Petrichor

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Petrichor

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Sep 21, 2014 11:17 pm

• petrichor •

Pronunciation: pe-trê-kor • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: That distinctively pleasant fragrance of rain falling on dry ground. It is produced by oily, yellow-gold globules, rather like perfume, that come either from certain plants or the air itself.

Notes: This amazingly beautiful word was introduced by two Australian geologists, I. J. Bear and R. G. Thomas, in a 1964 article that appeared in Nature (993/2), referring to a rather specific aroma. However, we have all experienced the pleasure of the smell of rain against dry earth; now, we have a word to express that pleasure. It is too young to have progeny yet, but when it reaches appropriate seniority, I predict it will produce an adjective, petrichoric.

In Play: This word certainly belongs in the vocabulary of all terroirists: "I'm certain that the soil which produced the bouquet of this chardonnay also produced an equally fragrant petrichor." But once we are comfortable with it, we can unleash our metaphoric creativity: "Her entrance into his life was a refreshing petrichor ending a long season of dry relationships."

Word History: It is amazing how such a beautiful word as today's Good Word can arise from such an ordinary combination of roots. It comprises the root of Greek petros "stone" + ichor, the mythical rarified fluid that flowed in the veins of the gods. (Ichor now refers to any watery discharge from a wound or inflammation.) Petros is also the Greek form of the name "Peter", which is why Jesus claimed him to be the rock on which His church would be built. So the name of the film character, Rocky, is simply a translation of the Greek Peter.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Petrichor

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:08 pm

One of my favorite words, probably because I love
the fragrance.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: Petrichor

Postby DavidLJ » Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:47 pm

What a fine word, and such a pleasant post!

Where and how did you find it?

-dlj.

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Re: Petrichor

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:59 am

I don't really recall; it has been so long ago. I think I may have heard it used by my friend in Geology. We used to meet, a group of faculty from different departments, every morning at 10.
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Re: Petrichor

Postby Stargzer » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:03 pm

According to the Good Word Dictionary it was used five and nine years ago (we've been around a loooonnnngggg time here!).
Regards//Larry

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Re: Petrichor

Postby Dr. Goodword » Thu Sep 25, 2014 11:02 pm

Were you with me at yourDictionary.com? I've been here longer than you say.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Petrichor

Postby LukeJavan8 » Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:32 pm

I was with you there.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: Petrichor

Postby Slava » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:42 pm

Aye, I've been with you both here and there. You even helped me in being sure that someone else was wrong in saying that the "tel" of telic was the same as the "tele" of -vision, -phone, -gram, and relatives. That one infuriated me so much, given the author's dismissal of my comment, that I unsubscribed from the site. I liked that a-word-a-day site, but, my feeling is, if you made the mistake, don't tell me to shut up! Period, end of story, etc. :evil:
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Re: Petrichor

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:22 am

And that site closed down saying they were going to
open as a bigger and better site, which they never did.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

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Re: Petrichor

Postby Slava » Tue Jan 20, 2015 12:30 pm

Going back to the word, here's an article on recent studies of how petrichor is formed.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Petrichor

Postby LukeJavan8 » Tue Jan 20, 2015 2:21 pm

I like the smell and the word. Good video, thanks.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

bnjtokyo

Re: Petrichor

Postby bnjtokyo » Wed Jan 28, 2015 8:21 am


LukeJavan8
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Re: Petrichor

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:36 pm

I had not seen that. Essentially same info but with different
emphasis it would seem. We had some rain yesterday,
unheard of here in the Frozen Wastes, but the petrichor
smell was here. Love it.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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