Today’s Word of the Week comes from a reader request! Ready? Let’s take a look at the word elegant.
Elegant had been in the English language since the late 1400s, starting life with the meaning of “tastefully ornate.” Our English word came from the French élégant, which in turn comes from the Latin elegantem, an adjective meaning “choice, fine, tasteful.” The root of elegantem is actually eligere, a verb that means “to select with care, to choose.” This is the same root from which we get the word election! Did you realize those two were related? I didn’t!
Interestingly, the Latin adjective first carried the sense of “dantiy, fastidious” and was used as an insult or term of reproach. But eventually the Latin evolved to mean “tastefully refined,” which is what then carried over into French and English.
Word Nerds Unite!
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Oh, Rosanna! Your emails are the best – I save them for last because they are so … elegant? And more.
I love my books (that I read) to be all lengths and sometimes, if I only have a few hours, I will choose a book that I know will go quickly and be entertaining. However, if I want an edifying book, I choose you. I will save it and say, “when I have a whole weekend…” Your books always make me cry in either a good way or a sad way and sometimes, both.
I’m not sure who it is that edits your books, but if they say more, then do it. I will love it just the same. Thank-you so much and God bless you.