Fun With Words: Mellifluously and fellifluously speaking

What do you do for fun? In the summer, any number of outdoor activities are available--water sports, such as peeing in the pool or lake, for example. In the winter, avoiding the yellow snow when snow shoeing or cross country skiing keeps you alert in the zesty air. Some people, however, may prefer more sedentary activities. I, for one, enjoying saying words aloud just for the sweet feeling of the word rolling around my on tongue and hearing the pleasing tones. On June 16, 2013, I posted a blog, "Thingamabob (Cha-Cha-Cha)” about such sport. While “thingamabob” remains my favorite word to say, I mention in passing a few other words. One of them, “mellifluous,” is probably my second favorite word to say. I have even dreamt about the word.

“Mellifluous” begins with a satisfying nasal sound, “m-m-m-m,” the sound many people make to express pleasure or enjoyment, particularly regarding food. Bologna sandwiches for lunch? M-m-m! What’s that I smell cooking for supper? Mashed potato jambalaya! M-m-m! Next, the sound moves to the short “e” in the middle of the mouth, then the tongue presses behind the teeth for the fluid “l” sound, then the sound goes back to the middle of the mouth for the short “i” sound. Then the teeth rest on the bottom lip for a nice fricative (providing a rest in the gliding sounds).

Then the tongue slips up for another fluid “l,” which shifts to a long “u” sound, another sound used to express satisfaction or enjoyment (ooh-ooh, we’re going swimming!), before shifting to the back of the mouth for the short “u” and ending at the front of the mouth with a sibilant “s.” The word rolls for the first part of pronunciation, then takes a pause at the “f” before gliding to an indefinite ending. “Mellifluous” does not rocket or bounce around the mouth like “thingamabob” does. It wades through the space in your oral cavity, at a slow pace, as if wading through warm water.

Now that the fun of saying the word is done, what does the word mean? Actually, the meaning closely follows the fun of speaking it. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHDEL), “mellifluous” means “Having a pleasant and fluid sound.” It is almost onomatopoeia. The word comes from two Latin words, “mell-“ which means “honey” and “fluous” which means flowing—flowing honey. Sweet.

I have long enjoyed the word “mellifluous.” It is a soothing word, so imagine my surprise when I received the word “fellifluous” as the “OED Online Word of the Day” recently. While “mellifluous” is in my AHDEL, “fellifluous” is not. When I looked for “fellifluous” in the Merrian-Webster Dictionary associated with my spellcheck, I got the message, “The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary.” Sadly, my set of the Oxford English Dictionary is on the shelves (yes, plural) in Folly Beach. However, the Oxford English Dictionary on-line entry defines the word as “flowing with bile; (figurative) bitter, rancorous.” The OED on-line entry does mark the word as “now rare,” although it supplies a literary reference from 2007, which involves “a tipsy fellifluous Irishman.”

I did know that “fell” means “of an inhumanly cruel nature; fierce” or “capable of destroying; lethal.” “Fellifluous” begins with the fricative “f,” starting with friction. Even though the rest of the word has the honey-sweet sounds of “mellifluous,” “fellifluous” when you are saying it never recovers from its derisive start—fie! phooey! and other “f-words” that I will not list in this family-friendly blog.

Today has been a rainy day. Now that I have finished writing this blog, I think I will indulge in a round of saying fun words. Diaphonous!