Category: Word of the Day – C

ETYMOLOGY
from Old French charitatif, -ive, caritatif, -ive, medieval Latin caritativus (charitable)

EXAMPLE
“…And  for  that  this  only  controversy  is  the  cause  of  this visitation,  I  do  mean  that  it  shall  be  merely  charitative,  and not  to  burden  the  clergy  of  any  procurations  as  yet;  and withal  not  to  trouble  your  lordship  much  longer  about  this matter  there,  than  you  shall  be  occasioned  otherwise  to  tarry for  the  speeding  of  the  visitation  of  the  church…”

From: The Remains of Edmund Grindal, 1843

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin contortuplicatus, from contortus (twisted together) + plicatus (folded)

EXAMPLE
“…Cruspini, who, in spite of his selfishness, is a shrewd dog, for a foreigner, says it is allowing to his violin; and he takes care that its influence shall not be wanting, for he eviscerates as much noise from its contortuplicated bowels, every day, as would disconcert a herd of swing remonstrating against a high wind…”

From: Thurlston Tales
“Grey Joan”
Robert Pierce Gillies, 1835

ETYMOLOGY
a humorous perversion of substantial, intended to suggest ‘drunken’

EXAMPLE
“…He that is borne vnder Capricornus shall be a slouenly, ill-fauoured, and vncleane fellowe, bicause the gote is a beast filthie, stinking and vncleane. He that is borne vnder Aquarius and Pisces shall be fortunate by water, bicause watermen haunt the waters, and fishes swim in the same. These be cupstantiall reasons and well seasoned arguments, and as strong to prooue their purpose, as a castell of paper to resist the enimie…”

From: Phillip Stubbes’s Anatomy of the Abuses in England in Shakspere’s Youth, A.D. 1583
Folly of the Zodiacal Signs influencing men.

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin confragosus (broken, rough, uneven),
from Latin confringere and fragosus, from stem frag- of frangere (to break)

EXAMPLE
“…But, what appeared most stupendous to me, was the rock of St. Vincent, a little distance from the towne, the precipice whereof is equal to any thing of that nature I have seene in the most confragose cataracts of the Alpes, the river gliding between them at an extraordinary depth. Here, we went searching for diamonds, and to the Hot Wells, at its foote…”

From: The Diary of John Evelyn
27 June 1654

ETYMOLOGY
from clapper (the tongue of a bell; a talkative person’s tongue) + tongue

EXAMPLE
“…She has an e’e, she has but ane,
The cat has twa the very colour;
Five rusty teeth, forbye a stump,
A clapper tongue wad deave a miller:
A whiskin beard about her mou’,
Her nose and chin they threaten ither;
Sic a wife as Willie had,
I wadna gie a button for her!…”

From: The Scots Musical Museum
By James Johnson, 1792
Sic A Wife as Willie had – Robert Burns

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin caupōnāt- ppl. stem of caupōnāri (to traffic or trade in),
from caupōnem (retail tradesman, huckster, innkeeper)

EXAMPLE
“…Nor may these false and flattering Dalilahs of our times (who by cauponating Religion and handling the Scriptures deceitfully, seek to betray the strength, honour, and order this reformed Church in England, under pretences of great kindness)…”

From: Hieraspistes: A Defence by Way of Apology for the Ministry and Ministers of the Church of England
By John Gauden, 1653

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin calamistratus (crisped, curled with the curling iron), 
from calamistrum (curling iron)

EXAMPLE
“…Which belike makes our Venetian Ladies at this day, to counterfeit yellow haire so much, great women to Calamistrate and curle it up, vibrantes ad gratiam crines, & quot orbibus in captivitatem flexos, to adorne their heads with spangles, pearles, and made flowres, and all Courtiers to affect a pleasing grace in this kinde…”

From: The Anatomy of Melancholy
By Robert Burton, 1628