Condign

[Dr. Goodword]

• condign •

Pronunciation: kên-dain • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Earned, deserved, fitting, merited. 2. Deserving, worthy, equal to the reward or punishment given.

Notes: Today's Good Word has a substantial family, so it is surprising that we hear so little of any of them. Condignity is the noun, with a G that is pronounced. The G is not pronounced in condign and the I is pronounced long, like eye, whereas in condignity is it short, as in dignity. Help us get this family back in circulation. The adverb is simply condignly.

In Play: Condign may refer to a recipient: "When Derry Yare was in charge of the biology department's laboratory animals, he was the condign recipient of the Good Mousekeeping Award three years in a row." You may also turn this adjective around and apply it to what is received: "Derry's Good Mousekeeping award was condign recognition of his work among the cages."

Word History: This word comes, via French, from Latin condignus "wholly deserving", made up of con-, an emphatic prefix in this instance + dignus "deserving, worthy". Yes, that is the same root, dign-, that we see in dignity and indignant. But it is also the same root we see in dogma, paradox, and doxology. These words have significantly different meanings because they came from the Greek variant of the root, the verb dokein "to appear, seem, think". Paradox comes from Greek paradoxos "contrary to expectation" from para "contrary to" + doxa "opinion, thought". (We now offer our condign gratitude to Max Davies for suggesting today's very interesting if rather lonesome Good Word.)

[George Kovac]

"Condign" has always intrigued me because it looks like it should be a noun. It's a great word.

Not everyone has confined "condign" to obscurity. George Will, the cranky political commentator at the Washington Post, writes brilliantly, but, to be honest, he is a bit of a lexiphanes. "Condign" is a word he uses too frequently. It is among a handful of words he over-uses, especially when struggling to make an ordinary observation sound elevated. "Risible" is another of his signature adjectives, with similarly distracting effect. A well deployed rare word is a shrewd rhetorical strategy when it draws attention to the idea presented; less so when it merely draws attention to the writer's supernumerary vocabulary.

"Condign" has a verve to it, and my cavils about Mr. Will notwithstanding, deserves wider usage. It has been providing useful and distinguished service for a long time: “Her selfe of all that rule she deemed most condigne.” Edmund Spenser, Fairie Queene VII. vi. 11 (1596)

[LukeJavan8]

used, also, in old prayers of Christianity.

[Philip Hudson]

gkovac: Lexiphanes is a new word for me. Thanks for the introduction. It seems to be singular so what is its plural?

[George Kovac]

Phil:

I believe that the plural of "lexiphanes" is "the contributors to the New York Review of Books."

George

[Perry Lassiter]

That crack gave me a belly laugh!