• demesne •
Pronunciation: dê-meyn • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. An estate, the land and property owned by someone. 2. A district, region, territory, or realm dominated by someone; a domain or dominion. 3. {Law} The possession and use of a piece of land.
Notes: Today's Good Word has not only a silent E to be wary of, it also contains a silent S tucked away, uselessly, inside. Don't let either catch you unawares when you write this word.
In Play: If a person's home is his castle, his yard is his demesne: "I love my little demesne in the country; if only I didn't have to mow it." Demesnes are everywhere; you probably have several in your neighborhood: "The principal may make the rules, but the school is the demesne of the janitor, without whom nothing would work."
Word History: Today's Good Word is an excellent example of why spelling is so important. Demesne is a respelling of Middle English demeine, influenced by French mesne "lord of a manor or estate". Under the influence of dominion, the same word was respelled domain. Now we have two spellings to keep track of. Thank heaven the two spellings picked up two different meanings, so that we now have two different words from the one—a good example of how words multiply in a language. (Katy Brezger's demesne is somewhere in Michigan but you can find her discussing interesting words like this one every day in the Agora.)
DEMESNE
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DEMESNE
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Re: DEMESNE
Could one say that Katy's demesne is in Michigan, but that the Agora is her true domain ?......
(Katy Brezger's demesne is somewhere in Michigan but you can find her discussing interesting words like this one every day in the Agora.)
Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?
Re: DEMESNE
One could if one absolutely HAD to make a comment. (insert sarcatic smiley here)Could one say that Katy's demesne is in Michigan, but that the Agora is her true domain ?......
(Katy Brezger's demesne is somewhere in Michigan but you can find her discussing interesting words like this one every day in the Agora.)
Henri
Kt
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Katy, what would become of the Agora, were we to get the feeling that comments are unwelcome ? I find it hard to see anything offensive in my remark, which was designed to investigate the distinction between these two words which share a common origin but which took different paths into the English language....
Henri
Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?
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- Grand Panjandrum
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It's just that others seem to be overly eager to see theirs in print, I'm more modest than that. If It's my contribution as in a post that's one thing, but I guess I don't need much laudatory comment.Relieved to know that - but who ever suggested that you were ? And would it be so terrible, after all, if you did, in fact, like to see your name in print ?......
(not one to glory in the mention of my name in print.)
Henri
Kt
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