Sunday, November 12, 2017

Interesting words: Odobene

Odobene is the adjectival form of odobenus. And what, you may ask, is odobenus? It is the genus of walruses.  So, odobene means "walrus-like".  I read this rather obscure word in Christopher Hitchens' collection And Yet .... which I reviewed a few days ago.  (You can read my review at the link).

The origin of Odobenus is Latin and thence Greek: Odon, meaning tooth and bainein meaning "to walk".  It was once believed  that walruses walked by pulling themselves with their tusks.

Both of these words are very rare. Indeed, Google ngram viewer found no uses in books between 1800 and 2010.

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