What’s so funny?
This week’s vocabulary trio examines laughter and the things we find hilarious.
Risible comes to us from the Latin word risus, “to laugh”. In the 1500s, risible originally referred to someone who laughs frequently, but the meaning gradually shifted; by the 1700s, it had taken on its present meaning of causing laughter.
As the middle school student surfaced, flushed with pride at his first successful dive off the high diving board, he remained unaware that his swim trunks had been lost in the plunge. The other students quickly spotted his risible plight.
From the Latin cachinnatus, “to laugh aloud”, we get cachinnation, the raucous belly laughs of someone who cannot hold in their laughter.
The cachinnation of the naked swimmer’s peers was deafening as he searched for his missing swim trunks. After several minutes, he located them dangling from the diving board far overhead.
A similar word comes to us from the Greek gelastikos, “able to laugh”. The word gelastic refers to things associated with or deserving of laughter.
Blushing furiously, John had no time to reflect on the gelastic nature of his rubescent buttocks as he dashed for the concealment of the locker room.
Disclaimer:
The example sentences in this article are fictional, and in no way reflect the mortifying experiences of the author’s awkward teen years.
I’m cachinnating here over the gelastic buttocks! 😉