The Clark Ashton Smith Vocabulary Builder!

Okay, yesterday I hied my way up to Borderlands Books in San Francisco, to pick up a copy of Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique so I wouldn't have to read the bootlegs on the web or pay silly amounts for a hardback from Arkham House. I wanted a paperback containing all the Zothique stories and nothing else, and that's what Lin Carter edited for Ballantine in 1970. And Borderlands was selling it for the perfectly reasonable price of $6, not silly collectable amounts like all the other stores listing that copy on the web.

Reading the introduction I found myself tenuously connected in the chain of authors. Lin Carter mentioned that Smith had probably met Ambrose Bierce (who wrote "The Children of Hastur" which inspired Robert Chambers and thereby H.P. Lovecraft), and the maps of Zothique were taken from ones done by L. Sprague de Camp and corrected for him by Smith. I met L. Sprague and Catherine de Camp at WorldCon in San Francisco, talking to them for about an hour at a SFWA party. Wonderful people, they passed away a few years ago. Odd to think of the six degrees of separation stretching back in time like that though.

Which has not that much to do with the title of this entry, but having now read the first story in the book, "Xeethra," I'm faced with a new vocabulary list.

Okay, kudos to myself first. I knew all the words in the preface poem here:

Zothique

Clark Ashton Smith

He who has trod the shadows of Zothique
And looked upon the coal-red sun oblique,
Henceforth returns to no anterior land,
But haunts a later coast
Where cities crumble in the black sea-sand
And dead gods drink the brine.

He who has known the gardens of Zothique
Were bleed the fruits torn by the simorgh's beak,
Savors no fruit of greener hemispheres:
In arbors uttermost,
In sunset cycles of the sombering years,
He sips an amaranth wine.

He who has loved the wild girls of Zothique
Shall not come back a gentler love to seek,
Nor know the vampire's from the lover's kiss:
For him the scarlet ghost
Of Lilith from time's last necropolis
Rears amorous and malign.

He who has sailed in galleys of Zothique
And seen the looming of strange spire and peak,
Must face again the sorcerer-sent typhoon,
And take the steerer's post
On far-poured oceans by the shifted moon
Or the re-shapen Sign.

And I also spotted the misprint in the Lin Carter edition, where "amaranth" has been transposed to "aramanth." Amaranth is definitely the word that Smith wants, since here's the dictionary definition:

amaranth

n.
1. Any of various annuals of the genus Amaranthus having dense green or reddish clusters of tiny flowers and including several weeds, ornamentals, and food plants. Also called pigweed.
2. An imaginary flower that never fades.
3. A deep reddish purple to dark or grayish, purplish red.
4. A dark red to purple azo dye.

Also, the simorgh is the dog-headed bird from Persian myth who sometimes lives on Mt. Parnassus.

But, on to the unfamiliar vocabulary and odd usages of "Xeethra." In order:

combe

Comb \Comb\, Combe \Combe\ (? or ?), n. [AS. comb, prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. cwm a dale, valley.] That unwatered portion of a valley which forms its continuation beyond and above the most elevated spring that issues into it. [Written also coombe.] --Buckland.

A gradual rise the shelving combe Displayed. --Southey.

quoin also coign

( P ) Pronunciation Key (koin, kwoin)
n.

An exterior angle of a wall or other piece of masonry.
Any of the stones used in forming such an angle, often being of large size and dressed or arranged so as to form a decorative contrast with the adjoining walls.
A keystone.
Printing. A wedge-shaped block used to lock type in a chase.
A wedge used to raise the level of a gun.

tr.v. quoined, also coigned quoin·ing, coign·ing quoins, coigns
To provide, secure, or raise with a quoin or quoins.

relume

\Re*lume"\ (r?-l?m"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Relumed (-l?md"); p. pr. & vb. n. Reluming.] [OF. relumer (cf. F. rallumer), L. reluminare; pref. re- re- + luminare to light. Cf. Reillume.] To rekindle; to light again.

Relumed her ancient light, not kindled new. --Pope.

I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume. --Shak.

appetence

n : a feeling of craving something; "an appetite for life"; "the object of life is to satisfy as many appetencies as possible"- Granville Hicks

wildered

Wilder \Wil"der\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wildered; p. pr. & vb. n. Wildering.] [Akin to E. wild, Dan. forvilde to bewilder, Icel. villr bewildered, villa to bewilder; cf. AS. wildor a wild animal. See Wild, a., and cf. Wilderness.] To bewilder; to perplex.

