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Wondrous Words Wednesday

Joy's Book Blog Posted on by

cover of Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by P.J. LynchToday’s new words are from Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde, illustrated by P.J. Lynch. Apparently, the children that Oscar Wilde wrote for knew more words than I do!

illustration of male linnetLinnet talking to the old Water-rat in “The Devoted Friend”:

“And what pray, is your idea of the duties of a devoted friend?” asked a green Linnet, who was sitting in a willow-tree hard by, and had overheard the conversation. p. 25

A linnet, according to my trusty old Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary is “a common small Old World finch (Carduelis cannabin) having plumage that varies greatly according to age, sex, and season.” The picture is from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. On their Linnet page, they have more details including a recording of this bird’s lovely little song.

The words porphyry and anodyne appear in one long sentence in “The Young King” about a boy who grew up in the country believing himself to be a goatherd but is now obsessed by the beauties of his new life at the castle:

He missed, indeed, at times the fine freedom of his forest life, and was always apt to chafe at the tedious Court ceremonies that occupied so much of each day, but the wonderful place — Joyeuse, as they called it — of which he now found himself lord, seemed to him to be a new world fresh-fashioned for his delight; and as soon as he could escape from the council-board or audience-chamber, he would run down the great staircase, with its lions of gilt bronze and its steps of bright porphyry, and wander from room to room, and from corridor to corridor, like one seeking to find in beauty an anodyne from pain, a sort of restoration from sickness. p. 75

Back to the New Collegiate, porphyry is “a rock consisting of feldspar crystals embedded in a compact dark red or purple groundmass.” Doesn’t that sound pretty? Our word “purple” goes back to the same Greek root. Anodyne is “a drug that allays pain” and is also used metaphorically to mean “something that soothes, calms, or comforts.”

button for Wondrous Words Wednesday memeWondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by Bermudaonion’s Weblog. Kathy says: “Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading.”

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Comments

Wondrous Words Wednesday — 10 Comments

  2. First of all, I’m glad to hear about this book. I didn’t know (or remember) that Oscar Wilde wrote children’s books. I’d love to see a linnet that looks like your picture. I’ve seen common finches but none that looked like that. Beautiful.

  5. Hi Joy,

    I am another one who didn’t know about the existence of this children’s book, but it sounds really interesting. As you commented, I can’t remember children’s books containing such difficult words, although another blogger I visited yesterday took her words from ‘The Wind In The Willows’, a favourite childhood book of mine, and the complexity of the words it contained amazed me and are certainly not any that I remember from my youth.

    ‘Porphyry’ is a great word and definitely not one that I have come across before, whereas a ‘Linnet’ would be quite commonly known of, here in the UK. ‘Anodyne’ is also one that I know, basically because we have a pain relief tablet that is also very popular here, called ‘Anadin’, so that’s a bit of a giveaway really, and some excellent marketing from the company who make it!

    Nice post and I loved the image of the ‘Linnet’, he looks like a bright cheerful little fellow.

    Enjoy the rest of your week

  6. i do believe that in the ‘old’ days they did teach much more difficult things at younger ages. I recently purchased a copy of the McGuffey Reader (the standard old reader for schools) it was first used in 1879. I was amazed at how advanced it is! Those kids learned to read with Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, John Milton, the Bible, Longfellow. We use ‘See Dick Run’ now. Great words Joy and thanks for stopping by my Post!

  7. They obviously knew more than me as well though I did know what a Linnet was but only because it is the name of a street near to mine which like all the neighbouring streets is named after a bird – I live in Sandpiper Place, there is also Curlew Close, Merlin Way and Linnet Lodge.

  9. Oscar Wilde is always a great source of wondrous words. Thanks for including the picture of the linnet, I think I’ve heard of them, but had no real idea what they looked like. I love the richness of the vocabulary of older childrens books. As you know I used The Wind in the Willows this week, which had so many new words, that I will have several weeks of posts from it! BTW I have a book of Oscar Wilde fairly tales, that I bought while I was pregnant with my son (now 11), I have to read them this year. It’s beyond ridiculous now.

  10. Pingback:Book Review: Stories for Children by Oscar Wilde and a Wilde visit to St. Louis | Joy's Book Blog

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