words-i-learned-today

[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "All of Eudoxia's confusion, the mules' braying, the lampblack stains, the fish smell, is what is evident in the incomplete perspective you grasp; (...)" lampblack

a type of black pigment made by collecting the soot produced by burning oil or gas. [1]

[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "History of Charles XII, King of Sweden", by Voltaire: "What the Ottomans had failed to do, he [Peter the Great] had done within a short time: He eradicated the Russian Janissaries, the strelitzes, who claimed a custodianship over the tsars for themselves." strelitz (or strelets, or streltsy) borrowed from Russian стреле́ц (streléc, “shooter, archer”) a member of a historical russian corps of fireman infantry that also formed its own social stratum, established around 1550 by Ivan the Terrible and gradually disbanded by Peter the Great in the late 17th and early 18th century.

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[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "The stevedores climbed the steps in a line, bent beneath demijohns and barrels, their faces were hidden by sackcloth hoods."

stevedore /ˈstiːvəˌdɔː(ɹ)/ from Spanish "estibator", from "estivar", "estibar" ("to load") a dockworker, a person who loads and unloads ships. demijohn borrowed from French "dame-jeanne" (literally “Lady Jane”), of uncertain origin a type of large bottle with a short neck, sometimes encased in wickerwork.

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[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "On the dock the sailor who caught the rope and tied it to the bollard resembled a man who had soldiered with me and was dead."

bollard (/ˈbɒləɹd/) from Old Norse "bolr" (“stump, trunk”) a short, sturdy, vertical post or pillar 1. used to tie a ship to land ("mooring") 2. used to prevent vehicle access to a pedestrian area

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[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "At every point the city offers surprises to your view: a caper bush jutting from the fortress' walls, the statues of three queens on corbels, an onion dome with three smaller onions threaded on the spire." corbel (/ˈkɔːbəl/) a structural piece of a pillar or wall jutting out at the top to carry extra weight

[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "And what a variety of windows looks down on the streets: mullioned, Moorish, lancet, pointed, surmounted by lunettes or stained-glass roses; (...)" mullion (/ˈmʌliən/) from Old French "moinel" ("middle") a vertical bar seperating a window into two halves. lancet (/lɑːn.sɪt/, /læn.sɪt/) from Old French "lancette", diminuitive of "lance" 1. a high, narrow, pointed arch or window. 2. a double-edged scalpel. lunette (/ly.nɛt/) from French "lunette", diminuitive of "lune" ("moon") 1. a semicircular space above a door or window, often decorated with sculptures, paint, or other art. 2. various other crescent-shaped or semicircular things, see wiktionary ([3]) for more :)

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[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Invisible Cities", by Italo Calvino: "And that is not all: the network of routes is not arranged on one level, but follows instead an up-and-down course of steps, landings, cambered bridges, hanging streets." camber (/ˈkæmbər/) from Middle French "cambre" (bent) a slight arching, upward curve, or convexity, for example: 1. a slight curve or bend put into a structure for increased stability, such as in a bridge 2. the slope from the middle of a road towards the sides, designed to make rainwater run off 3. the difference in curvature between the upper and lower sides of an airplane wing [1] [2] [3]

[words-i-learned-today]

Found in "Villes", by Paul Verlaine: "But the snow on the street has been trampled, a few nabobs, as rare as sunday morning pedestrians in London, are walking towards a carriage of diamonds." nabob (/ˈneɪbɒb/)

from Hindi नवाब (navāb, "deputy", "ruler", "viceroy")

1 - A governor of the mughal empire. 2 - A european person who became rapidly wealthy in a foreign country, typically India, often specifically by working for the East India Trading company.

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