Today's Word "Taciturn"
Published in Vocabulary
taciturn \TAE-seh-tehrn\ (adjective) - Quiet, abstaining from talk or conversation, saying little or nothing in the company of others.
Meghan is an intelligent but taciturn young woman, more inclined to express herself in writing than in conversation."
From Latin "taciturnus" based on tacitus "silent," the past participle of tacere "to be silent." A related word is tacit "unspoken but implied." Few other words seem related to this stem. However, one famous name is. In his discourse with Hermogenes in "Cratylus," Socrates demonstrates the arbitrary relationship between words and what they refer to. (Just because someone is named "Gross" doesn't mean that they are gross.) A striking example of Socrates' point was the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (ca. 55-120) who, despite being named "silence," was one of the most elegant orators and historians of his time.
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