Long lost and wildered in the maze of fate. --Pope.

Again the wildered fancy dreams Of spouting fountains, frozen as they rose. --Bryant.

covert

\Cov"ert\, n. [OF. See Covert, a.] 1. A place that covers and protects; a shelter; a defense.

A tabernacle . . . for a covert from storm. --Is. iv. 6.

(I'd never seen this as a noun before.)

frontlets

frontlet ( P ) Pronunciation Key (frntlt)
n.
An ornament or band worn on the forehead as a phylactery.
The forehead of an animal.
The forehead of a bird when of a different color or texture of plumage.
An ornamental border for a frontal.


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[Middle English, from Old French frontelet, diminutive of frontel, ornament worn on the forehead. See frontal2.]

occurs only in Ex. 13:16; Deut. 6:8, and 11:18. The meaning of the injunction to
the Israelites, with regard to the statues and precepts given them, that they
should "bind them for a sign upon their hand, and have them as frontlets
between their eyes," was that they should keep them distinctly in view and
carefully attend to them. But soon after their return from Babylon they began
to interpret this injunction literally, and had accordingly portions of the law
written out and worn about their person. These they called tephillin, i.e.,
"prayers." The passages so written out on strips of parchment were these, Ex.
12:2-10; 13:11-21; Deut. 6:4-9; 11:18-21. They were then "rolled up in a case
of black calfskin, which was attached to a stiffer piece of leather, having a
thong one finger broad and one cubit and a half long. Those worn on the
forehead were written on four strips of parchment, and put into four little
cells within a square case, which had on it the Hebrew letter called shin, the
three points of which were regarded as an emblem of God." This case tied around
the forehead in a particular way was called "the tephillah on the head." (See
PHYLACTERY.)

wot

Wit \Wit\, v. t. & i. [inf. (To) Wit; pres. sing. Wot; pl. Wite; imp. Wist(e); p. p. Wist; p. pr. & vb. n. Wit(t)ing. See the Note below.] [OE. witen, pres. ich wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. w[=a]t, imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten, G. wissen, OHG. wizzan, Icel. vita, Sw. veta, Dan. vide, Goth. witan to observe, wait I know, Russ. vidiete to see, L. videre, Gr. ?, Skr. vid to know, learn; cf. Skr. vid to find. ????. Cf. History, Idea, Idol, -oid, Twit, Veda, Vision, Wise, a. & n., Wot.] To know; to learn. ``I wot and wist alway.'' --Chaucer.

agone

\A*gone"\, a. & adv. Ago. [Archaic> & Poet.]

Three days agone I fell sick. --1 Sam. xxx. 13.

senescence

\Se*nes"cence\, n. [See Senescent.] The state of growing old; decay by time.

objurgation

\Ob`jur*ga"tion\, n. [L. objurgatio: cf.F. objurgation.] The act of objurgating; reproof.

While the good lady was bestowing this objurgation on Mr.Ben Allen. --Dickens.

With a strong objurgation of the elbow in his ribs. --Landor.

unceremented

This appears to be an original coinage by Clark Ashton. The meaning is clear: cerements are the wrappings of a mummy. Unceremented would then mean "unwrapped," in a particularly poetic form specific to mummies (or maybe anyone with a winding sheet), with shades of meaning of "desecrated," since cerements are put on with ceremony, and to undo a ceremony would be a desecration. Besides "Xeethra," he also uses the word in the poem:

The Medusa of the Skies

Clark Ashton Smith

Like a worm-fretted visage from the tomb,
The moon unswathes her hollow, shrunken head,
Launching such light as foulders on the dead
From pallid skies more death-like than the gloom.
Under her beams the breasted lands assume
Dead hues, and charnel shapes unceremented;
And shadows that towering sepulchers might shed
Move livid as the shadows on dials of doom.

On hills like tumuli, and waters mute,
A whiteness steals as of a world made still
When reptant Death at last rears absolute—
An earth now frozen by malefice of eyes
Aeonian dooms and realm-deep rigors fill—
The gaze of that Medusa of the skies.

