Dec. 1st, 2011

concinnous

Dec. 1st, 2011 07:34 am
[identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
concinnous (kuhn-SIN-uhs) - adj., having a harmonious arrangement of parts, esp. in literary works, speeches, and so on; elegant; stylistically congruous.


Having concinnity, which noun form is slightly older in English: both were borrowed from Latin, this from concinnus, neatly arranged, around 1650, while the noun from concinnitās, a nominalized form of the same word, around 1530. I assume the con- part of the Latin is the usual prefix meaning "with," but I cannot confirm that at this time. A tightly structured novel, with no lose plot threads, where the language matches the tone and theme is concinnous. It seems fitting to use a translation of Cicero (from Brutus) for an example use:

"But there are likewise certain forms of expression, which are naturally concinnous, as will necessarily have a similar effect to that of regular numbers."

---L.
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