This week’s theme
Words you might be tempted to emend

This week’s words
evert
villein
rosery
mordent
decedent


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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(MOR-duhnt)

MEANING:

noun: A musical ornament typically made by playing a note, the note immediately above or below it, and the original note again in quick succession.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German Mordent, from Italian mordente (biting), ultimately from Latin mordere (to bite). Earliest documented use: 1806.

NOTES:

Both mordant and mordent ultimately come from Latin mordere (to bite). Mordant usually describes biting wit; mordent names a musical ornament. But what’s the fun in keeping everything neatly organized? Mordant is also an accepted spelling for the musical ornament. Even the spelling gets to improvise.

USAGE:

“The chief expert witness for the Beastie Boys in the ‘Choir’ case was Lawrence Ferrara, who is a professor of music at New York University, and when I asked him to explain the court’s ruling he walked over to the piano in the corner of his office and played those three notes: C, D-flat, C. ‘That’s it!’ he shouted. ‘There ain’t nothing else! That’s what was used. You know what this is? It’s no more than a mordent, a turn. It’s been done thousands upon thousands of times. No one can say they own that.’”
Malcolm Gladwell; Something Borrowed; The New Yorker; Nov 22, 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: