caliginous

by **Pattie** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 4:32 am

I found this lovely word in Alan Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child. How exciting it is to find a word with which one is unfamiliar!

by **Perry Lassiter** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:25 pm

Dang! You made me go look it up to find it means dark, dim, or obscure. One ref added misty to the mix, as in a caliginous atmosphere. Couldn't discover whether the g is hard or soft, though.

by **Audiendus** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 12:27 pm

Perry Lassiter wrote:Couldn't discover whether the g is hard or soft, though.

It is soft (i.e. pronounced "j"). Latin-derived words (as this is) usually have soft g before e or i, whereas Germanic-derived words (such as get and give) have hard g.

by **Perry Lassiter** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:24 pm

Why the ambiguity in Spanish? Gente vs gato?

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