In our world where
fast paced technological communicating is the norm, our lexicon is shrinking
hand over fist. But the potential of words is a great wonder. Words are salty goodness that pepper writing with flavor.
So this month at the Guild we are, once again, making words.
Last spring I
introduced my writers to the idea of “neologisms” coined by Lewis Carroll. I
began by asking the writers to remind me of the details from last spring’s
lesson. I was surprised that they remembered with great detail the suffixes we
explored so long ago:
» cosm
[From Greek kosmos, order,
universe.]
Universe; world
microcosm, macrocosm
» esque
[F., fr. It. -isco. Cf. –ish.]
An
adjective suffix indicating manner or style
Arabesque, Romanesque
» ism
[Greek -ismos, -isma noun suffix]
A
suffix used to form action nouns from verbs, distinctive doctrine, system, or
theory skepticism, truism
They even
remembered more than a handful of the words they crafted, words like: appleism,
s-e-e-ism, TVism, tablesque, pencilesque, windesque, bouncehousecosm,
balooncosm, and lollycosm
As I sat with the
group, I marveled at their retention, but more significantly at their
delight. can’t say the same
about any of the vocabulary development lessons that I’ve utilized through the
years from various curriculums that shall remain nameless!
The art of
crafting neologisms focuses the writer’s attention on the specificity of words
and their potential to enact ideas in a very meaningful way. And lessons that
are meaningful are lasting.
So we began our
exploration of suffixes, mining for meaning and application:
» able
[From Latin abilis, capable of, fit
for.]
washable, enjoyable, pitiable
ex.
Neologism – baloonable
» nomy
[From Greek nomos, system of rules
or knowledge.] astronomy, economy, autonomy
ex.
Neologism – iPodonomy
» ization
[From Greek izein, to become.]
popularization, organization, generalization
ex.
Neologism – basketballization
»
ology
[From Greek logia, to speak of, study or science of.]
biology, geology, anthropology
ex.
Neologism – pickleology
» phobia
[From
Latin phobia, abnormal fear] claustrophobia, arachnophobia, xenophobia
ex.
Neologism – flipflopphobia
» ward
[From
Middle English ward, specifics of direction] toward, homeward, backward
ex.
Neologism – chocolateward
Bonus Suffix:
» biotic
[From
Greek biotikis, of life, method of living] antibiotic, probiotic, microbiotic
ex.
Neologism – fauxbiotic
Ultimately, I challenged the
writers to create a list of neologisms for each suffix. Now I challenge you to do
the same. And as you do, keep in mind, words are a great wonder! Go and salt the earth.
-Kim