Assentation

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Dr. Goodword
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Assentation

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Nov 01, 2021 7:55 pm

• assentation •


Pronunciation: æ-sen-tay-shên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: Inclination to obsequiously agree with anything, ready assent, servile agreement, conformity of opinion.

Notes: Assentation is obviously the action noun for assent but with an unusual twist: it means "to willingly assent to everything" (see Word History for why). It comes with a personal noun, assentator, and an adjective, assentatory. The adjective assentatious was added later by a British writer.

In Play: Assentation refers to an inclination to servilely assent to everything: "Gloria's pre-feminist days were marked by the assentation of a respectable housewife." It can also inhabit herd mentality: "Assentation plays a larger role than it should in political elections."

Word History: Today's Good Word and its family were borrowed from Latin assentation(n) "flattering assent, flattery, adulation", the action noun of assentare "to flatter, agree servilely". This word is the frequentative of assentire "to agree, assent", originally meaning "to assent many times, frequently". French trimmed assentire down to assentir "to agree", which English borrowed and shortened even further to assent. Latin assentire was created from ad "(up) to" + sentire "to feel, sense, think", the D assimilating to the initial S in sentire. Latin built sentire out of PIE sent- "to take a direction, to feel", which underlies a host of Latinate borrowings, including sense, sentiment, sentence, and resent. (Now, a thundering roar of e-applause for Mary Kaye, who thought today's Good Word just might be topical.)
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George Kovac
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Re: assentation

Postby George Kovac » Tue Nov 02, 2021 7:12 am

Thank you Mary Kaye for this wonderful and necessary word. In the last few years “sycophant” and “sycophancy” have been rescued from the vocabulary of the arcane to become the signature description of the current Weltanschauung. That word is worn out from repeated use. Thank you for a refreshing synonym. Too bad that we need either of these words with such frequency.
"Every battle of ideas is fought on the terrain of language." Zia Haider Rahman, New York Times 4/8/2016


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