word for the day 8/17/05 fustian
fustian \FUSS-chun\ noun 1 : a strong cotton and linen fabric 2 : highflown or affected writing or speech; broadly : anythinghighflown or affected in style
Example sentence: The book is just more fustian from another author who is a pretentious bore writing to impress himself.
"Fustian" has been used in English for a kind of cloth since the 13thcentury, but it didn't acquire its highflown sense until at least threecenturies later. One of the earliest known uses of the "pretentious writing or speech" sense occurs in Christopher Marlowe's play DoctorFaustus when Wagner says, "Let thy left eye be diametarily [sic] fixed upon my right heel, with quasi vestigiis nostris insistere," and the clown replies, "God forgive me, he speaks Dutch fustian." The precise origins of the word "fustian" aren't clear. English picked it up from Anglo-French,which adopted it from Medieval Latin, but its roots beyond that point area subject of some dispute.
Example sentence: The book is just more fustian from another author who is a pretentious bore writing to impress himself.
"Fustian" has been used in English for a kind of cloth since the 13thcentury, but it didn't acquire its highflown sense until at least threecenturies later. One of the earliest known uses of the "pretentious writing or speech" sense occurs in Christopher Marlowe's play DoctorFaustus when Wagner says, "Let thy left eye be diametarily [sic] fixed upon my right heel, with quasi vestigiis nostris insistere," and the clown replies, "God forgive me, he speaks Dutch fustian." The precise origins of the word "fustian" aren't clear. English picked it up from Anglo-French,which adopted it from Medieval Latin, but its roots beyond that point area subject of some dispute.
posted by hellkittennyc at 12:06 PM
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