wood nymph, dryad, wow, wyvern

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This is, sadly, the last post about the letter W.  So many interesting words...

wood nymph: a dryad

dryad: [Latin dryad  tree]  a wood nymph  (see 'nymph,' below)

I love the tautological definitions that crop up in the dictionary.  I have started an index of tautologies as well under the first post (introduction) for this blog.  I  had also decided that for every definition that includes a word or concept that I was not familiar with, I would look up that new word elsewhere in the dictionary…or do some investigating (see 'word journeys.')

nymph: [Latin nympha bride]  one of the minor divinities of nature in ancient mythology represented as beautiful maidens in the woods, forests, mountains, trees…

wow: "a word with increasing and decreasing pitch"  

Another of my favorite definitions due to its simplicity and elegance.   I recently spent nine days at a medical conference in Seattle, Washington and, as usual, spent my days at a hostel.   Heaven for me.   I love meeting people from around the world and sharing experiences.  Lina, from Beijing, taught me that the word for the number 1 is the exact opposite of wow in inflection, with a gentle, high pitched decrescendo and then a crescendo.  Very interesting and beautiful.  (I will try and publish another blog about my exploits at different hostels during these pediatric conferences…San Francisco, Portland, Oregon and Seattle.)

I saw a cartoon in The New Yorker years ago that showed a Grandfather sitting in his living room, his young grandson sitting on the floor looking up to him.  The Grandfather said, "Yes, in 1947 I was the first one to ever use the word "wow."

wyvern:  [Middle English wyvere  Latin vipera  viper]  an imaginary two legged creature with wings that resembles a dragon

I love this word because I came across it in a beautiful book called The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Invention, by Cathrynne Valente.  The book is incredibly inventive and literate, and received innumerable awards and best book mentions.  For example, as I recall, the gentle Wyvern who is the protector of the girl is named "A though L."  Why? Because his father was a dragon and his Mother was a library.  It is a fantasy book for middle-school children you would say but…it's not. Here's a typical review: “One of the most extraordinary works of fantasy, for adults or children, published so far this century.”—

Time magazine.