foudroyant
Oct. 1st, 2010 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordfoudroyant (foo-DROI-uhnt or foo-drwa-YAHN) - adj., occurring suddenly and with great severity; stunning, dazzling, overwhelming.
The alternate pronunciations being how French you keep things, for French it comes from: borrowed in the 1830s, where it meant struck by lightning, past participle of foudroyer, to strike by lightning, foudre, lightning, ultimately from Latin root fulgur, lightning, from flagrare, to burn. This is rare outside of medical contexts, and even there it's been largely replaced by fulminant, which is a pity as having a word meaning "as if struck by lightning" seems very useful.
Administrivia: posting next week will be intermittent at best due to filial obligations.
---L.
The alternate pronunciations being how French you keep things, for French it comes from: borrowed in the 1830s, where it meant struck by lightning, past participle of foudroyer, to strike by lightning, foudre, lightning, ultimately from Latin root fulgur, lightning, from flagrare, to burn. This is rare outside of medical contexts, and even there it's been largely replaced by fulminant, which is a pity as having a word meaning "as if struck by lightning" seems very useful.
Administrivia: posting next week will be intermittent at best due to filial obligations.
---L.
