For years I have had a snobbish distaste for the word comradery. I assumed it was just an uncouth anglicization of cameraderie, with the first vowel 'corrected' to that of comrade. I was about to inveigh about this assumed vulgarism, but thankfully did a spot of research before putting finger to keyboard.
It seems that both words exist. Not all dictionaries recognize both, but the Collins does; and has corrected the mistake I deprecated some time ago (in this blog somewhere I can't trace) by making its word frequency feature more visible; it used to be right down at the bottom of the page; it is now more central, both vertically and horizontally.
But the two words do not have the same popularity, although both first appeared late in the 19th century. A few years after a World War (14 years after WWI and 8 after WWII), comradery has a spike:
spikettes (spikelets? stilettos?) in 1932 and 1953 |
My "coincidence" also comes from this frequency graph, but it was instigated by a recent Radio 4 programme about The Dream of Gerontius. It started (in the first 30 seconds) with a quotation from Elgar, presumably from a letter (the radio presenter just said "writing to his friend..."). He used the word illimitable – not a word that springs regularly to the lips today. I expect Conrad used it, but I admit I wasn't sure when I heard the Elgar quotation whether he was coining it himself to do justice to the Malvern Hills (the context was "that illimitable horizon"). Collins shows this frequency graph:
Must go and do some prep for the forthcoming tour of my choir.
b
PS A couple of clues:
Endless flak about spies – you've got a nerve! (7)
Update 2016.09.09.14:50 – Time's up: HAREEM and SCIATIC
No comments:
Post a Comment