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conger / congeries
Feb. 7th, 2018 07:42 amconger (KONG-ger) - n., any large marine eel of the family Congridae, esp. Conger conger.
congeries (kon-JEER-eez, KON-juh-reez) - n. (taking singular or plural verb), a collection of items or parts in one mass, assemblage, aggregation, heap.
Note that there's no singular form congery -- so while saying "a congeries of laundry lies on the floor" sounds odd, it is grammatically correct. The eel name first appeared in the 1200s in Middle English form kunger/congre, from Old French congre, from Latin conger, from Greek góngros, sea-eel, with a root meaning of gnarl/bump. The heap first appeared in the 1610s from Latin, from congerere, to pile up, from gerere, to carry.
Thanks, Wikimedia!
---L.
congeries (kon-JEER-eez, KON-juh-reez) - n. (taking singular or plural verb), a collection of items or parts in one mass, assemblage, aggregation, heap.
Note that there's no singular form congery -- so while saying "a congeries of laundry lies on the floor" sounds odd, it is grammatically correct. The eel name first appeared in the 1200s in Middle English form kunger/congre, from Old French congre, from Latin conger, from Greek góngros, sea-eel, with a root meaning of gnarl/bump. The heap first appeared in the 1610s from Latin, from congerere, to pile up, from gerere, to carry.
Thanks, Wikimedia!
---L.
