Wordie [wûrd • ē]
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21 wordies list
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first listed by:
edwardhenry (180 words)
appears in these lists:
azd's Words, by azd
marginalia, by colleen
Rime Riche, by colleen
suzyg's Words, by suzyg
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Oui, d'accord. It will feel less ill at ease in the august company of the likes of zeugma and properispomenon if it looks imposingly foreign.
Thanks VO, that's interesting, but I still think I will stick with the French enjambement. I don't think I can bring myself to say en-JAMB-ment.
That's also what I remember from secondary school only a few years ago.
dictionary.reference.com/browse/enjambment cites the Online Etymology Dictionary: '1837, from enjamb (1600), from Fr. enjamber "to stride over," from jambe "leg."' If that's correct then the terminal e was dropped from the verb before the noun was coined in English, and the French form developed separately.
When was this word anglicized? When I was in college in the 1970s, I am sure it was always spelled enjambement and pronounced as a French word, with three nasal vowels and zh for the j - which made it fun saying, of course.
Oh, I almost forgot how much I like this word!