This week’s theme
Toponyms

This week’s words
Delphian
laconism


Wordsmith Games

🧩	Jigsaw Riddle Describing Art
🌍	Langitude Trace tarantula home

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(LAK-uh-niz-uhm)

MEANING:

noun: Brevity or terseness of expression, or an instance of this.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Laconia, a region in southern Greece whose chief city was Sparta. From the reputation of the Laconians/Spartans for terseness. Earliest documented use: 1570.

NOTES:

The adjectival form is laconic. The Laconians, especially the Spartans, were famous for verbal thrift. When Philip II of Macedon warned that if he invaded Laconia he would destroy Sparta, the Spartans reportedly replied: “If.”

Two other toponyms are derived from places in Laconia: spartan from Sparta, and helot, from Helos.

USAGE:

“Now, there’s a certain laconism in the diary. There are places where Johann Burckhardt doesn’t speak, so we don’t know what his opinion was.”
“Blood & Beauty”: Capturing the Ruthless, Infamous Borgias Family; Talk of the Nation (Washington, DC); NPR; Jun 20, 2013.

See more usage examples of laconism in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: