Sunday, May 15, 2011
Roynish Ides of May
New-to-me vocabulary pops up in a science fiction novel. Used to describe demon spawn, as in "roynish creatures with blind obsidian eyes", roynish means mangy, scabby, troublesome. It is a fine adjective to use for nearly every noun referring to demons.
Without her morning coffee, she remains a seething roynish lump of malign. Editors would insist there are too many adjectives here. Roynish rubbish! Editors stand back or your roynish fur will fly.
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William Shakespeare
ReplyDeleteAs You Like It - Act 2, Scene 2
"My lord, the roynish clown, at whom so oft Your grace was wont to laugh, is also missing".
A fine adjective for clowns, a bane to the marginally sane.
Also, the roy in roynish is not from the French Roy, king, but from the French rogneux, scab.
The editor in me, which I cannot suppress, must point out that a novel with demon spawn is not science fiction, but fantasy, a point of great import to the indubitable aficionado. Let the fur fly...
Is the novel in question by Gene Wolfe?
I told a friend that I was reading a fantasy and he wanted to know if it was like, you know, Behind the Green Door, or something. So science fiction sounds less risque in this big 12-person market.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to choose between a prurient friend or an aficionado blood relative, I know who I would cater to...
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