Monday words: colportage, bovarysme

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

I missed last week, so two words this week.

colportage (kŏl′pôr′tĭj), noun
The distribution of cheap popular literature, including sensational novels, romances, religious tracts, and chapbooks.
The people who hawked such items were called colporteurs.

The term 'coleporteur' has nothing to do with Cole Porter.
It comes from French colportage, which might be derived from collum, neck + porter, to carry; i.e., to carry on one's neck.

bovarysme (bohv-ar-eezn), noun
A tendency toward escapist daydreaming in which one imagines oneself as the hero or heroine of a romance and refuses to acknowledge everyday realities.

Etymology:  named for the protagonist of Flabuert's novel Madame Bovary.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

-tij or tahj? I'd always assumed the latter -- though that would make sense only for recent French imports. Older words like this get thoroughly Anglicized.