Gravamen

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Dr. Goodword
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Gravamen

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:38 pm

• gravamen •

Pronunciation: grê-vay-mên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. The main point of a grievance or accusation, the critical part of an accusation, the heart of a grievance. 2. (Rare) A formal complaint or accusation.

Notes: No, this isn't a fancy alternative to gravedigger. It is taken directly from Latin, so has two plural forms: gravamina or, in the US, gravamens. In the 17th and 18th century writers tried to introduce a related adjective, gravaminous, but it didn't catch on.

In Play: Today's word isn't widely used to refer to the grievance as a whole, but just the core of a grievance: "The gravamen of the complaints against the salesman was his hostile attitude toward customers." A gravamen need not be mentioned in the charges: "The real, unspoken gravamen of the charges brought against the professor was the way he dressed for class."

Word History: Today's Good Word, as mentioned above, is taken directly from Medieval Latin gravamen "injury, accusation", based on Classical Latin gravare "to burden". This verb is based on gravis "heavy", which underlies many Latin words borrowed by English: gravity, gravitas, aggravate, and grave, the adjective. The English noun grave came through the old Germanic languages and ended up with the same pronunciation and spelling as the adjective. Sanskrit guru "heavy, serious, venerable" comes from the same root. Finally, English grieve was borrowed from Old French grever "to harm", the direct descendant of Latin gravare. (Time now to thank Sue Gold, an old friend of Dr. Goodword and Lexiteria, for recommending today's exceptionally Good Word.)
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cfz3
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Re: Gravamen

Postby cfz3 » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:02 am

I could not help but notice that In Play for today's Good Word included a fine example of a very recent Good Word, as I understand it: apophasis:

"The real, unspoken gravamen of the charges brought against the professor was the way he dressed for class."

This, for me, is a good way to reinforce the introduction of a word into one's active vocabulary. Thanks!

Chick

LukeJavan8
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Re: Gravamen

Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:26 pm

Truly.
And I liked the likening of 'to grieve" as heavey, a burden.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

David Myer
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Re: Gravamen

Postby David Myer » Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:29 pm

And no relation at all to 'gravy', however drab. Which reminds me of the lovely line from Tony Hancock, a 60s BBC comedian. When presented at sunday lunch with a plate of roast beef and potatoes, he paused and said "Well, I thought my mother was a bad cook, but at least her gravy moved."


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