Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wondrous Words Wednesday

wordyweds

Wondrous Word Wednesday is hosted by Kathy of BermudaOnion

I am taking up a stanza from Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich


"And now: it is easy to forget
what I came for
among so many who have always
lived here
swaying their crenellated fans
between the reefs
and besides
you breathe differently down here"

crenellated
adj.
  1. Having battlements.
  2. Indented; notched: a crenelated wall.

[Probably from French créneler, to furnish with battlements, from Old French crenel, crenelation, diminutive of cren, notch. See cranny.]

crenelation cren'e·la'tion n.

8 comments:

  1. Great word. I would never have been able to figure it out even though I know some French. Thanks for participating today!

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  2. Great word today! This is one of those words that I would come across and just keep on reading.

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  3. Marvelous little poem. I need to go back to reading poetry on a more regular basis.

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  4. You found a good one in your reading today.

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  5. I love the way you've been doing these Wednesday word posts.

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  6. Never heard of that one. Great word. I always learn new words from poetry.

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  7. I have seen the word before and had a vague idea of what it meant, but couldn't think of anything in particular that would be "crenallated". :) I looked online and saw a lot of castle wall images, so I guess that makes sense.

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  8. "Crenellated" is an awesome word!

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