Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors....in the same vein as that wondrous word "cacophony". At lunchtime, the office is filled with these scents emanating from the cubes, a mixture of all possible ethnic cooking... we are at a loss to describe this .... Any help?
Miasma is a very expressive word, in Spanish it also means the spray emitted when someone sneezes. Referring to your question we could coin a new word “cacosme/cacosmic”. It sounds well to me.
Bingley wonders Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.
Yes, that's the way it's often used. The definitions I found are:
mi·as·ma (m-zm, m-) n., pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t).
A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).
A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease. A thick, vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Greek pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- mi·asmal or mias·matic (mz-mtk) or mi·asmic (-mk) adj. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Gatsby, Cacophony implies a simultaneous or sequential combination of sounds which is definitely resented as displeasing. Your description of the office at noon doesn't imply irritation. Furthermore, the nose perceives one smell at a time, even if it results from a combination of agents. This is probably why we are limited to the scale extending from stench to perfume.
Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors
I know this may or may not be of help to your quest but I just love this lines from Hamlet....take note of the last 7 words.
I have of late lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my dispositon, that this goodly frame, the earth seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.
Hi NicholasW, -or- of -orama means 'look at'. Of course you are right, but the sound of the word overcame my hesitations. An alternative, derived from panorama and pandemonium would be panosmium.
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site.
Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to
hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.
. An alternative, derived from panorama and pandemonium would be panosmium.
