"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Peregrination
Peregrination is a rarely used term for travelling or wandering, especially on foot and at random. It was used originally to refer to a pilgrimage.
"His peregrinations took him all over Europe, particularly the Eastern side."
And in French pèlerinage still is pilgrimage. Liszt's Années de pèlerinage reminded me. But then pilgrimages are still commonish in France. I'm sure that you wanted to be told that (you probably knew anyway).
My daughter Helen commented in November 2008 in her Blog that she was now keeping a notebook of new words that she came across during her reading. "This week I bought a lovely little leather bound book to write new words in as I read them . I've added a few from "1984", but my favourite has to be persiflage (from the French persifler) which means banter." I later discovered that my older daughter, Bryony, also kept a similar notebook.
This inspired me to create a Word blog. This will include both new words, favourite words and the origins of phrases that we commonly use. A definition and some comment, perhaps even a relevant quotation, will acompany the word or phrase.
“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.” - Winnie the Pooh
And in French pèlerinage still is pilgrimage. Liszt's Années de pèlerinage reminded me. But then pilgrimages are still commonish in France. I'm sure that you wanted to be told that (you probably knew anyway).
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