Teacher Discussion Forums

I just finished reading Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was breathtaking and ingenious. But I encountered quite a few difficult words related to religions and art. I just wondered if I don't know those words, does it mean my lexicon is inadequate ? For example,

mortification, calices, altar, crucifix, stigmata, gnosis, sacrosanct, unorthodoxy, sfumato

William

Dan Brown was probably in need of a good dictionary:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 00844.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01622.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01628.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01631.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/language ... 01684.html
(The above links are from first to most recent)

Your lexicon isn't inadequate at all, William, I don't know what 'gnosis' or 'sfumato' mean (although I might be able to guess from context if I could see them in the novel).

As for the rest of the words, 'mortification' is (along with other "possible" forms such as 'mortify', 'mortifying' etc), I feel, much rarer than 'mortified', larger dictionaries only list these extra (often unattested) forms because they want to look more impressive than competitors. I'm sure that a learner could work out the meaning of these other forms from just a knowledge of 'mortified', by examining the context and seeing what the part of speech was.

'Unorthodoxy' is related to the more frequent 'unorthodox', the latter quite a useful word, but there are doubtless easier ones in your thesaurus that you recognize and could use just as profitably instead.

'Calices' is perhaps a misspelling of 'chalice', not that useful outside the context of religious theme, and fantasy, novels.

All of the following are good to know if you watch horrow movies where good fights evil against a religious backdrop: 'altar' (pagan sacrifices, black masses!), 'crucifix' (ward off those vampires, one can also say 'cross': to cross oneself, make the sign of the cross etc), 'stigmata' (so-so movie).

'Sacrosanct' is an interesting word, it is kind of like a combination of holy+respect. You might see it in the news from time to time describing people's rights:

New Oxford D and T of E: the rights of parents are sacrosanct for this government; the individual's right to work has been upheld as sacrosanct.

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary: HUMOROUS thought to be too important or too special to be changed: I'm willing to help on any weekday, but I'm afraid my weekends are sacrosanct.

COBUILD 3: sacrosanct
If you describe something as sacrosanct, you consider it to be special and are unwilling to see it criticized or changed.

Freedom of the press is sacrosanct and should remain so
...weekend rest days were considered sacrosanct.
ADJ-GRADED: usu v-link ADJ
= sacred

Thanks for your links.

Ya, I also found some of the description by Dan Brown are clumsy. Sometimes the subtlety of his description hindered my understanding. But overall, the plot is outstanding.

I teach English in a non-English speaking country so I just found those religious words are rare in my country. Anyhow, it is to good to know them.

William

mortification(n)-The act of mortifying (destroy the vitality of) the flesh or its lusts by austere living especially by the self-infliction of bodily pain or discomfort. (ie self-flagelation, taking cold showers, wearing hair shirts, etc.)
calices(n)-pl of calix which in English now means a cup-like cavity or organ, but was the Latin for cup. Maybe it is another word for chalice, I don't know.)
altar(n)-a ceremonial table. [Not only for pagan sacrifices, come on guys]
crucifix(n)-A model of Jesus on the cross, or the sign of the cross. [Again, surprised you don't know that one.]
stigmata(pl n) singular=stigmatum. The scars of crucifixion or their apparant appearance on devout Christians and Saints [Caused in reality by digging your nails into the palm of your hand.]
gnosis(n)-ironic that you don't know this one, Fluffy, it means "knowlege" specifically a special knowlege of spiritual mysteries. [Sounds like an oxymoron to me.]
sacrosanct [You defined this perfectly, Fluffy.]
unorthodoxy(n) opposite of orthodoxy
Sfumato(n) a term coined by Leonardo da Vinci to refer to a painting technique which overlays translucent layers of colour to create perceptions of depth, volume and form. In particular, it refers to the blending of colours or tones, so subtly that there is no perceptable transition.

In Italian sfumato means "blended" with connotations of "smoky" and is derived from the Italian word fumo meaning 'smoke'. Leonardo described sfumato as 'without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke'.

One of the best examples of a sfumato painting is the Mona Lisa.

mortification(n)-The act of mortifying (destroy the vitality of) the flesh or its lusts by austere living especially by the self-infliction of bodily pain or discomfort. (ie self-flagelation, taking cold showers, wearing hair shirts, etc.)

Who needs mortification when there are catentatives?

altar(n)-a ceremonial table. [Not only for pagan sacrifices, come on guys]

You haven't seen enough movies like Vampire Sorority Babes. A classic.

stigmata(pl n) singular=stigmatum. The scars of crucifixion or their apparant appearance on devout Christians and Saints [Caused in reality by digging your nails into the palm of your hand.]

Not much to say about this, except that it sound painful. Why don't they just buy some nail clippers or something?

gnosis(n)-ironic that you don't know this one, Fluffy, it means "knowlege" specifically a special knowlege of spiritual mysteries. [Sounds like an oxymoron to me.]

I was thinking of things like the Gnostics, agnostic(ism) etc, but I never cheat on vocab tests, I only tick a word if I am absolutely sure I know it - and I'm pleased to say that Kanzi didn't beat me by too wide a margin. Anyway, I thought it might be near Knossos...

sacrosanct [You defined this perfectly, Fluffy.]

(basking in glow of praise, thus the sunglasses)

If I had a cigar left, I'd give you it, but I smoked the last one while you were typing all that stuff about 'sfumato'. I thought it might've had something to do with sneezing midway through asking for seven tomatoes, and the end effect on a hankie would probably look pretty much like a sfumo painting in its early stages.

Anyway, at least you won't get pelted with tomatoes for what you've said there. Yes, well done, Andy! (Cue deafening round of applause from Larry and his guide dog).

That's the funniest thing I've read at Dave's for quite a while.

Larry Latham

So what's the smoke that comes out white or black when a pope is being elected? And the thing that Opus members are said to hurt themselves with?

I read the book (good yarn, appalling writing style) and have lent it to somebody, but that's what I thought sfumato and calices were ( the smoke and the mortification thingy).

fluffyhamster wrote:As for the rest of the words, 'mortification' is (along with other "possible" forms such as 'mortify', 'mortifying' etc), I feel, much rarer than 'mortified', larger dictionaries only list these extra (often unattested) forms because they want to look more impressive than competitors. I'm sure that a learner could work out the meaning of these other forms from just a knowledge of 'mortified', by examining the context and seeing what the part of speech was.

Ah, I've just remembered what the "technical" (lexicographic) term is for a grammatically possible, but in reality seldom formed/used/attested word (that is included in a dictionary just for the sake of "completeness"): latent word.

Learnt that term from Sidney Landau's book, I've mentioned it a few times on Dave's already (do a search for 'Landau' to find those posts if you haven't seen 'em already), great book.