concinnous

Dec. 1st, 2011 07:34 am
[identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] 1word1day
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.
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting
Page generated Jun. 21st, 2025 08:27 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios