HE IS AMAZING! *watches as her vocabulary expands infinitely* It's really exciting to read with m-w, wikipedia, and google up all at once. You can find ALMOST anything (except "sheog," what's that?) These are the notes I've taken so far.
strand - beach, shore
Arcadian - idyllically pastoral (innocent, simple, untroubled)
Marchioness - like Marquess
harridan - gaunt woman
peregrination - travel, esp on foot
Bedlamite - lunatic
jibboom - extension of bowsprit [the bowsprit extends off the bow...I'm not very well-versed in nautical jargon or really...anything nautical XD]
Antipodese - I think he means Australian and New Zealand...ian. (antipode - opposite/contrary) Antipodes - islands opposite Britain
Bristol fashion - in good order (high tidal fall at Bristol made a mess unless everything was "shipshape")
Diogenes - of Sinope, Greek, stoic, no physical pleasure, hunger good, also: first "citizen of the world"
pisco - grape liquor esp in Peru and Chile [Portuguese?]
emollient - softener, making soft, less intense
polymath - a person of encyclopedic knowledge
scrimshandered - made by a scrimshander, i.e. scrimshaw
careen - to put a boat on a beach esp to clean/repair the hull
blithely - happily/lighthearted or lacking due thought/consideration [which I think is the more common meaning]
circumvallate - to surround by or as if by a rampart
ingress - (also ingression) act of entering, power/liberty of entrance/access
lee - protecting shelter (SIDE PROTECTED FROM WIND)
torpor - torpidity (dull, inactive, numb - ness)
haki-haki - [any ideas?]
hoarfrosted - it's spikey frost (white ice crystals)
excoriating - wearing the skin off (also: censuring scathingly)
vellum - skin for binding books/writing on [used to describe a man's back...he's being whipped...ack]
nephrite - commoner, less valuable jade
cabal - the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united to bring about an overturn or usurpation esp in public affairs (also: the group itself)
Tar - tarpaulin = sailor
consternation - amazement or dismay that hinders or throws into confusion @_@
artfully - [such a good word]
ursine - like a bear o_o (think bovine only for a bear)
in flagrante delicto - adverb - in the act (sex/misdeed/both)
remonstrate - to present and urge reasons in opposition / say or plead in protest/reproof/opposition
sheog - [here it is...i have no idea...some sort of drink]
obdurate - stubbornly persistent in wrong doing, hardened in feeling, resistant to persuasion
rota - roll/rotation (by rota)
demotic - popular/ simplified hieretic? (don't think so ;p)
Magnificat - canticle for V Mary (liturgical song from the Bible)
Nunc Dimittis - prayer of Simeon (both from Luke)
arcana - only really used in plural arcanum apparently... - mysterious knowledge, language, info acccessible only by initiate
promontory - high point of land/rock overlooking water/lowland ALSO a bodily prominance (what does that even mean? o_O)
tatterdemalion [a personal favorite of mine]- a person in ragged clothes
renegado - obviously renegade but I'm not sure if there is a specific context here or not...
quadroon - 1/4 black (octaroon is an eighth, it's sort of scary the things you learn when your uncles are drunk)
fleetest - [AWESOME WORD] swiftest, fastest
woolly - tough without restraint [I guess I knew that, among other things.]
by dint of - by force of, because of [hell yes]
illustrious - notably outstanding cuz of dignity, achievements, actions
benefact - what a benefactor does XD
Pakeha - New Zealanders of euro/British decent (did it evolve from a local epithet?)
Moriori - indigenous of the Chatham Islands
dykey - [besides the obvious modern word, I have no idea: "...ere nightfall obscured the dykey way."]
Morpheus - Greek God of Dreams - human elements - take anyone's form in them, responsible for dreams of kings and heroes (aka The Sandman, morphine derived from the name)
So this is the same drill as before only I'm taking notes in the book since it's mine. Hopefully this will help me remember better. I'm planning on reading the chapter first, then going back and reading for funky words and taking notes, then coming here to bring my notes too you. Slow going, but it's a fun project. I like learning stuff. Some of it, obviously, is more clarification than LEARNING, but I think that's just as important. I mean, most of the time I would glance over "consternation" but it's nice to know that it results in hindrance or confusion.
