Vocabulary List 14
HOW TO TALK ABOUT A VARIETY OF PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
SESSIONS 45-46
What word, ending in –ous, describes someone who is:
1. obsequious
2. querulous
3. supercilious
4. obstreperous
5. impecunious
6. chivalrous
7. innocuous
8. bibulous
9. cadaverous
10. dolorous
SESSION 45
There are thousands of English words that end in the letters –ous—a Latin suffix meaning full of.
The central theme about which the words in this chapter revolve is the idea of “fullness”—and as you will shortly see, you can be full of compliance and servility; full of compliments; full of snobbery; full of noise; full of no money; full of horsemanship; full of harmlessness; full of liquor; full of deathly pallor; and full of sorrows.
IDEAS
1. compliance
The Latin root sequor means to follow—and
those who follow rather than lead are usually in a menial, subordinate, or
inferior position. People who engage in
certain fields of endeavour—waiters, clerks, and servants, for example—are
forced, often contrary to their natural temperaments, to act excessively
courteous, pleasant, obliging, even subservient and humble. They must follow the lead of their customers
or employers, bending their own sills according to the desires of those they
serve. They are, etymologically,
full of following after, or—obsequious.
Related Words:
1. obsequies—In a funeral cortege, the mourners follow after the corpse.
Hence, obsequies are the
burial ceremonies, the funeral rites.
2. subsequent—A subsequent letter, paragraph, time, etc. is one that follows another.
3. sequel—A sequel may be a literary work, such as a novel, that follows another, continuing the same
subject, etc., or it may be an occurrence that grows out of or follows another.
4. sequence—In order, one item following another.
Any other words containing the root sequ-
is likely to have some sort of relationship to the idea of following.
2. complaints
The Latin root queror means to complain—and
anyone full of complaints, constantly nagging, harping, fretful, petulant,
whining, etc., may accordingly be called—querulous.
3. snobbery
The Latin root cilium means eyelid; super means above; and above the eyelid, as anyone can see, is the
eyebrow. Now there are certain obnoxious
people who go around raising their eyebrows in contempt, disdain, and sneering
arrogance at ordinary mortals like you and me.
Such contemptuous, sneering, overbearingly conceited people are called—supercilious.
4. noise
The Latin root strepo means to make a noise. Anyone who is unruly, boisterous, resistant
to authority, unmanageable—and in a noisy, troublesome manner—is—obstreperous.
5. moneyless
The Latin word pecus means cattle—and at
one time in human history a person’s wealth was measured not by stocks and
bonds but by stocks of domestic animals, which was a lot more logical, since
you get milk and leather and meat from cattle—true wealth—and all you get from
stocks and bonds is a headache.
Someone who had lots of pecus, then was
rich—someone without pecus was
indigent, destitute, “broke.” And so
today we call someone who is habitually without funds, who seems generally to
be full of a complete lack of money—impecunious.
This word is not a synonym of indigent, destitute or poverty-stricken; it does not
necessarily imply living in reduced circumstances or want, but quite simply
being short of cash—habitually.
Related Word:
1. pecuniary—pertaining
to money, as in, a pecuniary
consideration, etc.
6. horses
The French word cheval means horse; and in medieval times only gentlemen and
knights rode on horses—common people walked.
Traditionally (but not, I understand, actually), knights were courteous
to women, attentive to female desires, and self-sacrificing when their own
interests came into conflict with those of the fair sex. Hence we call a modern man who has a knightly
attitude towards women—chivalrous.
Related Words:
(Cheval,
horse, come from Latin caballus,
inferior horse. Callabus is found in English words in the spelling cabal.)
1. cavalcade—A procession of persons
on horseback, as in a parade.
2. cavalier—As a noun, a cavalier was once a mounted
soldier. As an adjective, cavalier describes actions and attitudes
that are haughty, unmindful of others’ feelings, too offhand, such attributes
often being associated with people in
power (the military being one of the powers-that-be).
3. cavalry—The
mounted, or “horsed” part of an army.
4. chivalry—Noun form of chivalrous. Can you write the alternate noun form ending
in-ness?________________.
5. chivalric—Less commonly used
adjective form, identical in meaning to chivalrous.
