Objurgate

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7419
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Objurgate

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:53 pm

• objurgate •


Pronunciation: ahb-jêr-gayt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: To rebuke harshly, to scold or berate offensively.

Notes: Patched and tattered clichés like 'chew out', 'cuss out', 'dress down', 'call on the carpet' (and these are just the clean ones) have all but obliterated more subtly articulated terms for speaking harshly to someone. The whole panoply of Good Words, like chide, reproach, upbraid, rebuke, scold, berate, and, the best of them all, objurgate, are more often read than heard. A chide is a very mild rebuke, almost in jest. A reproach is not quite as mild though hardly harsh. If you are truly irritated, you will reproach someone, but if you feel totally justified, then you can kick it on up to an upbraiding. Finally, the ultimate degree of dressing someone down brings us to today's Good Word, objurgation (the noun).

In Play: Today's Good Word offers a way to replace a good pocketful of tired and worn out clichés with a set of words that reflects an array of subtle semantic differences: "I would hardly call it a rebuke—he objurgated the daylights out of me!" Of course, the effect of these verbs varies with whoever issues them: "I can take Dad's objurgation better than Mom's chiding me over the condition of my room."

Word History: This Good Word comes from Latin objurgare "to scold, rebuke" comprising ob- "against" and jurgare "to quarrel, sue, rebuke". Jurgare itself breaks down into jurare "to swear" (from which we get jury, injury, and jurisprudence) and the [g], which seems to come from agere "to do, act, drive". Of course, agere gave us our agent, act, and squat. "Squat?" I hear you ask. Yes, squat. This good verb comes from Middle English squatten, from Old French esquatir "to crush" (makes you wonder how Middle Englishmen cracked nuts). The French verb is made up of es-, an intensive prefix from Latin ex- "from" + quatir "to press flat". Now, here is where it gets interesting. Quatir comes from Vulgar (street) Latin coactire based on real Latin coactus. This word is the past participle of cogere "to compress" from co- "together" + agere, the same verb that accounts for the [g] in our Good Word today.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

gwray
Lexiterian
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:36 am

Re: Objurgate

Postby gwray » Sun Feb 21, 2021 8:46 am

Where does excoriate fit in. It seems to me to be the ultimate in tearing a strip off someones hide.

Other synonyms per Merriam-Webster with various intensities are: abuse, assail, attack, bash, belabor, blast, castigate, jump (on), lambaste (or lambast), potshot, savage, scathe, slam, trash, vituperate
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver Proverbs 25:11

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Objurgate

Postby Slava » Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:07 am

My take is that excoriate is more personal, as in physical presence.

Objurgation can be a public denunciation, without the object's presence. Excoriation is a direct dressing-down to someone's face.

That's my take, however.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

gwray
Lexiterian
Posts: 124
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:36 am

Re: Objurgate

Postby gwray » Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:39 pm

That is an interesting distinction, Slava, and it makes some sense to me.

In keeping with the derivation of the word, I have always imagined excoriation as a tongue-lashing metaphorically as brutal as a flogging. As such, I would have characterized McConnell's recent speech as an excoriation of Trump. Objurgation is a new word to my vocabulary but—based on dictionary definitions—would also be appropriate to the occasion and perhaps—given Slava's distinction—more so. I am trying to tease out the nuances. I would be interested in other perspectives.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver Proverbs 25:11

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Objurgate

Postby Slava » Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:56 pm

To use excoriate in this situation, I would go for "excoriated the former guy's _____(fill in the blank)," or some other, abstract concept.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: Objurgate

Postby Philip Hudson » Sun Feb 21, 2021 6:44 pm

With all the low down sneaky conniving action going on we feel we need some of these harsh words. Yet the the writer of Proverbs in the Bible penned, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."[Prov 15:1 KJV]. But temper that that with the Apostle Pails writing: "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. [Rom12:20 KJV] A sort of "Shame him and make him feel remorse." Since remorse is in such short supply, it is left up to each of us to berate, cajole, or give the enemy a black eye. Whatever you do, "Get over it and get a good night's sleep." That is a Biblical paraphrase.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], Google [Bot] and 60 guests