Sunday, February 6, 2011

Word of the day: confertisparsison

Dot Wordsworth in the Spectator on the correct use of “between”:
That might be an end of it, were it not for hatred of another construction: between each (the notion being that, since each is a singularity, nothing can come between it). A good counter-example comes in a translation made in 1856 by John Williams of a Welsh grammar compiled 600 years earlier by Ederyn the Golden Tongued: ‘A syllable that terminates with four consonants, having the obscure pronunciation of the mutescent y between each, is called confertisparsison.’
Dot Wordsworth isn’t her real name, and she isn’t a real she. But she is very good.

2 comments:

  1. I'm having problems trying to pronounce the beautiful word, let alone trying to spell it!

    But I will try, sir.

    ReplyDelete