TMAC Guide to Collateral Adjectives
If you’ve followed this project long enough, you’ve probably noticed a lot of repetitions.
For example, only so many words approximate the meaning of “phenomenon.” And most of them aren’t quite right. “Anomaly,” for example, implies the rarity of “phenomenon” but also connotes something incorrect, in a way. A phenomenon can be an anomaly, but it’s usually just a strange modality. “Happening,” “incident,” “episode,” “event,” or “sensation” can work, but they’re all a bit humdrum and not necessarily singular like “phenomenon” usually implies.
The result can be a widespread recycling of the word “phenomenon.”
Writing an article about an animal or a natural body can tax the synonym-finding abilities. You can only say “the bat” or “the Moon” so often before your copy begins to sound stale.
Thankfully, the English language provides cover in a few helpful areas. For example, in our recent article, Library Bats, I was able to sprinkle in the word “chiropteran” to save a “bat” repetition. In our major investigation of the Newark Earthworks – American Stonehenge: The Newark Octagon – “lunar” gave us a reprieve every once in a while when we needed an adjective for the Moon.
The “bat” example is a bit different because it also takes a noun form, but “chiropteran” and “lunar” are fantastic examples of collateral adjectives. This grammatical term refers to an adjective that modifies a specific noun, but its etymology does not derive from that noun.
In our examples, “bat” comes to us through Proto-Germanic, Old Scandinavian languages, and Middle English, but “chiropteran” arrives from the Ancient Greek roots for “hand” and “wing;” and “moon” evolved from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic into Old and Middle English, while “lunar” also started in Proto-Indo-European before hitting Latin. So, “chiropteran” has to go with bats and “lunar” has to go with the Moon, but their linguistic journeys took different trails.
Some collateral nouns creep into common usage:
- annual
- dental
- feminine
- first
- masculine
- nasal
- second
Others are rarer.
“Halcyon” for “calm.”
“Lusitanic” for “Portugal.”
“Posthodiernal” for “future.”
Researching collateral nouns even led to some animals that were new to me. Did you know a “dasyproctid” critter is an “agouti?”
Neither did I!
The agouti is a rodent native to Central and South America. Its name comes from the Indigenous languages Guarani and Tupi. Bizarrely, the collateral adjective – dasyproctid – contains the Ancient Greek roots for “hairy, shaggy” and “anus, rectum.”
Yep.
I’ve incorporated a few collateral adjectives over the years, namely “simian” (ape or monkey), “feline” (kitty), “canine” (puppy), “avian” (bird), “apian” (bee), and “ursine” (bear). Researching additional terms led me to realize I have a lot of vocabulizing to do.
Here’s a starting, incomplete list of animal collateral adjectives:
- Agouti = dasyproctid, dasyproctine
- Alligator = alligatorine
- Ant = formic, formicarian, formicid, myrmecological
- Ant-eater = myrmecophagous
- Antelope = antilopine
- Ape = simian
- Badger = meline
- Bat = chiropterous, chiropteran
- Bear = ursine
- Beaver = castorine
- Bee = apian
- Beetle = coleopterous
- Bird = avian, avine, ornithic, volucrine
- Bison = bovine
- Boar = suine
- Buffalo = bubaline
- Bull = taurine
- Butterfly = lepidopterous
- Calf = vituline
- Camel = camelid, camelopardine
- Canary = serinus
- Cat = feline
- Cattle = bovine
- Cheetah = acinonynous
- Chicken = galline, gallinaceous
- Cockroach = blattid
- Crab = cancerine
- Crane = gruid
- Crow = corvine
- Deer = cervine
- Dog = canine
- Dolphin = delphine
- Donkey = asinine
- Dove = columbine
- Dragonfly = anisopterous
- Duck = anatine
- Eagle = aquiline
- Eel = anguilline
- Ferret = musteline
- Fish = piscine, ichthyic
- Fox = vulpine
- Frog = ranine
- Goat = hircine, caprine
- Goose = anserine
- Grasshopper = acridine
- Hawk = accipitrine
- Hedgehog = erinaceous
- Horse = equine
- Hound = canine
- Jaguar = pantherine
- Kangaroo = macropodine
- Lamb = ovine
- Leopard = leonine
- Lion = leonine
- Lizard = lacertine
- Lobster = nephropine
- Mole = talpine
- Monkey = simian
- Mosquito = culicine
- Mouse = murine
- Otter = lutrine
- Owl = strigine
- Ox = bovine
- Oyster = ostracean
- Parrot = psittacine
- Peacock = pavonine
- Pelican = pelecanine
- Penguin = spheniscine
- Pig = porcine
- Pigeon = columbine
- Rabbit = leporine
- Rat = murine
- Raven = corvine
- Scorpion = scorpius, scorpionid
- Seal = phocine
- Shark = selachian
- Sheep = ovine
- Snake = serpentine
- Sparrow = passerine
- Spider = arachnid, arachnoid
- Squirrel = sciurine
- Swan = cygnine
- Toad = bufo, bufonine
- Turtle = chelonian
- Weasel = musteline
- Whale = cetacean
- Wolf = lupine
- Worm = vermiculate, vermicular, vermic
And here are some others that fit nicely into The Mountains Are Calling’s milieu:
- Air = pneumatic
- Ash = cineary
- Cold = hyperborean, gelid
- Dawn = auroral
- Evening = vespertine
- Fir = abietic
- Fire = igenous
- Fog = brumous
- Forest = sylvan
- Grass = gramineous
- Ice = glaical
- Iron = ferrous
- Island = insular
- Lake = lacustrine
- Light = photic, optic(al), luminous
- Morning = matinal
- Night = nocturnal
- North = boreal, septentrional
- Plant = botanic
- Rain = pluvial
- River bank = riparian
- Shore = littoral
- Sky = celestial
- Smell = olfactory
- Sound = acoustic, sonic
- South = austral, meridional
- Spring = vernal
- Star = astral, sidereal, stellar
- Summer = estival
- Sun = solar
- Thunder = fulmineous
- Time = temporal
- Today = hodiernal
- Tomorrow = crastinal
- Tree = arboreal, dendroid
- Twilight = crepuscular
- Water = aqueous, aquatic
- Week = hebdomadal
- West = occidental
- Wind = aeolian, eolian
- Wing = alar
- Year = annual
- Yesterday = hesternal
Some gorgeous words in these lists!
Further Reading and Exploration
A Word on the Classical ‘Collateral Adjective’ – Merriam Webster
Collateral adjective – Wikipedia
Appendix:English collateral adjectives – Wiktionary
COLLATERAL ADJECTIVES – 1728
