This week's theme: There is a word for it. paraph (PAR-uhf, puh-RAF) noun
A flourish at the end of a signature, originally as a precaution against forgery. [Via French and Latin from Greek paragraphos (a line showing a break in sense or a change of speakers), from para- (beside) + graphein (write). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gerbh- (to scratch), which also gave us crab, crayfish, carve, crawl, grammar, anagram, program, and graphite.] Examples of paraphs (would that be paraphernalia?) : http://artlex.com/ArtLex/P.html#anchor5714739 Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=paraph -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "This was a considerable feat in that he had recognised not only the initial upon the bedcloth, but its unique paraph in one corner." Linda Berdoll; Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife; Landmark; 2004. Sponsored by: Monthly French, German, Italian and Spanish cultural audio magazines for intermediate-to-advanced learners. http://web.champs-elysees.com/wsmith1 Ever wonder why we don't just talk, we chew the fat? Derivation, a hilarious game about word and phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com ............................................................................ Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen. -Louis L'Amour, novelist (1908-1988) Looking for word/quotation archives: http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Unsubscribe, change address, etc: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/paraph.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/paraph.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/paraph.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
