My kids love to ask dinner guests about their favorite things: books, movies, meals, colors, etc. People have favorite everythings: numbers, body parts, time of day. Lots of people have favorite words--words that, regardless of meaning, sound beautiful.
In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (one of my favorite books), Annie Dillard notes that her poet-friend, Rosanne Coggeshall, considers the word sycamore "the most intrinsically beautiful word in English." I find it a bit tough to rank them so objectively, but it is a nice-sounding word.
James Joyce's pick was cuspidor. It's too hard for me to remove the word from its definition to agree with Mr. Joyce. It's interesting that it rhymes with sycamore though. Just a little interesting, I guess.
If denotation could be completely discounted, my selection would be diarrhea. That word wins the prize for greatest aesthetic disparity between sound and sense. If you can block out any visual images and just listen, it's a lovely word.
Wilfred Funk (not the Funk and Wagnalls Funk--I checked), in his book Word Origins, lists these as the most beautiful English words: ASPHODEL, FAWN, DAWN, CHALICE, ANEMONE, TRANQUIL, HUSH, GOLDEN, HALCYON, CAMELLIA, BOBOLINK, THRUSH, CHIMES, MURMURING, LULLABY, LUMINOUS, DAMASK, CERULEAN, MELODY, MARIGOLD, JONQUIL, ORIOLE, TENDRIL, MYRRH, MIGNONETTE, GOSSAMER, ALYSSEUM, MIST, OLEANDER, AMARYLLIS, ROSEMARY.
Not bad. Anyone out there have a favorite you'd like to share?
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A place to talk about words, writing, learning, and language, by Brian Wasko, founder of WriteAtHome.com
5 comments:
Favorite words? I like long words like penultimate and denouement (incidentally, both I learned from a series of unfortunate events). And incognito and balderdash. Oh, and sierra.
I can't say I'd list denouement. I struggle with French pronunciations. I am a big fan of the SofUE series.
I tried valiantly, but I can't separate the word "diarrhea" either from the imagery or the visceral sensations it evokes. Nope Just can't be objective. ;-)
I have always liked the word chrystal.
Steph
Oops ... crystal
I, too, like the feeling of the word "crystal." It's a sharp, shiny word -- almost cold (like an ice crystal), but combines an enchanting mix of hard and soft sounds. A very different word is "pugnacious." I can clearly see that "feeling" from the sound of the word!
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