disembogue

Oct. 22nd, 2012 07:23 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
disembogue (dis-em-BOHG) - v.i., to flow out as at the mouth of a stream, to debouch; to come out into the open sea from a river. v.t., to discharge, to pour out.


So used of the waters themselves and for vessels on them. Leaving the mouth of a channel or vessel is the key image in any case: borrowed around 1590 in earlier forms disemboque or disemboke from Spanish desembocar, from des-, out of (from Latin dis-) + embocar, to enter by the mouth, from en-, into (from Latin in-) + boca, mouth (from Latin bucca, cheek) + verbalizing suffix. How we went from a final -k to -g sound, and a spelling that makes it look like an Italian derivative, is a mystery.

---L.

Date: 2012-10-22 04:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
Comments are quite welcome -- there haven't been many lately, true, but there have in the past. One of those things that seems to come in cycles.

And, er, you're right about French v. Italian -- the couple examples I was thinking of in the back of my mind all turned out to be via French instead. This is the risk I take in posting while still drinking that first cuppa.

---L.

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