Concinnity

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Dr. Goodword
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Concinnity

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun May 23, 2021 7:04 pm

• concinnity •


Pronunciation: kên-sin-i-ti • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Harmony, elegant congruity, skillful fitting together, especially music, speech and writing, though any other thing that may be put together or arranged.

Notes: This word has a large family that is about to vanish from the English vocabulary. The adjective underlying this word is concinne "harmonious,well-fitted together, eleganly arranged". Concinnate is a verb derived from it, too, the noun for which is concinnation. Just remember the double N in all these words.

In Play: This word is most comfortable in speech about music and language: "William Shakespeare was the ultimate master of poetic concinnity of his day." However, any elegant congruity is susceptible to expression by this word: "It was the concinnity of the way he worked that wangled Philippe's way into Agnes's heart."

Word History: Today's Good Word was built upon the remains of archaic concinne "harmonious, well-fitted together, skillfully arranged" + -ity, a deadjectival noun suffix. Concinne was borrowed from the Latin adverb concinne "neatly". It is composed of con- "(together) with" + cin-, the combining form of cano "I sing, play (music), chant". Today in Portuguese and Spanish we still find cantar, in Italian cantare, and French chanter "to sing", which English borrowed for its chant. All these words derive from PIE kan- "to sing", source also of Welsh canu "singing" and Breton kan "song". This word descended through their Germanic ancestors to German Hahn "rooster", a notorious singer, and Old English as han "rooster", which today is hen. (This ancient word was discovered by wordmaster Lew Jury, who has been recommending Good Words via e-mail since 2005, the year after Good Words came on line.)
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Slava
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Re: concinnity

Postby Slava » Mon May 24, 2021 6:33 am

Odd that the root of hen is rooster. :? Gender-bending from way back?

I wonder if the Star Wars writers knew the root of Han when they chose the name. I imagine so.

I guess one could say that my father's apartment at Christmas was known for the concinnity of its decorations. He went all out, but tastefully and well.

This does make me think of "with sin," however.
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George Kovac
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Re: Concinnity

Postby George Kovac » Mon May 24, 2021 12:26 pm

A marvelous and useful word to learn. Well worth wider exposure. “Concinnity” is pleasant to the ear and broader in its embrace than “euphonious.” And not a tongue twister like “mellifluous.”

As to Slava’s observation that the pronunciation of the first two syllables of “concinnity” reminds her of “with sin,” I counter with this: In Spanish, the pronunciation results in this antithesis: “con sin” translates as “with without.” Important words to know and distinguish here in Spanglish-speaking Miami when ordering your café con leche: con o sin azúcar (sugar)?
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David Myer
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Re: Concinnity

Postby David Myer » Tue May 25, 2021 6:50 am

And interesting to consider this contribution from a friend of mine:

"I wonder if it’s related to being consonant with something? That too means (according to Miriam Webster) 1 : being in agreement or harmony : free from elements making for discord The decision was consonant with the … and the similarity of sounds suggests there may be some relationship."

Any ideas, anyone? My guess is there is no direct connection except the coincidence of meaning.

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Slava
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Re: Concinnity

Postby Slava » Tue May 25, 2021 7:04 am

It sounds right to me. Right up there with singing a song. Six pence not necessary.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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