Occasionally, I post new-to-me words discovered during my reading rambles. I do this for my edification. If you’ve stumbled across this post and you're a word-nerd, you might enjoy these as well. Following each word is a short definition (sometimes with a thought interjected parenthetically), trailed by the context in which the word was found.
locutory: A room for conversation; especially, a room in monasteries, where the monks were allowed to converse. | “When she stood up because a child called her to the locutory in the garden behind one of the house’s walls…” - The Geography of Rebels, Maria Gabriela Llansol
discalced: (used of certain religious orders) barefoot or wearing only sandals | “Covered by the table, and always ready to write, she dreamed about a group of men and Saint John of the Cross, discalced carmelite, sitting in front of an oven, roasting mutton: his forehead began to darken, red, between waves of scent; she understood, by the fixity of his expression, that he had entered the dark night and that either his book or his hands, or his feet were now lying on the rack and they traversed flames and circumstances with unforeseeable results.” - The Geography of Rebels, Maria Gabriela Llansol
demonym: a noun used to denote the natives or inhabitants of a particular country, state, city, etc. | “The planet, of course, is covered with demonyms, and after scouring the world in conversations on this topic with Mary Norris I began a severely selective, highly subjective A-list, extending Mancunian and Vallisoletano through thirty-five others at this writing, including Wulfrunian (Wolverhampton), Novocastrian (Newcastle), Trifluvian (Trois-Rivières), Leodensian (Leeds), Minneapolitan (Minneapolis), Hartlepudlian (Hartlepool), Liverpudlian (you knew it), Haligonian (Halifax), Varsovian (Warsaw), Providentian (Providence), and Tridentine (Trent).” -Draft No. 4, On the Writing Process, John McPhee
architectonics: (of an artistic composition of physical appearance) having a clearly defined structure, especially one that is artistically pleasing. | “After all those one-on-one sessions discussing back-door plays and the role of the left-handed comma in the architectonics of basketball -while The New Yorker magazine hurtled toward its deadlines- I finally said in wonderment, ‘How can you afford to use so much time and go into so many things in such detail with just one writer when this whole enterprise is yours to keep together?’” -Draft No. 4, On the Writing Process, John McPhee
unguent: a soft greasy or viscous substance used as ointment or for lubrication. | “He spread the pâté kind of unguently.” - Jan Morris, The Paris Review, “The Art of the Essay No. 2”