• raiment •
Pronunciation: ray-ment • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. (Mass noun) Clothing, apparel, usually unusually beautiful. 2. (Count noun) A garment or article of (fine) apparel.
Notes: Today's Good Word is presented in many dictionaries as a simple synonym for clothing, but the beauty of the word itself usually conveys the sense of extremely fine clothing. It may be used as a mass noun like apparel with no plural (She arrived in raiment fit for a queen) or as a count noun like garment (Her finely fashioned raiments stunned everyone in the room). It may also be used as a verb.
In Play: The first sense of today's word is physical clothing or apparel: "Maude Lynn Dresser attended the party in raiment that raised every eyebrow in the house." However, the same metaphors that apply to apparel work even more beautifully with this word: "The maple trees in their raiment of red and gold slowed traffic down to a crawl."
Word History: Today's Good Word is rather the score of a lexical tennis match between Germanic and Romance languages. It is based on a Germanic word borrowed by Latin, passed on to Italian, borrowed by French and returned, at last, safe if not sound, to a Germanic language, this time English. Most recently this word arose by shortening Middle English arayment "clothing", borrowed from French araiement. French inherited its word from a Vulgar (Street) Latin word we can no longer find or borrowed it from Italian arredare, which now means "to furnish". The Latin word came from ad "(up) to" + redare, a word that must come from the Germanic stem raed-, also the source of English ready. The original verbal meaning, therefore, would seem to have been "to ready up", a sense that slid very comfortably into "to dress". (Let us all now raiment Joe Heckel with our warmest gratitude for suggesting today's Good Word.)
RAIMENT
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RAIMENT
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raiment
Dear Doc,
I don't know what's wrong with my 'inner' ear, or what you would call it, but I have always pronounced that word, 'rain-ment'.
My reading exposure to this word is the regulation King James Version of the Bible, which sprinkles it around liberally, "The life is more than meat, and the body [is more] than raiment." Luke 12:23, e.g., and although I would never misspell it, that 'n' would inevitably find its way in my speaking voice!
I find that amazing and humorous.
Have a resplendent day!
Sardith
I don't know what's wrong with my 'inner' ear, or what you would call it, but I have always pronounced that word, 'rain-ment'.
My reading exposure to this word is the regulation King James Version of the Bible, which sprinkles it around liberally, "The life is more than meat, and the body [is more] than raiment." Luke 12:23, e.g., and although I would never misspell it, that 'n' would inevitably find its way in my speaking voice!
I find that amazing and humorous.
Have a resplendent day!
Sardith
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
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raiment
Oh, not possible, Luke.
My auditory augmentation began long before 'Rain Man', but nice try.
My auditory augmentation began long before 'Rain Man', but nice try.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
Sardith's "inner ear" problem made me smile. Wonder if there's a word that means "the insertion or substitution of letters in a word". My wife has an aunt that always talks about the money she saves by shopping at "Walmark". Never does any good to tell her the name of the store ends with a "t", not a "k".
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I'm going to change myself. -- Rumi
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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raiment
I see, so I am not the only one with the auditory malfunction. That makes me smile.
Sardith
Sardith
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
~Mark Twain, [pen name for Samuel Clemens], American author and humorist, (1835-1910)~
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Rai[n]ment
I'm sure Luke is not the only person who thinks or has thought this word to be rainment. It's called 'folk etymology' and I've written about it several times. Would a slicker or raincoat qualify as 'rainment'?
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