a weblog of wordplay by Eric Harshbarger
A-B-C-D-ary
The word "abecedary" was new to me when I saw it in a blurb on the cover of Letter Perfect. I guessed at its meaning correctly, but would never have believed it was an actual word if someone had just told me.Or rather, I would never have believed that it meant what it meant. Merriam Webster's 3rd International, doesn't say who first used the term, but I suspect it was a 5-year-old child or his parents. It's just too "cutesy" for its own good. I mean, really, "abecedary" (A-B-C-D-ary) to mean an alphabet primer?
That's like calling a book on counting a "wontothreefory".
Or a book about chess a "pawnknightbishoprookery".
-- Eric
[25 October 2010]
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Comments about this article:
It's formed after the same pattern as the words "alphabet", "abjad", and "abugida", which are all terms of art in linguistics (the first one, of course, is the most familiar). In fact, the Spanish word for "alphabet" is "abecedario".Posted by: Andrew
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