verboten, verdant, verdigris, vespertine, Vespers, vexillology, vexillologist, vial, vodka, semaphore, peace sign

         The rest of the v's...a global feel with words from France, Germany and Russia.  So much for xenophobia.

verboten: [German forbidden] \vair boht' en\  forbidden

Rauchen Verboten is a German sign meaning "no smoking."

In German it is pronounced ”fer boh' ten" with the first consonant (v) 

pronounced with a 'f' sound. 

verdant: [Old French vert green] green in tint; also, unripe in experience or judgement

     It's nice to see some words of French derivation.  It reminds me of the George W. Bush quote when he was comparing the French economy with the USA's, "The only trouble with the French is that they have no word for entrepreneur."  

verdigris: [Old French, literally vert de gris green of Greece] a beautiful greenish-blue pigment on copper, brass or bronze.  

     This may be pronounced without the final 's' sound, as in French, or it can be pronounced \ver dih grees\ 

vespertine: [Latin: vesper evening star]  crepuscular, flourishing in the evening. 

This reminds me of my favorite Thelonious Monk song, Crepescule with Nelly.  Both words (crespescule and vespertine) are among my favorites…evocative, poetic, lush.

    Vespers: evening prayers in the Catholic Church

vexillology: [vexillum, flag. velum, curtain]   the study of flags

     vexillologist

     I guess that is why the current controversy of one's right (or not) to burn the American flag is a vexing one.   Also, have you noticed how many Jeopardy questions mention details of flags of all sorts (each state, other countries)?  

     Speaking of flags, the origin of the peace sign is interesting: it combines the two semaphore flag positions for the letters N and D, which represents the words “Nuclear Disarmament.”  

vial:  [ME (Middle English): fiole;  MF (Middle French): fiole;  Old Provincial: fiola]

vodka (Russian, water)   

     I recently met a couple from Poland (at the dog park, the scene of many good conversations).  We discussed my love of words and they explained the vodka was the diminutive of voda (Russian), which means “water.”  In Polish, adding the -ka to the end of the word makes it diminutive, i.e. “little water.”  This is similar to adding -ito in Spanish (zapatito for little shoes or zapatos; or adding -ina, such as Christina for ‘little Christ.” 

     I have created a listing of diminutive suffixes in the introductory blog entry.