"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."
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Prelate
A prelate is a high ranking church dignitary; a clergyman of high rank and authority, having jurisdiction over an area or a group of people; normally a bishop or an archbishop.
That I knew. Sort of. Would have been able to guess, anyway, since we have the same word in Swedish (prelat). Although come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen that Swedish word used by itself, only in the expression "priests and prelates", referring to church authorities (usually with a bit of irony).
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
That I knew. Sort of. Would have been able to guess, anyway, since we have the same word in Swedish (prelat). Although come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen that Swedish word used by itself, only in the expression "priests and prelates", referring to church authorities (usually with a bit of irony).
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