A.Word.A.Day --perforce

A.Word.A.Day

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Apr 20, 2020

This week’s theme
Adverbs

This week’s words
perforce
totes
cumbrously
askance
natch

Previous week’s theme
Words formed by clipping

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Reader Mary J. Dickenson of Kingston, Canada, wrote:

I had a friend many years ago whose sister had a baby. She named him Bradly. To this day, whenever I hear the name Bradley I think of that poor kid whose parents, unwittingly, adverbed a perfectly solid name. Also, my first husband’s introduction to creative spelling as a teacher was a student named Jewelly. I still giggle about it.

The naming of a child with an adverbial name is not unheard of, though not very common (read about a flight attendant named Frankly). If you’re expecting a baby and adverbially inclined, you don’t have to limit yourself to -ly words. Consider this week’s adverbs, some -ly, others non-ly.

perforce

PRONUNCIATION:

(puhr-FORS)

MEANING:

adverb: Out of necessity.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French par force (by force), from par (by) + force, from Latin per (by) and fortis (strong). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bhergh- (high), which also gave us iceberg, borough, burg, burglar, fortify, force, belfry, bourgeois, inselberg, and sforzando. Earliest documented use: 1330.

USAGE:

“Mr Gryseels, like many modern museum bosses, is perforce a canny diplomat.”
The Burden of History; The Economist (London, UK); Dec 8, 2018.

See more usage examples of perforce in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person -- having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away. -Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, poet and novelist (20 Apr 1826-1887)

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