In honor of Dictionary Day (October 16th, which is Webster's birthday), here is a word about words (thanks so much to my husband for sharing this Word.A.Day gem with me):
WORD: epeolatry (ep-i-OL-uh-tree)
MEANING:
noun: The worship of words.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek epos (word) + -latry (worship). The first citation of the word is from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in his 1860 book Professor at the Breakfast Table.
USAGE:
"I read my dictionary for a few more minutes, until tiredness eventually brought my epeolatry to an end for the day."
-- Roger Day; Anurada Negotiates Our Wobbly Planet; Lulu; 2006.
My husband and I agree that it sucks that "epeolatry" does not fall trippingly off of the tongue -- it's a pretty awkward word to pronounce. Having said that, this is one "religion" that I could get behind.
Oh, and I totally grok the Roger Day quote.
From what I can gather from the internet, Dictionary Day (and every day) should be devoted to celebrating words and building literacy skills.
Well, I'm off to catch the end of the Phillies-Dodgers game.
Good night,
Sylvie
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