|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
Insel's memory thread and bel's "words I had to look up" thread reminded me of the list of vocabulary words I compiled while reading Proust. Here's one of them:
ukase, n. A Russian edict or order, esp. during the Czarist regimes, having the force of law; any decree or order issued by an authority or official.
(from Webster's)
Here is an excerpt from Proust with the word in context:
My mother was counting greatly upon the pineapple and truffle salad. But the Ambassador, after fastening for a moment on the confection the penetrating gaze of a trained observer, ate it with the inscrutable discretion of a diplomat, without disclosing his opinion. My mother insisted on his taking some more, which he did, but saying only, in place of the compliment for which she was hoping: 'I obey, Madame, for I can see that it is, on your part, a positive ukase.'
from In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
my ed. published by The Folio Society 2001
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I can't quite imagine how pineapple and truffle would go together. It does seem to me that a French diplomat should
have been able either to evade gracefully a second serving,
or pretend to enjoy it. The hostess could not have
missed his lack of enthusiasm, which would hurt worse than a refusal
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
well, though it may be an order, he did at least say it was a positive ukase. he knew he had to eat another helping, but he enjoyed it. 
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
You mean he enjoyed zinging his hostess.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Rapunzel, do you know how we'd pronounce ukase? I'm not sure how it would sound since I don't know Russian at all.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
|
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
The two dictionaries I consulted differ on what the preferred pronunciation is-- the first says it should be "you-case" or "you-kaze" with accent on the second syllable. The second dictionary says to put the accent on the first syllable. So, I'm not sure.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Rapunzel, it's wonderful to see you back here! Thanks for the pronunciations--I'd been thinking of it as having three syllables. (The most unlikely being you, Casey.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
|
|
OP
enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
hypogean, (high-puh-JEE-un) adj. Growing or living below the surface of the ground.
An interesting related word is hypogeum, n. The subterranean part of an ancient building, or an ancient underground burial chamber.
(from M-W)
p.s. Can anyone show me how to make pronunciation symbols? I have the ANSI codes, but they don't include a symbol for the schwa sound, among other things.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
I think your best bet is using SAMPA. http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/home.htmOthers will no doubt disagree. You can also use XML/XHTML entities (they are delimited with an ampersand-octothorpe and a semi-colon and contain a number [Unicode] in between). Depending on your audience's browser / OS configuration, this may or may not work. For example, schwa /@/ in SAMPA or /ə/ in Unicode (number is 601 in Unicode). http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/U5-chars.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Ooo, I like that word Rapunzel. Seems like you could write a fab SciFi story based on this word.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,809
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
459
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
