latitudinarian

Pronounced: lat-ih-TOOD-n-ar-ee-uhn, adj/noun

Notes: Something to do with surveying? (nope)

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Yesterday’s word

The word plangent means

• having a loud reverberating sound
• having an expressive and especially plaintive quality

First usage

The word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

If you notice the meanings, they are not very close to each other, but this is because of the origin of the word: it traces back to the Latin verb plangere, which also has two meanings: “to strike or beat”. Latin speakers sometimes used the word when talking about someone striking one’s breast in grief, and the verb took on the second meaning “to lament”. This dual meaning carried into the Latin adjective (plangens) and from there into English with our two meanings above. The ‘pounding of waves’, the ‘throbbing of the heart’, and the ‘beat of wings’ have been described as plangent.

Rejected Word

The word diurnal came up; I don’t know how many people know it, but I did (it is the opposite of nocturnal).