Thursday, September 30, 2010

A teller of stories

raconteur /ra-kahn-TER / noun
a person who excels in telling anecdotes
Merriam-Webster: The story of "raconteur" is a tale of telling and counting. English speakers borrowed the word from French, where it traces back to the Old French verb "raconter," meaning "to tell." "Raconter" in turn was formed from another Old French verb, "aconter"or "acompter,"meaning "to tell" or "to count," which is ultimately from Latin "computare," meaning "to count." "Computare" is also the source of our words "count" and "account." "Raconteur" has been part of the English vocabulary since at least 1828.

Quick Quiz. What 8-letter relative of "raconteur" can mean "to disregard"? The answer is ...

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