I LOVE words! I think language is the best part of being a human. There's nothing as good as taking a new word and rolling it around the inside of my mouth and feeling how it tastes.
Todays word;
Bayard (bay - ard)
From the French. It was the name of a legendary horse given to
Todays word;
Bayard (bay - ard)
From the French. It was the name of a legendary horse given to
Renaud of Montauban by the emperor, Charlemagne.
He was a large, bay colored horse who was very brave in battle.
A true hero of equine pulchritude.
Later, it became a back handed insult. When a person was called a Bayard, it was not in reference to being brave and handsome but was used as an antonym of the word; someone stupid, cowardly, ugly, clownish.
One example that comes to mind of a Bayard is
Bottom, from "A Mid Summernight's Dream" by William Shakespeare.
Bottom is a goofy man who thinks he's pretty smart. (He's really a pretty sorry clown!)
He gets himself into trouble with a fairy and ends up with the head of a donkey on his shoulders.
Another character that I think of as a Bayard is Baron Von Munchausen. Who, by the way, rode a fine and heroic horse named Bucephalus. Baron Von Munchausen was always having outlandish adventures which were always getting him thick into fantastic trouble.
Not, altogether, a smart person!
What's your favorite word this week?
