2005 National Spelling Bee, Essay 18

I ended the previous essay with a not-so-veiled reference that I would begin with the phrase fornicate nasus. Recall that I got into nasus because of its connection with nasute, a word meaning either a strong sense of smell, a keen critical capacity or a large nose. In its second definition it is synonymous with astute (derived from the Latin astutus, meaning crafty or cunning). So, back to fornicate nasus. It has nothing to do, as said previously, with having sex with anyone's nose. What you need to understand is that the word fornicate here is pronounced FOR ni cut, with the 'ate' ending meaning "shaped like" (e.g., lanceolate, bursiculate, palmate, alveolate, etc.). Thus, the word is an adjective here. But what is the root meaning of "fornicate?" It is derived from fornix, the Latin and English word for arch or vault. It became associated with illicit or unmarried sexual intercourse because brothels in the late Middle Ages/early Modern world were generally situated in underground vaults. When you saw the arch, you didn't think of ordering a Big Mac; you realized that you would soon fornicate (verb, pronounced FOR ni cate)--have illicit sexual relations. The adjective could be used to describe something "arch-like." Therefore a fornicate nasus (also fornicate clypeus) is "a nasus that is much elevated and overarches the parts beneath." Isn't that now a sort of "ho-hum" definition, whereas earlier you were getting excited? Only words can do it to you.

Returning to Our List

We have about 13 words remaining from Round 4: edulcorate, indiscerptible, ustion, narcohypnia, obtumescence, cyclolysis, graveolent, cabretta, plesiobiosis, laparoscopy, suffrutescent, arcology and fruticetum. I think I also would like to wander a bit through the meaning-field of cancellous and its relations. I certainly won't get through all of them here, but let's make a start.

Edulcorate

Edulcorate is a sweet word, meaning "to remove acidity from or sweeten." We can see the "dulc" root within the word. We most commonly edulcorate things today with sugar. This 1675 quotation will probably make your stomach turn: "Dung of swine...is said..to edulcorate..fruit so sensibly as to convert the bitterest Almond into sweet." I bet you aren't going to give it a go... But it also can mean "to soften," or "free from harshness," and this is the definition which I think has real possiblities. One can edulcorate one's parents, one's partner, one's boss, with gifts, soft words, apologies, etc. Very useful. Useful also is indiscerptible, even if it sounds like you are burping when you say it.

Indiscerptible

Something discerptible is divisible or able to be torn to pieces. Indeed the Latin discerpere, which stands behind it, carries more of the notion of tearing or rending to pieces than a simple and calm "division" of things. Thus it is understandable that in Latin there is no appearance of indiscerpto, something that is unable to be torn to pieces. There is likewise little reason to have the word indiscerptible in English...but that didn't stop Butler in 1735 from bringing the word into English: "There is no..reason to think death to be the dissolution..of the living being, even though it should not be absolutely indiscerptible." Well, Samuel Johnson, in his 1755 dictionary, seemed to like the word of his compatriot so much that he gave it an entry and defined it as "incapability of dissolution." Then, when Hamilton in the 19th century quoted Butler's 1735 usage, you had a three-fold cord which, as the Scriptures say, cannot easily be broken. So, we have the word today, with is never used, except in spelling bees.

Ustion

I really like the world into which we are brought with ustion. It means "the action of burning" or "cauterization." Latin had two verbs for "burning," urere and ustulare, both of which were important for English word -formation. Ustion, for example, is formed off the past participle of urere. And there are a host of other English words formed off this root, the most interesting of which are ustilagineous and ustilago. Ustilago is defined as "smut on oats, barley, or other grain." Now, I see, we have another word to define: smut. Though one of its significations, going back to the 17th century, is "indecent or obscene language," an earlier meaning referred either to a fungous disease affecting plants or a smudge or stain. The kind of fungus causing the disease would be from the family Ustilagineae. But what is the connection of smut, the fungus, with something burning? Well, ustilago was applied to smut on account of its burned or blackened appearance. Therefore, something that is ustilaginous is something affected with ustilago or smut. Then, we also have the word ustulate (derived from ustulare) which, as an adjective, means "so marked with brown as to have the appearance of being burned." As a verb it means "to burn." We even have one attestation of the word unustulated (unburnt) but it appears, seemingly inappropriately, in a book by a man named Ash. More than enough on this.

Quickie Words in Conclusion

Cabretta is a kind of leather--leather tanned from hair sheepskins and used for gloves, etc. Plesiobiosis, unattested in the OED or Century, is a "casual association of to or more colonies of social insects." Plesio is a prefix derived from a Greek word meaning "near" or "close to" or "almost." We have words such as plesiochronous, plesiomorphic and even a plesiosaur. The last is an extinct marine reptile which was first named in a French publication in 1826, but I would need some help to know what it was "near" to, or similar to. We have the word plesianthropus to describe a genus of australopithecine apes with a distinctly human skull--that is something "near man."

I think this is enough "gold" for one essay. Let's try one more.

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