patibulary
Dec. 16th, 2013 07:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordSo it turns out that several of the next words on my list all begin with P -- so why not shuffle them a little and make the next five a theme week?
patibulary (puh-TEYE-byoo-la-ree) - adj., (rare) of or pertaining to a gallows or execution.
Even when it was used, it was typically in a jocular way -- a nice $20 word for dealing with the gibbet. In Latin, a patibulum was a forked yoke used to constrain criminals, and later was also applied to the cross-bar of a crucifix. From there, I gather, the meaning extended to the cross-bar of a gallows.
---L.
patibulary (puh-TEYE-byoo-la-ree) - adj., (rare) of or pertaining to a gallows or execution.
Even when it was used, it was typically in a jocular way -- a nice $20 word for dealing with the gibbet. In Latin, a patibulum was a forked yoke used to constrain criminals, and later was also applied to the cross-bar of a crucifix. From there, I gather, the meaning extended to the cross-bar of a gallows.
---L.
