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Toponyms

This week’s words
arcadia
Babylonian
Laodiceanism
gasconader

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(gas-kuh-NAY-duhr)

MEANING:

noun: A braggart.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Gascon, a native of the Gascony region in France, from the stereotype of Gascons as boasters. Earliest documented use: c. 1709.

NOTES:

A gascon was a braggart to begin with, which spun off the verb gasconade (to boast) and then we formed the noun again: gasconader (one who brags). Now we just need to wait for the verb gasconaderade to arrive. See also, roister.

And speaking of boasting: Disney’s Gaston (Beauty and the Beast) may or may not be a Gascon, but he’s a gascon or gasconader.

USAGE:

“[José Nicolás de Azara] was considered somewhat of a Spanish gasconader and a bully. He more frequently boasted of his wounds and battles than of his negotiations or conferences.”
Lewis Goldsmith; Memoirs of the Court of St. Cloud; LC Page & Co; 1900.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: