Tag: Horror Vocabulary

“Horror” in Other Languages

The blogger on the banks of the San Juan River, Farmington, NM.
The blogger on the banks of the San Juan River, Farmington, NM.

I study other languages and generally do well in them, but today (October 3, 2015) I realized that I had never researched the word “horror” in other languages.  Therefore, I will start researching it and other horror-related terms today and either post my findings or add them to the Lexicon of Horror.   Be aware, that each word in each language has its own nuances, even if it is identical to a word in another language, and that I cannot possibly be completely thorough in defining each one.

At least initially, my published research will be limited to only those languages that use a Roman alphabet.  I am not familiar at this time with how to use non-Roman alphabets in WordPress.

Most of the dictionaries I am using as of this posting are somewhat dated.

German:  (from The New Cassell’s German Dictionary, 1971) das Entsetzen, Grausen, der Abscheu, Schauder; Schrecken, Greuel…[Note that “horror” in the sense of the literary genre is the same as in English:  “Horror”.  For example, Horrorfilm is a horror movie.]

French:  (from The Bantam New College French and English Dictinary, 1991) la horreur; avoir horreur de to have a horror of; commettre des horreurs to commit atrocities; dire des horreurs to say obscene things; dire des horreurs de to say shocking things about.  Finally, [from the Internet] horror film is film d’horreur.

Spanish: (from The University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary, 1971) horror [looking up the Spanish definition from the Spanish-English section, it notes that it is a masculine noun (el horror), and it can also mean atrocity.  Dar horror is to cause fright or to terrify.  Tenerle horror a uno is to have a strong dislike for someone.  The Random House Latin American Spanish Dictionary (1997) adds enormity to its possible meanings.

Latin: (from Cassell’s Latin & English Dictionary, 2002) horror ~oris,  bristling, shuddering; roughness of speech; dread, fright, especially religious dread, awe, by metonymy object of dread; a terror

Thoughts?  Comments?

The Lexicon of Horror has been updated.

Death Calls the Tune (original work by Phil Slattery)
Death Calls the Tune
(original work by Phil Slattery)

Tonight I updated my page “The Lexicon of Horror” with ghoul, goblin, horror, Malleus Maleficarum, and oppression.

Slattery’s Vocabulary of Horror

Here are some intriguing words that may be of interest to writers of horror or to writers in general.   Most come from Dictionary.com.   I hope to be posting more from time to time.  Every field has its own jargon.  The writing of horror should have its own.  I have taken these from two or three sources.

 

hadal:  adjective:  1. of or pertaining to the greatest ocean depths, below approximately 20,000 feet (6500 meters).   2. of or pertaining to the biogeographic region of the ocean bottom below the abyssal zone.   Hadal entered English in the mid-1900s, and comes from the name Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.

 

de profundis  adverb:  out of the depths (of sorrow, despair, etc.).  De profundis means “out of the depths” in Latin. It is the opening of Latin translation of Psalm 130 which continues “Out of the depths I cry to you.” Today the term can be used as a phrase to convey sadness or as an adverb.

 

isolato  noun:  a person who is spiritually isolated from or out of sympathy with his or her times or society.

 

mordacious adjective:  1. sharp or caustic in style, tone, etc.  2. biting or given to biting.

 

topos  noun:  a convention or motif, especially in a literary work; a rhetorical convention.

 

Anacoluthon (an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon) noun: 1. A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry. 2. An instance of anacoluthia.

 

Catachresis (kat-uh-KREE-sis) noun: Misuse or strained use of words, as in a mixed metaphor, occurring either in error or for rhetorical effect.

 

Apophasis (uh-POF-uh-sis), noun: Denial of one’s intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named or insinuated, as “I shall not mention Caesar’s avarice, nor his cunning, nor his morality.”

 

Palter (PAWL-ter) verb: 1. To talk or act insincerely or deceitfully; lie or use trickery. 2. To bargain with; haggle.  3. To act carelessly; trifle.

 

 Questions?  Comments?