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Sep 11, 2015
This week’s theme
Characters from Don Quixote who became words

This week’s words
quixote
sancho
dulcinea
lothario
rosinante

Don Quixote & Rosinante
Don Quixote & Rosinante
Photo: M.Peinado

This week's comments
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Next week's theme
Words coined after animals
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Rosinante

PRONUNCIATION:
(roz-uh-NAN-tee)

MEANING:
noun: An old, worn-out horse.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Rocinante, the name of Don Quixote’s horse. Don Quixote took four days to think of a lofty name for his horse, from Spanish rocín (an old horse: nag or hack) + ante (before, in front of). Earliest documented use: 1641.

USAGE:
“But there was still a second nag, a Rosinante nodding with shut eyelids and drooping knees over the manger, and the saddle hung ready on its pin.”
R. Campbell Thompson; A Pilgrim’s Scrip; John Lane; 1915.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows. -O. Henry, short-story writer (11 Sep 1862-1910)

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