Alphadictionary.com

nemoral

Printable Version
Pronunciation: ne-mê-rêl Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Inhabiting a forest or grove or otherwise related to them.

Notes: This word is pleasant to the ear because all its sounds are sonorous, what linguists call sonorants: [n], [m], [r], [l], plus vowels. Its meaning is pleasant, too. It comes with a rarely used synonym, nemorous, and its equally rare noun, nemorosity. Someone who loves forests is a nemophile, and his or her weakness is known as nemophily.

In Play: Nemoral is most at home in discussions of botany: "A small area along the southern coast of Norway belongs to the nemoral vegetation zone." However, anything having to do with forests is fair game for today's word: "Randy Mann had fond memories of his nemoral adventures with Ally Katz."

Word History: Today's Good Word is an Anglified version of Latin nemoralis, from nemus, nemor- "copse, grove" + -alis, an adjectival suffix. Nemus shares a source with Greek nemos "(wooded) pasture, glade", Sanskrit namas "obeisance" and namati "bends, bows"; both were made from PIE nem-/nom- "to bend, bow". Irish neiamh "sky, firmament" and neimheadh "sanctuary" may share the same source, influenced by Gaulish nemeton "sacred grove, temple". Gaulish was a Celtic language spoken in Europe during the Roman Empire. The sense of bending could have a metaphorical relation to willows and other trees on a windy day. Since our ancestors bowed when entering a sacred place, we can see how the sense of the PIE word might have meandered over to these sacred ones. (Now, a double bow again to Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira for his long service on our editorial board and for finding the interest in this word and sharing it with us.)

Dr. Goodword, alphaDictionary.com

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