Some Good Old English Words

by Ashish Kumar Roy -

There are some beautiful English words that are slowly going out of circulation. If you do a spell check on them you will probably get an error. The word does not exist, the spell checker will tell you. But they did exist in the tomes and diaries of yesteryears. I really do not know why they vanished because the lost English words that I am going to list here are really very evocative and define situations that would be otherwise ineffable. I really miss some of these wonderful words.

First in my list is petrichor. This is a quaint word probably used when the world held more surprises in every turn. The word means the smell of the parched earth after a first shower of rain. We all know this smell. It is so intoxicating. It is a smell that permeates your senses like an becalming intoxicating drug. I am not sure why this word is disappearing from all lexicons. It is really a word that defines a languid mood.

The second word in my list is potvaliant. This word should really be doing the rounds today. This means bravado under the influence of liquor. Such bravado still happens, doesn't it? You have seen glad creatures dragging themselves out of a bar and then picking up a fight with the nearest lamp post. The word evokes memories of the antics of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Don Quixote's fight with the windmills does remind me of the potvaliants. Such loveable creatures! Where have all the good words gone?

The third word in the list is limerence. Now this is a word that may have been overtaken by the twitter world. Limerence means - or use to mean - the first moments of love. Can there be any love-lier word than this? I mean, love's first moments are inexplicable except through limerence. Who has not woken up in the middle of the night feeling limerence all over himself? Some intangible feelings are oh-so tangible, like the shiver of anticipation. Can we please bring back limerence into our lives?

I can however understand why musophobist has become obsolete. Are there still any people around who are suspicious of poetry? That's what a musophobist means: a person who looks at poetry with suspicion. I mean you don't need a word that's not part of the real world. Do you know anyone who is suspicious of poetry? I don't.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46294