[Aside: Vocabulary for this poem....

foulder

\Foul"der\, v. i. [OE. fouldre lightning, fr. F. foudre, OF. also fouldre, fr. L. fulgur. See Fulgor.] To flash, as lightning; to lighten; to gleam; to thunder. [Obs.] ``Flames of fouldering heat.'' --Spenser.

tumuli

Tumulus \Tu"mu*lus\, n.; pl. Tumuli. [L., a mound, a sepulchral mound, probably from tumere to swell. Cf. Tumid.] An artificial hillock, especially one raised over a grave, particularly over the graves of persons buried in ancient times; a barrow.

reptant

\Rep"tant\ (r?p"tant), a. [L. reptans, -antis, p. pr. of reptare, v. intens. from repere to creep. See Reptile.] 1. (Bot.) Same as Repent.

2. (Zo["o]l.) Creeping; crawling; -- said of reptiles, worms, etc.

malefice

\Mal"e*fice\, n. [L. maleficium: cf. F. mal['e]fice. See Malefactor.] An evil deed; artifice; enchantment. [Obs.]


We now return you to your regularly scheduled vocabulary list....

massy

\Mass"y\, a. [Compar. Massier; superl. Massiest.] Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.

Your swords are now too massy for your strengths, And will not be uplifted. --Shak.

Yawning rocks in massy fragments fly. --Pope.

marmorean

Marmoreal \Mar*mo"re*al\, Marmorean \Mar*mo"re*an\, a. [L. marmoreus, fr. marmor marble: cf. F. marmor['e]en. See Marble.] Pertaining to, or resembling, marble; made of marble.

whelmed

Whelm \Whelm\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whelmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Whelming.] [OE. whelmen to turn over, akin to OE. whelven, AS. whelfan, hwylfan, in ?whylfan, ?whelfan, to overwhelm, cover over; akin to OS. bihwelbian, D. welven to arch, G. w["o]lben, OHG. welben, Icel. hvelfa to overturn; cf. Gr. ? bosom, a hollow, a gulf.] 1. To cover with water or other fluid; to cover by immersion in something that envelops on all sides; to overwhelm; to ingulf.

She is my prize, or ocean whelm them all! --Shak.

The whelming billow and the faithless oar. --Gay.

2. Fig.: To cover completely, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows. ``The whelming weight of crime.'' --J. H. Newman.

3. To throw (something) over a thing so as to cover it. [Obs.] --Mortimer.

satiety

\Sa*ti"e*ty\, n. [L. satietas, from satis, sat, enough: cf. F. sati['e]t['e].] The state of being satiated or glutted; fullness of gratification, either of the appetite or of any sensual desire; fullness beyond desire; an excess of gratification which excites wearisomeness or loathing; repletion; satiation.

In all pleasures there is satiety. --Hakewill.

But thy words, with grace divine Imbued, bring to their sweetness no satiety. --Milton.

Syn: Repletion; satiation; surfeit; cloyment.

woful

Woeful \Woe"ful\, Woful \Wo"ful\, a. 1. Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted; wretched; unhappy; sad.

How many woeful widows left to bow To sad disgrace! --Daniel.

2. Bringing calamity, distress, or affliction; as, a woeful event; woeful want.

O woeful day! O day of woe! --Philips.

3. Wretched; paltry; miserable; poor.

What woeful stuff this madrigal would be! --Pope.

(Knew the word, but not this spelling.)

troublous

\Trou"blous\, a. Full of trouble; causing trouble. ``In doubtful time of troublous need.'' --Byron.

A tall ship tossed in troublous seas. --Spenser.

bourn

\Bourn\, Bourne \Bourne\, n. [F. borne. See Bound a limit.] A bound; a boundary; a limit. Hence: Point aimed at; goal.

Where the land slopes to its watery bourn. --Cowper.

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns. --Shak.

Sole bourn, sole wish, sole object of my song. --Wordsworth.

To make the doctrine . . . their intellectual bourne. --Tyndall.

guerdon

\Guer"don\, n. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl[=o]n; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + l[=o]n reward, G. lohn, akin to AS. le['a]n Goth. laun. See Withers.] A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. --Macaulay.

So young as to regard men's frown or smile As loss or guerdon of a glorious lot. --Byron.

He shall, by thy revenging hand, at once receive the just guerdon of all his former villainies. --Knolles.

mufti

\Muf"ti\, n. Citizen's dress when worn by a naval or military officer; -- a term derived from the British service in India. [Colloq. Eng.]

recreancy

\Rec"re*an*cy\ (-an*s?), n. The quality or state of being recreant.


(Recreant I knew from "Rowan the Recreant," from Elizabeth Scarborough's The Christening Quest)