The Lexicon Obscura

Dusk — the period of dim, diffused light after sunset, when the sky still holds color but the sources of that color are no longer visible. The gloaming is a particular quality of light rather than a precise time: the moment when edges soften, distances become uncertain, and the world takes on a quality that is neither day nor night but something more atmospheric than either. The Scottish word for it is considerably better than the English one.

Example

“They walked back along the shore in the gloaming — the water still visible, the path just barely, everything at the edge of itself before the dark came in.”

Origin

From the Old English glōm (twilight, dusk), related to glōwan (to glow). A companion to crepuscular from Vol. 2 — together they cover both the scientific and the poetic approaches to the same hour of day. The gloaming is the feeling. Crepuscular is the biology.

Rarity ●●●●●

Technically known. Almost never used. Deserves much better.

To make evasive or deliberately unclear statements — to change one’s position repeatedly, to avoid committing to a clear stance, or to abandon a previously held view without honest acknowledgment of having done so. The politician who seems to answer while answering nothing. The manager who leaves every meeting with maximum ambiguity intact. The person in an argument who, when cornered, discovers that actually they never said what they clearly said. All of these are tergiversating. Now you have the word.

Example

“He had been asked a direct question and responded by tergiversating for four full minutes — repositioning, qualifying, softening — until nobody could remember what had been asked.”

Origin

From the Latin tergiversari (to turn one’s back, to evade), from tergum (back) and vertere (to turn). To tergiversate is, etymologically, to turn your back on the thing you were just facing. The metaphor is exact.

Rarity ●●●●●

Extremely applicable in current conditions. Deploy as needed.

An excessive desire to lie down or stay in bed — not necessarily from fatigue, but from a genuine and sustained preference for the recumbent position over whatever the day has to offer. Related to, but distinct from, dysania (the difficulty of getting out of bed, Vol. 4): dysania is a struggle; clinomania is a philosophy. The dysaniac wants to get up but cannot. The clinomaniac has considered the alternatives and found them wanting.

Example

“Her clinomania was most acute on Sunday mornings — not because she was tired, but because the bed made a compelling argument that nothing outside it could adequately counter.”

Origin

From the Greek kline (bed, couch) and mania (obsession, excessive enthusiasm). The same kline root that gives us “recline” and “incline” — suggesting that the Greek relationship with horizontal surfaces was linguistically productive.

Rarity ●●●●●

A condition. A diagnosis. A reasonable response to most Sundays.

The joy one feels at the good fortune, happiness, or success of another person — entirely uncontaminated by envy, comparison, or self-reference. A concept from Buddhist philosophy, sometimes translated as “sympathetic joy” or “appreciative joy,” though neither quite captures it. The opposite of schadenfreude. The emotion that exists when someone else’s good thing is simply good, full stop, with no asterisk attached. Rarer in practice than it should be. Worth naming because naming it makes it more achievable.

Example

“When her friend got the role she had also auditioned for, she expected to feel something complicated — but what arrived was mudita, clean and uncomplicated, just genuine gladness that it had gone to someone she loved.”

Origin

From the Pali and Sanskrit mudita (joy, gladness). One of the four brahmaviharas or “divine abodes” in Buddhist teaching — the others being loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity. A concept that the English language has never managed to produce its own word for, which may say something about the English language.

Rarity ●●●●●

The antidote to schadenfreude. English has a word for the bad version and not the good one. This fixes that.

The concluding section of a formal speech or argument — typically its most passionate and rhetorically heightened passage, designed to summarize the argument, stir the emotions of the audience, and leave a lasting impression. In classical rhetoric, the peroration was considered as important as the opening: the last thing an audience hears is frequently what they carry away. In modern usage, it can also refer, slightly ironically, to any lengthy and grandiloquent conclusion that goes on longer than strictly necessary.

Example

“The speech had been competent throughout, but the peroration was something else entirely — the room was quiet in a different way by the end of it.”

Origin

From the Latin perorare (to speak at length, to conclude an oration), from per- (through, thoroughly) and orare (to speak, to plead). The word has been in English since the 15th century — as long as people have been giving speeches that need good endings.

Rarity ●●●●●

Every piece of writing has one, whether the writer knows the word or not. Now you know the word.