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Word of the Day:
DUENDE (n. pl. -S)
Definition(s):
- (n.) the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm; charisma
- (n.) inspiration or passion
- (n.) a ghost or spirit
Useful info for word game players:
- Front hooks: (none)
- Back hooks: -S
- Anagrams: DENUDE, DUDEEN, and ENDUED
- Longer extensions: (none)
- Wraparounds: (none)
- Other Spellings: (none)
- Related Forms: (none)
Current theme:
No theme this week — just a few random selections from the good wordbook
Epilogue:
This word is sometimes considered untranslatable — words such as “magnetism,” “charm,” or “passion” only approximate the sense, some argue, since DUENDE is more of a mysterious feeling or force. A dancer, artist, or writer may be said to have duende, an inexplicable power or quality that draws the observer or reader in. One Spanish dictionary reportedly defined it as “mysterious and ineffable charm.” The Spanish poet García Lorca said that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe unintentionally defined it best when he described a musician as “a mysterious force that everyone feels and no philosopher has explained.”
Fittingly, the word has a mysterious and debated history. It probably started out as Old Spanish duen de casa, “owner or lord of a house,” and in modern Spanish it came to mean “ghost or fairy,” of the sort that inhabits houses or causes minor mischief. From this, somehow, emerged the Spanish dialect meaning of “charm.” Nowadays, one with duende possesses a mysterious and powerful charm or passion, as if animated by an inner spirit.
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