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<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"><FONT size=2>A bit of background information:
This word "embiggen" sounds archaic, and in fact its use was attributed to
a certain Jebediah Springfield, the founder of the town
of Springfield, where the cartoon family the Simpsons live. The quote
from him is "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." I think it is
reasonable to guess that the word was coined by analogy with
"embolden."</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>Another new word from the same episode
is "cromulent" (see Michael Horlick's e-mail yesterday), as in "He's
</FONT><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>embiggened that role with his
cromulent performance."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>I first encountered this word on a
news web site, and since I couldn't find it in printed dictionaries
I found out more about it by digging around on the internet -- especially
at <A
href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen">http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/embiggen</A>.
On the topic of neologisms in The Simpsons, see <A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_neologisms_on_The_Simpsons">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_neologisms_on_The_Simpsons</A>.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>I didn't see the episode of The
Simpsons where "embiggen" and "cromulent" were first used, and in fact I have
never watched a whole episode of that show, but it helps to have a little
background information about The Simpsons in order to put these creative uses of
language into perspective.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2>-- David Frank</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mrnicholas007@yahoo.es href="mailto:mrnicholas007@yahoo.es">Michael
Nicholas</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com
href="mailto:lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com">lexicographylist@yahoogroups.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 26, 2006 8:47
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Lexicog] embiggen</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS" size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Dear Tim,</DIV>
<DIV> Isn't there a certain tendency to put <STRONG><EM>em</EM></STRONG>
instead of <EM><STRONG>en</STRONG></EM> in front of the word because it begins
with B? embattle/embank/ emblemish etc.? So embolden and enlighten. In this
case enlighten is - of course - not to make a load less heavy, and
it was needed because it added a new meaning to lighten. I think embiggen
is due to the <STRONG>em rather than en before B</STRONG> and even
so widen from wide etc. Ithink we have something on the lines of
entrap/ensnare for trap/snare.(verbs). <BR><BR><B><I>Tim Gaved
<tim_gaved@sil.org></I></B> escribió:</DIV>
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<DIV class=Section1>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Ar">Michael,
<O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">But note embolden –
to make bolder, and enlighten.<O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The first was
probably the model, as “emboldens the heart” is a recognisable collocation,
albeit infrequent or perhaps archaic. It generates a small number of hits in
Google.<O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV class=MsoAutoSig><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tim
Gaved<O></O></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=MsoAutoSig><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">SIL
<ST1><ST1>Senegal</SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><!--End group email --></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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