clearly borrowed from German.

Sources: Merriam-Webster, World Wide Words

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

edentulous

e•den•tu•lous (ee-DEN-chuh-luhs)  adj

Definition:
having no teeth; toothless

edentulism noun

Origin:
1775–85; from Latin dentulus : -, ex- +  dent-, tooth

Related:
Synonyms: toothless
Related Words: dentist, denture, indent

Sentence Examples:
• Atkinson exhibited in Philadelphia a man of forty who never had any distinct growth of hair since birth, was edentulous, and destitute of the sense of smell and almost of that of taste. He had no apparent perspiration, and when working actively he was obliged to wet his clothes in order to moderate the heat of his body. -Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, George M. Gould

• The condition may only affect a few teeth, or it may spread to them all, in which case the patient may in the course of some years become edentulous. -Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities--Head--Neck, Alexander Miles

The Storyline
And then, when at last she was out the door of her apartment building, she breathed in the fresh air, only to catch a whiff of the sickly and edentulous homeless man that sometimes sits near the entrance, hoping for some spare change from passing strangers.

Why This Word:
This is the medical establishment's word for toothless, meaning and used in the same way.

Sources: Free Dictionary

Word-E: A Word-A-Day