Tag: 1600 – 1699

Word of the Day: MONTIVAGANT

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin monti-, mons (mountain) + vagantem, pres. pple. of vagari (to roam) + -ant

EXAMPLE
“…Downward he speeds to mingle in the fray
As headlong rolls the torrent of the hills
When wintry storms montivagant outpour
Their pluvious treasures from the deep purloined…”

From: Rogvald: An Epic Poem
By John Fitzgerald Pennie, 1823

Word of the Day: CRUENTOUS

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin cruentus (bloody) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…Thus a cruell and most cruentous civill war began which lasted neer upon foure yeers without intermission, wherin there happen’d more battailes, sieges and skirmishes, then passed in the Netherlands in fourescore yeers, and herein the Englishmen may be said to get som credit abroad in the world, that they have the same blood running in their veines (though not the same braines in their sculls) which their Ancestors had, who were observed to be the activest peeple in the field, impatient of delay, and most desirous of battaile then any Nation…”

From: A Venice Looking-Glasse
By J.B.C., 1648

Word of the Day: PEDESTRIAL

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin pedestr-, pedester, also pedestris (going on foot), in prose, prosaic
(from pedes a person who goes on foot
(from ped-, pēs (foot) + -es (after eques) + -ter + -al 

PRONUNCIATION
puh-DESS-tree-uhl

EXAMPLE
“…For, the formall esteemed causes (which are pedestriall, equestriall, or nauti∣call) stand either at the disposition of the efficient; or pretend perfection and vse from the finall…”

From: An Essay of the Meanes Hovv to Make our Trauailes, into Forraine Countries,
the More Profitable and Honourable
By Sir Thomas Palmer, 1606

Word of the Day: ARDELIO

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin ardelio, from ardere (to burn, be eager or zealous)

EXAMPLE
“…we run, ride, take indefatigable pains, all up early, down late, striving to get that which we had better be without, (Ardelion’s busybodies as we are) it were much fitter for us to be quiet, sit still, and take our ease…”

From: The Anatomy of Melancholy
By Robert Burton, 1624

Word of the Day: ARGUITIVE

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin arguit- ppl. stem of arguere + -ive, as if from Latin arguitivus (attacking or accusing)

EXAMPLE
“…But, as it is, the only knowledge of God to which the mind of man can naturally attain, is arguitive, being deduced from his cognitions of the creature; and therefore in the enunciation of the Thesis, the direct measure of the human intellect is restricted to finite Being…”

From: The Metaphysics of the School
By Thomas Harper, 1879