recalcitrant, calcaneus, recherche, redolent

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recalcitrant (Latin calx heel) not responsive to treatment; obstinate, resistant 

    I like this word because of the etymology involving ‘heel’ - to kick back, dig one’s heels in.  The heel bone of the foot is the calcaneus. 

     Yesterday, I was reading Harold Bloom on Macbeth (among his favorite three Shakespeare plays) and he was saying that initially Macbeth is recalcitrant in pursuing the murder of King Duncan of Scotland so that he may assume the throne.  His wife, Lady Macbeth, however is eager for him to do this.  Yet, as the play progresses, there is a transposition as Macbeth more actively pursues his campaign of assassination and violence, just as Lady Macbeth’s recalcitrance increases to the point of being overwhelmed by a sense of guilt and remorse.   

recherche (French) \re sher shay’\  exquisite, exotic, refined; also…pretentious

redolent (Latin oler to smell)  exuding fragrance; evocative or suggestive

     The is the same root as olfaction (the sense of smell).  I had forgotten this word but, ironically, this is a very important concept to me.  Emitting fragrance and being emotionally evocative are one and the same for me.  Every few years I return to my alma mater and walk the rustic campus of Princeton with great anticipation and joy.  I silently reminisce (Shakespeare’s beautiful sonnet 30) on my past experiences there when I younger, so naive and hopeful, so eager to experience life.  

     At each venue, the ancient lecture halls, the entrance of Cuyler Hall, my first dormitory with its leaded windows, golden oaked walls and stone fireplace, I inhale the beautiful, evocative, redolent aroma of these physical objects and am transported almost ecstatically forty-five years into the past to times of new friendship, dating, athletics and sincere intellectual pursuit.