Another Latin root for horse, as you know, is equus, found in words we have already discussed:
1. equestrian (equestrienne)—A horseman (horsewoman).
2. equine—Horselike.
7. no harm done
The Latin root noceo means to injure;
someone who need cause you no fear, so harmless is that person, so unable to
interfere, so unlike to get you into trouble, is called—innocuous.
Related Words:
1. innocent—Not guilty of crime or injury.
2. noxious—Harmful,
poisonous; unwholesome
8. alcoholic
The Latin root bibo means to drink; and
one who is generally has an overfondness for drinks with a pronounced alcoholic
content, is called, usually humorously—bibulous.
Related Words:
1. imbibe—To drink in, soak up, absorb. The implication is liquor or some alcoholic
beverage, but it may also be used with other objects or concepts.
2. bib—Upper part of an apron, or an
apron-like napkin tied around a child’s neck.
In either case, a bib prevents
what is drunk (or eaten) from spilling over, or dribbling down, on the wearer’s
clothing.
9. like death itself
The Latin root cado means to fall—one’s
final fall is of course always in death, and so someone who looks like a corpse
(figuratively speaking), who is pale, gaunt, thin, haggard, eyes deep-sunk,
limbs wasted, in other words the extreme opposite of the picture of glowing
health, is called—cadaverous.
Related Words:
1. cadaver—A corpse, literally, especially one used for surgical
dissection.
2. decadent—Etymologically, “falling
down” (de- is a prefix one meaning of
which is down; etc.) If something is in a decadent state, it is deteriorating, becoming corrupt or
demoralized. Decadence is a state of decay.
Generally
decadent and decadence are
used figuratively—they refer not to actual physical decay, but to moral or
spiritual decay.
10. pain and misery
The Latin root doleo means to suffer or
grieve—one who is mournful and sad, whose melancholy comes from physical
pain or mental distress, who seems to be suffering or grieving, is called—dolorous.
Related Words:
1. dolor—A
poetic synonym of grief.
2. doleful—A word referring somewhat
humorously to exaggerated dismalness, sadness, or dreariness.
3. condole—Etymologically to suffer or grieve with. Condole
is a somewhat less commonly used synonym of commiserate. The noun condolence is much more
frequently heard than the verb.
REVIEW OF ETYMOLOGY
Prefix, Root, Suffix Meaning English Word
1. sequor to follow __________________
2. queror to complain __________________
3. cilium eyelid __________________
4. super above __________________
5. strepo to make a noise __________________
6. pecus cattle __________________
7. –ary adj. suffix __________________
8. im- (in-) neg. prefix; in __________________
9. cheval horse __________________
10. callabus (caval-) inferior horse __________________
11. –ous adj. suffix __________________
12. –ic adj. suffix __________________
13. equus horse __________________
14. –ine like, similar to __________________
15. bibo to
drink __________________
16. cado to fall __________________
17. de- down __________________
18. –ent adj. suffix __________________
19. –ence noun suffix __________________
20. con- with, together __________________
USING THE WORDS
1. obsequious a. snobbish
2. querulous b. harmless
3. supercilious c. gaunt
4. obstreperous d. short of funds
5. impecunious e. fawning; excessively, ingratiatingly polite
6. chivalrous f. sorrowful
7. innocuous g. addicted to drink
8. bibulous h. courteous to women
9. cadaverous i. boisterous
10. dolorous j. complaining
SESSION 46
1. obsequies a. proper order
2. subsequent b. drink; absorb; take in
3. sequel c. harmful; poisonous
4. sequence d. pain, sorrow (poetic)
5. pecuniary e. coming later or afterward
6. noxious f. procession of mounted riders
7. imbibe g. offhand, haughty
8. dolor h. a following event or literary work
9. doleful i. horsewoman
10. cavalcade j. pertaining to money
11. cavalier k. mounted military division; soldiers on horseback
12. cavalry l. funeral rites
13. equestrian m. exaggeratedly sorrowful
14. equestrienne n. horse-like
15. equine o. horseman
16. cadaver p. spiritual decline
17. decadent q. morally decaying
18. decadence s. expression of sympathy
20. condolence t. gallant courtesy to women
Word List