beautiful words

[jenni_blog]

A friend and I were discussing writing and the use of beautiful words. Not in the sense of what they mean but how they sound, how they roll off the tongue and perhaps invoke some feeling that goes beyond their meaning. We were talking about the English language specifically. She mentioned a quote from JRR Tolkien in which he had stated that the word 'cellar door' (which is actually two words) was the most beautiful word in the English language. My first reaction was "Huh?"

First, I didn't know about this quote and because I tend to associate meaning with how beautiful I believe a word to be rather than the sound of the word, and maybe because I don't tend to read out loud, but in my mind only, I wouldn't even think about how a word sounded when I was writing. I wasn't feeling too partial to 'cellar door', which, of course, means 'basement door' and is actually two words, like front door, back door, side door, open door, closed door, etc., etc. All pretty mundane words as far as meaning goes. For me meaning is more important than sound.

However, since thinking about the beauty of the sound of words, I began to think of a few that I thought were beautiful in both sound and meaning. I went a bit farther than English, and included some Spanish, French, Basque and one German name in the mix. This is because I don't think English is a beautiful language at all. (I'm including meanings as well.) I'd really like to know how others in my flist view words. What are your favourite words in any languages? Is sound or meaning more important to you, or do you believe both are important?

My favourite English words (meanings in brackets):

allusion (reference)
illusion (dream)
crystalline (formed of crystal)
echoes (reverberating sounds)
glimmering (twinkling)
overdrive (an intense state of activity)
resonance (the sound of something left behind after it is finished making a sound, or vibration) (this also has many more meanings in chemistry, physics, electronics, etc.)
spellbound (enchanted)
wanderer (traveler)

And a favourite line from a poem:

'Fret of the chain-mail sea'

(From 'An Irish Monk on Lindisfarne, about 650 AD' by Gael Turnbull)

That line invokes something wonderfully ancient and far-seeing for me, with some menacing overtones which makes it all the more attractive.

Favourite Spanish words:

Libertad (freedom)
Merendero (cafe)
Mirame (look at me)
Paraiso (heaven)
Redondel (ring)

And a wonderful expression: Lo que viene (that which comes, or what comes--a most wonderful way to say 'up next' with reference to something coming up on TV for instance. 'Up next' is so abrupt, but 'lo que viene' just rolls off the tongue.)

Favourite French words:

Chemin de fer (railway)
Farine (flour)
Longchamps (this is a name, not a word, but I love it)
Soleil (sun)

And the title of a favourite opera: La Boheme

Favourite Basque words and expressions:

For me everything is beautiful when spoken in Basque. I came away with the following after being in Bilbao. They are names of places I adored, as well as the way they roll off the tongue. (Okay, some of them are Spanish, but the places are in Bilbao!)

Casco viejo (old town)
Museo de Bellas Artes (museum of beautiful art)
Puente Colgante (drawbridge)
Zubizurri (I know this one is Basque and means 'white bridge')
Txakoli y pintxos (white wine and little sandwiches)

(In Basque 'tx' is pronounced like 'ch' in Spanish.)

And a wonderful German name:

Fortuna Dusseldorf

It's the name of a football team that I was watching last night, and I thought "What a beautiful name." The name 'Dusseldorf' is beautiful by itself, but when combined with 'Fortuna' makes it all the more so.

Now please give me your words! :)

Comments

[nelyo-russandol.livejournal.com]

As a Spaniard I feel I have a right to disagree with your teacher. You do need to use accents. Ok, with computer spell checkers, SMS, etc. people are getting more sloppy. But if you want to write decently, you must use them.

I love your choice of favourite words. For me, some lovely words in Spanish are "maravilla", "cariñosa" and "murciélago".

The first three choices from your Basque list are Spanish, and you will find them in many other towns and cities.

[just-jenni.livejournal.com]

Hola! Como esta usted? That teacher also told us to use the polite forms of greeting when we don't know someone very well. ;)

My second Spanish teacher, a man from Peru, told us that the accents were to denote where the emphasis on a word was to be placed. We only know what we are taught, right?

My knowledge of Spanish is limited. Unfortunately, I only get to use it when I travel. But I find it beautiful and I love your words.

Yes, I only visited the Basque Country once and I knew that those names were Spanish. I wish I knew more Basque, though. It was so interesting to see in the airport that all the signs were in Spanish, Basque and English, whereas here in Canada they are in English and French. And when I and my Basque friend went to watch the Athletic Bilbao football team practice and spoke to the players afterwards, most of the boys were speaking to the fans in Spanish, one or two knew a word of English, but my friend was talking to one particular player in Basque only.