Flourish

[Dr. Goodword]

• flourish •

Pronunciation: flê-rish • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, noun

Meaning: 1. To grow luxuriantly, thrive. 2. To prosper, blossom, succeed excessively, to fare extremely well. 3. To make bold, sweeping movement, brandish, wave boldly. 4. (Noun) A decorative frill, ostentatiously ornamental display in art, music, etc. 5. (Noun) Showiness, frilly decoration.

Notes: Here is a word that flourished in the 18th century but since has declined in popularity. Although borrowed, it has been completely Anglicized, using the present participle, flourishing. as adjective and action noun and flourisher as a personal and instrumental noun in the sense of "one who or that which flourishes".

In Play: This word is basically a verb: "In the world of politics crazy ideas seem to flourish while sensible ones wither on the vine," that may be used as a noun untarnished by prefix or suffix: "The king entered the room to a flourish of trumpets."

Word History: Today's Good Word is an English creation from the Old French floriss-, variant stem of florir "to blossom; prosper", inherited legally from Latin florere "to blossom; prosper", based on flos, floris "flower". Latin made this word out of PIE bhel-/bhol- "leaf, bloom" which seems to have drifted away from an original meaning of "to swell, grow, burgeon". We also find the original meaning underlying Sanskrit barsva "bulge, bead", Greek falle "whale", German Ball "ball" and English ball. The later sense went into the making of Greek fillo "leaf", Welsh blodyn "bloom, blossom", Irish bláth "blossom", Dutch blad "leaf, sheet, blade" and bloem "flower", German Blume "blossom" and Blüte "flower", Danish blomst "flower" and blad "leaf", and English bloom, blade (of grass), and blossom.

[Slava]

Isn't it great when roots grow wild? Words meaning whale and flower from the same basic beginnings is a good one.

By the by, florid is also a relative, as related here and here.

[George Kovac]

Thanks Slava. I agree and would like to add to your list one of my favorite (but rare) words which blossoms from the same root word: “floruit.” Dictionary.com defines it as “he (or she) flourished: used to indicate the period during which a person flourished, especially when the exact birth and death dates are unknown.”

I note that English, being English in its delight of chaotic spelling, also includes another favorite but rare word: “bruit.” The same last four letters as “floruit,” but different pronunciation. Such inconsistencies are the fruit of our orthographic past.

[Slava]

Bruit has been bruited about on the Agora a couple of times, here and here. I'll ask the question here that I posed in one of those: do you use 1 or 2 syllables to say it? It rhymes with fruit for me.