Difficult words

[Ya Sam]

I'm not the only one having problems with some words in Lempriere's 
Dictionary. The last book I had so many linguistic problems with was M&D.

"Lewisville, Tex.: Divine Dirda,
I just finished reading Lempriere's Dictionary (British Ed.) and was 
frustrated by having to constantly look up words in the dictionary. I still 
haven't discovered what the following mean -- Exsufflations, Cantraps, 
Oneirodyniac and Palilexia. Help, please.

Michael Dirda: Well, what do you know--talk about coincidences. I just today 
received an email from Lawrence Norfolk--author of LD--and will forward your 
query onto him. All these words I can kind of sense their meanings--oneiro 
has to do with fortune telling or astrology or something like that, for 
instance. But I seldom bother with looking them up unless I really need to 
know the meanings. It's like all that nautical lore in Patrick O'Brian. I 
just figure the sails are being fluffed out or rolled in. Surely all these 
words can be found in an OED, or figured out with one. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2003/08/08/DI2005033103224.html

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