Rarely Used Words

There are some words in our language that we rarely use.  Esoteric words are among them.  They are words that are understood by few, and used by even fewer.  The adjective stems from the last centuries, where religious rites deliberately used words meant to be understood by their inner circle.  An example of this is chiasmus in ancient Israel.  It is a type of poetic writing, highly literary, where the writer penned verses that mirrored one another in a couplet, then repeated in reverse order so that the end mirrors the beginning.  It conveys a central message in the middle of the poem, chapter, or even book.  Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, was a master of chiastic verse. 

In today’s language, esotericism continues and goes beyond the small groups it was meant to encircle.  Many of these definitions are scientific or medical words, such as hyperemerisis gravidarium – excessive morning sickness that affects some women during pregnancy, or hyponatremia – a toxicity of consumed water by drinking too much liquid too quickly.  Others could be engineering or botanical words, such as kenaf , a fiber plant cultivated on the other side of the world to make into canvas.  The list is endless.

It is always a good thing to broaden our vocabulary, and there are always words that might come in handy with certain descriptions.

Here are a few rarely used words that might be useful:

Lypophrenia. A vague sadness that someone feels without knowing the reason behind the sorrow.  Just before battle, many soldiers felt lypophrenia, and some believed it was an omen of disaster.  Most of us have felt lypophrenic at times.  Now we have a word for it.

Griffonage. Illegible handwriting.  Thankfully we have computers these days, otherwise no one would be able to decipher my scrawling griffonage.

Sybaritic. The adjective form of the noun sybarite.  Both words stem from an ancient town in southern Italy, Sybaris, that became famous for its hedonistic pleasures.  These days, a sybarite, or a person who is sybaritic, is one who is accustomed to great luxury and lives for pleasure.  Government officials, royalty, and Hollywood celebrities offer a sizable contingent of sybaritic humanity.

Phosphenes. The light and shapes one sees when eyes are closed are known as phosphenes.  They are a remnant of what we saw when our eyes were opened.  They exist for only a moment before disappearing. 

Petrichor.   We’ve all experienced a petrichor.  It is the fresh smell of the air after a rainstorm.

Accismus.   An act of feigning refusal or indifference to an object or invitation when the person actually highly desires it.  His accismus was obvious when we invited him to the battlefield, and he finally accepted.

Ululation.   Anyone who has heard the call of Tarzan has heard ululation.  It is a long, high-pitched, fluctuating wail.

Ratiocination.   The process of using logic and deduction that results in a conclusion or judgment.  Sherlock Holmes was the master of ratiocination.

Coign.   This noun, pronounced like “coin”, is much larger than the change in our pockets.  It is a protruding corner of a wall inside a building, or it can be a protruding outside wall of an edifice.  It is impossible to see oncoming traffic with the coign on the corner house.

Pareidolic.   The adjective form of the noun pareidolia , which is to perceive something that isn’t there.  It can be seeing an animal in a cloud, or envisioning a face in the shadows.  My pareidolic nephew saw an entire safari in the clouds during our trip across the country.

Imprecation.  An uttered curse.  Mercutio’s “a plague on both your houses” is the perfect Shakespearean imprecation.

Ethnocentrism.   This noun is the perfect example of esotericism.  It is the act of regarding one’s own close-knit circle, family, team, religious sect, or even nation of people, as superior to the rest.  Its adjective is ethnocentric.  Hitler was ethnocentrism personified.

Limerence.   The quality of being completely infatuated or obsessed with another, so that the person affected changes appearance, actions, and anything else to please the other person, and becomes almost unrecognizable from the person they formerly were.  We know you love your spouse, but please refrain from the unrelenting limerence.

Jeremiad.   A long, woeful written work that laments the decline of society or a populace.  It is derived from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, whose writings described the decline of ancient Israel.  The old sermon was an absolute jeremiad, and left us feeling despondent after reading it.

It seems there is a word for everything.

Pass them on!