Thursday word: llama

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Over in my main journal, I'm running a theme week of Andean animals, and it turns out this word has never been run here:


llama (LAH-muh) - n., a domesticated long-haired South American camelid (Lama glama) raised as a beast of burden as well as as for its meat and wool; also, cloth made from the wool of this animal.



Thanks, Wikimedia!

Pack animal of the Andes. Shaggy, social, inquisitive, and can carry up to 60kg over high mountain passes. Its wild ancestor, the guanaco, is considered a separate species (Lama guanicoe). And let's face it, the name is fun to say. Llama llama llama. And for those of us who've been on the 'net for a while, llama llama duck. Not to be confused with a Tibetan priest (that's a lama). Adopted in 1600 from Spanish, where of course that initial ll- is pronounced with a sound closer to /y/, from the Quechua name for the beast. And in case you're wondering about that glama in the species name, that's an older alternate spelling, which reflects something of the South American pronunciation.

He dressed the llamas in red pajamas, and they spat at him.

---L.

Friday word: Impignorate

[med_cat]

Impignorate, v.: pledge, pawn, mortgage.

Etymology:

Late Latin or Medieval Latin impignoratus, impigneratus, past participle of impignorare, impignerare, from Latin in- ²in- + pignorare, pignerare to pledge

(thanks to spikesgirl58 for the word!)