"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."

Sunday, 11 March 2012

Mansuetude

   
Mansuetude means mildness or gentleness of manner and comes from the Latin mansuetus meaning tamed (or literally accustomed to the hand). World Wide Words shows an example from the Boston Globe as recently as 2004 but in general it can be considered obsolete and on that website Michael Quinion points out ‘To use it may be to gratify the ego of the writer rather than communicate with the reader.’
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  1. Librarian12 March 2012 at 06:46

    This one was easy for me - I recognized it instantly from the Italian, which is almost the same: mansuetudine. But it is one beautiful word I had not thought of in a long time, so, thank you for reminding me of it!

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