XD
YES!
Keep looking out for the voice post. It will follow today sometime.
~dUcK!
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22 comments:
And I thought this book is only a problem for non-native English speakers.
I found more on 'scrimshandred chessmen', it relates to whalers who carved things from whale bones.
I'm still looking for 'sheog'.
Regards
Robert
Switzerland
Ha ha ha... Emily, I found your post about David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas totally by random (Google) chance. I'm reading the novel for my English class, and I was doing exactly what you did, going to look up words online. I found your entry when looking for -- you guessed it -- sheog!
Any luck with finding a definition?
Incidentally, I, too, had too look up emollient. I think you'll find my journal entry on the subject amusing. http://kevynjacobs.livejournal.com/85979.html
Phew, it's not just me. I'm relieved. Seriously, this guy is an arsehole. I read for enjoyment; I don't want to spend all my time looking up words and definitions. If I wanted to do that I would read a text book on philosophy.
Ha! I totally found this book by random at a yard sale and I absolutely adore it! It's so surreal right? So I'm reading it for like the third time lol and was looking up "Bedlamite" when I came across your posting (freakin' awesome btw!)-thank you for the definition. Also, I do have a little more clarification for "the dykey way"; it has to do with the landscape, ie: natural slopes or walls that control the flow of water (kind of like a ditch or trench). Nothing on sheog though lol-keep it up! :)
I found you by looking for "sheog!" Bwah! This is my second read, for the express purpose of exploring Mitchell's lexicon.
I'd say it is probably the contents of the spittoon from under the bar, but just a guess from context.
I'd say sheog is most likely the contents of the spittoon from under the bar, but from context alone.
Thank you so much for this list. I am reading this for college and within the first 5 pages I've looked up 3 words.It was becoming a pain looking up the words and this list is awesome.
I am doing the same, although I have found a couple of yours that I don't quite agree with.
I am doing the same thing, great book so far!
Hakihaki is a Maori word to describe a skin disease, probably scabies.
Hakihaki is a Maori word to describe a skin disease, probably scabies.
Hoarfrost- hoary=old, perhaps this also could mean frosted with signs of aging? As in severely wrinkled?
Just doing the same 'project'. Slow progress but really interesting. Do you have an updated list?
I saw the movie just two days ago and then hunted for the book. As I started to make my vocabulary list, I found your blog under "antipodese." I am so thankful that I am not the only one that didn't know a lot of these words. I felt like a little school boy.
Thank you for the list!
Man this post gets so many hits. I should have taken it more seriously XD 2005 was a lonnnnng time ago, haha.
Could sheog possibly be a corruption of the M19 English word "sheoak" indicating an Australian made beer???
Wa, thanks a lot. I am scared by so many unknown words inside.
I search antipodese on Google and your blog is the first to appear. Congratulations!
like others- found this looking up 'sheog'. but i'm not reading Cloud Atlas (maybe I'll see the movie) instead 'sheog' was in The Crock of Gold, James Stephens, 1906. There the context seems to indicate it is a fairy-folk like leprechauns.
Haki-haki is Maori for scabies.
(noun) skin disease, rash, itch, scabies - a contagious skin disease causing severe itching. Eharai te Māori anake te iwi kainga te kiri e te mate nei, e te hakihaki (TTT 1/8/1927:640). / It's not as if only Māori are affected by this skin disease, scabies. See also waihakihaki.
I foud this googling for 'sheog' as so many others apparently.
I am relieved that I'm not the only one having trouble with some words. I read a lot (well, everything by now) in english (I'm german) but this was by far the hardest book to understand.
I made a list of words I didn't recognise and it's 99% your list.
Bur I must say regardless, it is a very fascinatig book so far :)
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