Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990                   TAG: 9005100455
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

LEXICOGRAPHER: WEIRD WORDS ARE USELESS, BUT LOTS OF FUN

"Hanap?" Right. It's one of the weird words in "1000 Most Obscure Words" (Facts on File) by Norman W. Schur. Hanap got into English via French and it means "wine cup, goblet."

Says lexicographer Schur in his preface:

"I don't favor the use of complex words when simple ones will do. The main purpose of language is to communicate. Then why a book of obscure words? Mainly because they are fun and incidentally enlightening.

"The words in this collection are hardly ones you will run into, let alone use. But they are legitimate words, blessed by the cachet of established dictionaries that celebrate the wealth of our language, and the etymological material they evoke demonstrates our debt to the so-called dead languages."

Among the words you are not likely to run into:

"Alphonsin": Named after its inventor, Alphonsus Ferrier, it was a surgical instrument used to extract bullets.

"Coenesthesia": The totality of impressions you get from organic sensations forming the basis of your awareness of your bodily state, such as the feeling of health, vigor or apathy. Without it, you wouldn't be able to answer the question "How are you?"

"Dunderfunk": The name of a ship biscuit, soaked in water, mixed with fat and molasses, then baked in a pan. Writes Schur: "It sounds awful, and its origin and effect are unknown. . . . and it seems a good reason for avoiding the profession of seaman."