Congeries

[Dr. Goodword]

• congeries •

Pronunciation: kahn-jê-rees • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, singular

Meaning: A disparate if not disheveled collection of things, a confused mass of dissimilar objects.

Notes: I like 'curve' words like today's Good Word. In baseball, a curve ball is a pitcher's throw that curves, that isn't what it seems to be to the batter. It is used today to indicate a misdirection. So, a 'curve' word is one that isn't what it seems to be. Contumely "arrogant rudeness" is one of my favorites, a noun that seems to be an adverb. Congeries seems to be a plural noun but it isn't; it is singular though it may be used unchanged in the plural.

In Play: Any time you need a lovely word for a salmagundi of things, think of congeries: "Gladys Friday left a congeries of unfinished tasks on my desk, and Noam Knott refuses to help me even sort them out." New York is a congeries of different cultures. No matter how difficult it is, remember to use a singular verb with this noun unless you really mean more than one congeries: "When I first arrived on the job here, departments were just congeries of unrelated jobs carried out by a confused and unfocused staff."

Word History: Today's Good Word simply is Latin congeries "a heap, pile", derived from congerere "to bring together, to heap up", comprising com- "(together) with" + gerere "to bring, carry". We are not sure where the root of gerere came from, but we know where it went. The past participle of congerere is congestus "brought together, piled up", the source of English congest and congestion. Without the prefix, the past participle of the root, gerere, is gestus "carried, pregnant", the root of the English borrowing gestate. Gesture and gesticulate come from Latin words also based on this root. They originally referred to posture, the way Romans carried themselves. (It is long past due that I thank the valiant editors of the Good Word series, Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira and Mary Jane Stoneburg for all their efforts to put my style at best. The responsibility for any remaining errors, of course, lies solely at my feet.)

[George Kovac]

Congeries belongs to that congeries of English words that look plural but are singular. Other examples are biceps, kudos, (and for the pedants among us, opera).

In print, the usage of congeries cries out for the comfort of a plural verb, but that would be wrong. Here’s an example of a writer who avoided that dilemma by using congeries in a modifying phrase rather than as the subject of his sentence:

“Humans beings developed language, anthropologists tell us, tens of thousands of years ago. ... Homo sapiens, that congeries of narcissists, has been contemplating its journey ever since.” Charles C. Mann, Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2015, review of Yuval Noah Harari’s book “Sapiens.”

[Audiendus]

So, a 'curve' word is one that isn't what it seems to be. Contumely "arrogant rudeness" is one of my favorites, a noun that seems to be an adverb. Congeries seems to be a plural noun but it isn't; it is singular though it may be used unchanged in the plural.

'Congeries' is similar in form to 'series' and 'species', but those two words are of course much more common, and therefore not so misleading.

Other 'curve' words:

Singular nouns that look plural: mews, shambles, summons, apologia.

Rhetoric is a noun that looks like an adjective.
Prolix is an adjective that looks like a noun.
Caudad is an adverb that looks like a (Spanish) noun.

Can anyone think of other striking examples?

[George Kovac]

singular noun that looks plural: premises (meaning a specific area of real estate, as in "the premises is the headquarters of a tech company")

plural nouns that we often mistake for singular: data, media

plural noun that we now accept as singular: agenda


adjective that looks like a noun: condign

[Audiendus]

premises (meaning a specific area of real estate, as in "the premises is the headquarters of a tech company")

I would use a plural verb here.

"The premises are the headquarters..."
"These [not 'this'] premises are the headquarters..."

However, both "this headquarters is" and "these headquarters are" are possible.

[Philip Hudson]

Please don't introduce the word congeries to my wife. That will just give her more ammunition to castigate me about the state of my study, or as some say, my man cave. If I want neat, I will sit in the parlor.