Epic English Words

Book excerpt: Introduction: What is this Book? This book is part dictionary, part very portable, extremely selective, and curated encyclopedia. Unusual and interesting vocabulary, but also terms from the sciences & arts; place names & literary references; linguistic curiosities; and names from mythology & zoology. This book showcases words and terms that are all interesting for some reason. Some look or sound beautiful; some are strange in a creative way; some esoteric and deep. Many entries include etymologies and quotations from poetry, literature, etc. showing word usage. In populating this book, subjective taste was unavoidable. Why is a star such as Omicron Draconis chosen over other stars? Simply because the author fancies the name itself. Other entries are chosen due to unique features, or beauty of sound, appearance, or meaning. Included within are interesting places, real and mythological (Shitlington Crags, Shambhala, Muspelheim); names from zoology (dreamfish & wonderpus); cryptozoology (Mongolian death worm); astronomy (El Gordo & Aldebaran); music (protopunk & doodlesack); literature (Prufrockian & purple passages); history (Pavlopetri); mathematics (Whitney umbrella); terms from geology (inselberg & Devonian); and intriguing words such as welkin, smokefall, orison, omnishambles, nemorous, circumvolant, moonglade, meeping, goetic, esperance, cosmoplastic, brontide, and anagalactic. Some of the best entries from the more comprehensive Dictionary of the Strange, Curious, and Lovely are also included. In addition to the many recherché vocabulary words, there are numerous entries from mythology, astronomy, geography, zoology, poetry, and literature. Just a few humans are listed as entries (e.g., Finnish poet Runeberg and English astrologer Sepharial). A liberal sprinkling of English's more elegant prefixes (such as: circum-, cosmo-, proto-, ob-, and para-) and suffixes (-esque, -mancy, -escent, -ium, and -genic) are spread throughout this alphabetized volume. "Brevity is the soul of wit" - Shakespeare, Hamlet This book was designed to be very portable, very casual - yet intriguing & inspiring. The reader is gently introduced to new & interesting words, to strange, beautiful, or elegant words. If you love these types of words and terms, you will likely love this collection! If you are looking, however, for OED-type definitions with every word sense and comprehensive etymology and pronunciations, this book may not be for you. The 10-page "Supplemental Words of Beauty or Interest" appending this volume lists just the words themselves, without definitions - most (but far from all) definitions are relatively apparent or commonly known.