Nemoral

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Nemoral

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jan 17, 2023 7:30 pm

• nemoral •


Pronunciation: ne-mê-rêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Inhabiting a forest or grove or otherwise related to them.

Notes: This word is pleasant to the ear because all its sounds are sonorous, what linguists call sonorants: [n], [m], [r], [l], plus vowels. Its meaning is pleasant, too. It comes with a rarely used synonym, nemorous, and its equally rare noun, nemorosity. Someone who loves forests is a nemophile, and his or her weakness is known as nemophily.

In Play: Nemoral is most at home in discussions of botany: "A small area along the southern coast of Norway belongs to the nemoral vegetation zone." However, anything having to do with forests is fair game for today's word: "Randy Mann had fond memories of his nemoral adventures with Ally Katz."

Word History: Today's Good Word is an Anglified version of Latin nemoralis, from nemus, nemor- "copse, grove" + -alis, an adjectival suffix. Nemus shares a source with Greek nemos "(wooded) pasture, glade", Sanskrit namas "obeisance" and namati "bends, bows"; both were made from PIE nem-/nom- "to bend, bow". Irish neiamh "sky, firmament" and neimheadh "sanctuary" may share the same source, influenced by Gaulish nemeton "sacred grove, temple". Gaulish was a Celtic language spoken in Europe during the Roman Empire. The sense of bending could have a metaphorical relation to willows and other trees on a windy day. Since our ancestors bowed when entering a sacred place, we can see how the sense of the PIE word might have meandered over to these sacred ones. (Now, a double bow again to Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira for his long service on our editorial board and for finding the interest in this word and sharing it with us.)
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Slava
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Re: Nemoral

Postby Slava » Mon Dec 18, 2023 6:54 pm

This one throws me every time I see it. I take the ne- as a negative, meaning 'not', and lose it from there. Amoral, nemoral, they're the same to me visually.

I did just discover nemoricole, living in a grove, but I doubt I'll remember it for long. Sigh.
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Re: Nemoral

Postby David Myer » Mon Dec 18, 2023 9:20 pm

Nemoricole - Living in a grove. Hmmm. What distinguishes a grove from a copse, I wonder? Is it size? Arrange in order of size: copse, grove, wood, stand, forest, spinney, thicket and no doubt lots more. Maybe size is not the only distinction?


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