"solacious" for consolatory

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Mon Apr 16 01:13:05 UTC 2007


"Solacious" = "affording solace" is called "obsolete" by my OED, but merely
"archaic" by MW3.

I find an instance which appears genuine and natural from 1958 at
N'archive, but it seems to be quoted from an English translation of a
(post-1925) Arabic-language religious text, perhaps not the work of a
(first-language) Anglophone.

I suspect that the current usage [maybe better spelled "solatious" (this
was an alternative spelling of the above old "solacious" too)] might be
made up fresh as an adjective form of (not "solace" but) "solatium".

-- Doug Wilson


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