Author Archives: Andie Lessa

Glossary Write-Up

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Lapis

Talisman

Tinseled

Navel

Holler

Tinkle

Hubbub

Bungled

Slunk

Veld

Gay

Even though English isn’t my first language, I don’t have the habit of looking up words in the dictionary. I guess that comes from the fact that I learned English primarily by watching TV and listening to American/European music. I always try to understand a certain sentence by getting the overall meaning of it, but I know that can be tricky and misleading. This exercise of looking up the meaning of certain words opened up my eyes to the fact that, since I’m able to understand most words in everyday-English, I should devote some time into expanding my vocabulary.

Lapis

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Lapis (Lapis Lazuli)
noun

Semiprecious stone valued for its deep-blue colour caused by the presence of the mineral lazurite, which is the source of the pigment ultramarine. Lapis lazuli is not a single mineral but an intergrowth lazurite with calcite, pyroxene, and commonly small grains of pyrite. The most important mines are in Afghanistan and Chile. Much of what is sold as lapis is an artificially dyed jasper from Germany that shows colourless specks of clear, crystallized quartz and never the goldlike flecks of pyrite that are characteristic of lapis lazuli.

Source: Merriam-Webster

“Her lapis doves and tinseled mountains are misplaced and glorified behind plates of glass at museums.”

The word lapis here has the significance of color, but also goes back to the fact that one of the most important mines of this mineral is in Afghanistan, where the main character is from.

Talisman

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Talisman
noun

1:  an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune
2:  something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects

Source: Merriam-Webster
“In an apartment overlooking a blue-gray street, her mother’s veil hangs on the wall like a talisman.”
From: What the Scar Revealed, by Zohra Saed

The understanding of the word “talisman” is important to get the sense of the mystical that is being conveyed in the story.

Tinseled

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Tinseled/Tinsel
noun

1:  threads, strips, or sheets of metal, paper, or plastic used to produce a glittering and sparkling appearance in fabrics, yarns, or decorations
2:  something superficially attractive or glamorous but of little real worth <disfigured by no gaudy tinsel of rhetoric or declamation

Source: Merriam-Webster
“After suckling her mother’s fingers for days in the desert, she throws a tinseled veil up to the sky and catches lapis-colored doves.”
From: What the Scar Revealed, by Zohra Saed

The word “tinseled” brings importance to the object being described, adding depth to the story.

Navel

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Navel
noun

1: a depression in the middle of the abdomen that marks the point of former attachment of the umbilical cord or yolk stalk

2:  the central point:  middle

Source: Merriam-Webster

“A newborn’s navel is the same as any wound.”
“While the night is threaded in gold, the lost city in her navel 
unwinds itself from swirls of skin and slips over this new city like a fog.”

From: What the Scar Revealed, by Zohra Saed
The understanding of word “navel” here is important because it lets the reader get the sense of individuality and the relevance of one’s background.

Holler

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Holler
verb

to call out loudly (shout)

Source: Merriam-Webster

“Though no one could say whether the woman had hollered from anger or pain.”

From: Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros

The word, present also in the tittle, is used as the name of a creek, named after a woman who was seen shouting near it.

Hubbub

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Hubbub
noun

1. loud mixtures of sound or voices
2. a situation in which there is much noise, confusion, excitement, and activity

Source: Merriam-Webster

“He said, after all, in the hubbub of parting (…)”

From: Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros

The word, in this context, represents the situation where there’s a lot going on around someone and you can barely hear what others near you are saying. In the story, the father of Cleofilas says something special to her on the day of her wedding, and she only pays closer attention to it later.

Bungled

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Bungled
verb – past of bungle

to act or work clumsily and awkwardly

Source: Merriam-Webster

“My words bungled out thick as molasses.”

From “The Bell Jar”, by Sylvia Plath – chapter 4

The word describes how Esther told the person knocking on the door to wait a minute. She was feeling sick in the bathroom and wasn’t feeling strong enough to speak properly, so she had to mumble.