Mordant

I learned a new word today.

The word was presented, then repeated, for my benefit - the way a high school language lab insinuates a new word into your vocabulary. The word is mordant. Mor-Dant.

I admit, my first thought was, "This is a word about food." I was riffing off of the "dant" sound of it. Words like al dente and dental have that sound. "More-Food?" I thought. Then I saw the "e" was in fact an "a" and my attention was suddenly drawn to the other possible root, "mor," as in: morbid, mortal, morgue. "Dead-Food?" was my next thought, as I still hadn't given up on the food idea yet. Then I leap in a new direction. Dant as in Dante, writer of Divine Comedy, a tour through hell, which opened the door to the idea that, "reading your work is like a tour through hell." This could indeed be what was implied, after all, the word mordant, was presented to me by my writing mentor, about my writing.

As it turns out mordant is a little bit of all of those things. It is derived from the Middle French word, mordre, which literally means to bite - well to have bite, really. You might find this word used in place of expressions like: acerbic, scathing, caustic, and sarcastic. Apparently, I have a knack for using the hard edge of humor in the service of intelligence. Just punchlines in a divine comedy of sorts, a morsel of deadly food after a fashion.

Thank you Alex. I love my new word.