Building a Better Vocabulary

z You might think that after nearly getting executed, Gulliver would

stay at home, but he decides to take to the seas again. This time, he

ends up in the land of the giants called the Brobdingnag.

ż $ %UREGLQJQDJ IDUPHU ¿QGV *XOOLYHU DQG H[SORLWV KLP E\

charging other giants to see this tiny exotic creature. Eventually,

the farmer sells Gulliver to the queen of Brobdingnag, who

takes a fancy to him.

ż $W FRXUW *XOOLYHU VHHV WKH RUGLQDU\ ÀDZV RI WKH JLDQWV

PDJQL¿HGPDQ\WLPHVRYHUEHFDXVHRIWKHLUJUHDWVL]HDQGKH

becomes repulsed by them. Here, Swift is demonstrating that

WKHKXPDQUDFHHYHQKXPDQVZKRPLJKWDSSHDUSHUIHFWDW¿UVW

JODQFHZLOOVKRZIRLEOHVDQGÀDZVXSRQFORVHUH[DPLQDWLRQ

z This episode brings us the word Brobdingnagian, meaning

“enormous.” Consider the word in context: “The billionaire’s

Brobdingnagian sculptures towered over us as we approached the

front door of her mansion.”

Magnum opus (noun)

An artist’s greatest work.

z Magnum opus is Latin for “great work,” but it is typically used

in reference to an artist’s greatest work, such as Michelangelo’s

Sistine Chapel ceiling or James Joyce’s Ulysses. The word opus is

often used for composers’ works, as in: “The ‘Moonlight Sonata’ is

actually Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, opus

27, number 2.” The plural of magnum opus is magna opera.

z The Latin root magn means “great, large.” This root appears in

PDJQL¿FHQW, magnate, Magna Carta, magnum, magnanimous,

Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great, a sainted doctor of the Catholic

Church), and Charlemagne (Charles the Great).

z Greek has its own root meaning “great, large”: mega, which comes

from the Greek word megas. Words containing this root include