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diversivolent desiring different things. ORIGIN Latin diversus 'diverse' and volens, velle 'to wish'. I came across this word in The White Devil by John Webster, which quite a few online dictionaries cite as a source. It could be a printing error, but the footnote in my copy of The White Devil defines "diversivolent" with two words: "Desiring strife." It's used by the verbose, pettifogging lawyer in the trial of Vittoria: Quote:
LAWYER
Most literated judges, please your lordships
So to connive your judgments to the view
Of this debauch'd and diversivolent woman;
Who such a black concatenation
Of mischief hath effected, that to extirp
The memory of 't, must be the consummation
Of her, and her projections—
If "diversivolent" means "desiring many things" or "avaricious", the lawyer's speech makes sense. So why "desiring strife" ? Is this a forgotten meaning of the word? And if yes, whose strife? Your own (like a death wish) or someone elses?
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B&M OED defines it as "desiring strife or differences." And what is strife but violent differences?
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This is a casebook study of bad forensic rhetoric. The lawyer calls the judges "literated" to gain their favor and then asks them to "connive" their judgments. Next he hurls out a mass of absurd inkhorn terms and grotesque sounds in a periphrastic and confused syntax. His eloquence is crowned by the rime of "concatenation" with "consummation." The lawyer's exordium prepares the audience not for his arguments but for Vittoria's abrupt interruption: "What's all this?"
- H. Bruce Franklin, The Trial Scene of Webster's The White Devil Examined in Terms of Renaissance Rhetoric
"Vittoria is a white devil, she may be the white devil of the title. She is not, however, the only cadidate for that office." - ibid.
Webster goes on to use "diversivolent lawyer."
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Thanks tswum.
It's apparent that Webster is poking fun at lawyers. But still, why the footnote: "Desiring strive"? Presumably, then, a printing error?
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We'll, it's not a printing error. Quote:
The work is rich in the language of ambiguity and treachery. Take something as simple as the adjective "diversivolent," which one of those haughty lawyers invokes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means "desiring strife or differences." The example of usage the OED cites is, not surprisingly, Webster and this play. It's a good bet that the word he reached for to characterize these dubious endeavors can be found nowhere else in literature.
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Fal>B&M OED defines it as "desiring strife or differences."
Hyd>According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means "desiring strife or differences."
say, Fal, do you suppose Hyd just enjoys the sound of this own keystrokes?!
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Heh. Been a while since we've had a case of chopped liver -- or as it's called in some circles, mantling -- around here. You're now fully intitiated, Hydra. 
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Quote:
B&M OED defines it as "desiring strife or differences."
Quote:
We'll, it's not a printing error.
The work is rich in the language of ambiguity and treachery. Take something as simple as the adjective "diversivolent," which one of those haughty lawyers invokes. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it means "desiring strife or differences." The example of usage the OED cites is, not surprisingly, Webster and this play. It's a good bet that the word he reached for to characterize these dubious endeavors can be found nowhere else in literature.
Quote:
say, Fal, do you suppose Hyd just enjoys the sound of this own keystrokes?!
tswum, I read and made note of Faldage's post, and the source, but I could not at first find it. When I found the above discussion in an article, I posted it as corroboration of the vague and still unclarified "desiring strife" definition for "diversivolent".
My last post in no way proves that I overlooked Faldage's post.
And the quote does add to Faldage's citation, and the discussion of the word, since the source quoted postulates that perhaps Webster's use of the word is the only one in all literature—which would (if true) add to the file on diversivolent the honor of being a hapax legomenon.
Discussing words is what these forums are for.
tswum, why go out of your way to be rude when you have insufficient evidence to prove me guilty of what is, at any rate, a trifling error?
Last edited by Hydra; 12/18/06 11:54 PM.
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..and I prolly wouldn't have even noted it hadn't there been the extra (and unneeded) emphasis put on it.
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Quote:
..and I prolly wouldn't have even noted it hadn't there been the extra (and unneeded) emphasis put on it.
What the problem, tswum, having a bad day?
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