‘Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.’
Johann Wolfgang vin Goethe
Part twelve of my beautiful words series takes us to a word I feel may have been sullied by 90s cooking telly programs and The Antiques Road Show. We’ve likely all heard the term ‘exquisite piece’ or ‘exquisite meal’, but what exactly does it mean apart from something very good?
Well, we can break it down into the prefix ‘ex’ meaning out (see ‘exit’, ‘excommunicate’, ‘excessive’, ‘eccentric’ etc.) and then ‘quaerere’ (the root of query, question, and quest) meaning to seek.
The context for the expression is not only to ‘seek out’ but to search thouroughly, to make a careful selection.
An exquisite choice, then, is somewhat of a tautology. I’d keep that one to yourself if I were you.
You can, however try to drop it into a sentence at some point and tell me about it in the comments?
Best example gets a bookmark.
Music is by Scott Buckley.
7 окт 2024
