This month we’re featuring words to get you in the mood for a good mystery.
When you’re browsing in a bookstore or online for a good book, do specific words in a title clue you in that it’s a mystery?
I checked out the titles of classic and contemporary mysteries, then I scoured the internet for words commonly used in mysteries, or words that seem mysterious.
Put on your deerstalker cap and Inverness cape and investigate these ten words. Happy sleuthing!
1. Alibi (origin-Latin) - A verifiable claim that someone was elsewhere while a crime was being committed and therefore could not have committed the crime. In Latin it was an adverb meaning elsewhere. In English usage it can be a noun or verb.
2. Beguiling (origin– Middle English) - Adj. charming or exciting, sometimes in a deceptive way
3. Clandestine (origin – French and Latin) – Adj. Kept secret or done secretly.
4. Conundrum (unknown origin – First appeared in the 16th Century. It was a word originally used to criticize a pedantic person. Later it meant whim or fancy. In the 17th Century its definition changed to its present meaning). Noun. A difficult or confusing question or problem.
5. Cryptic (origin – Greek and Latin) – Adj. Having a mysterious or obscure meaning – mysterious or difficult to comprehend.
6. Enigma (origin- Greek and Latin) Noun. A person or thing that can’t be easily understood or explained. Someone or something confusing, mysterious, or puzzling.
7. Ethereal (origin – Greek) Adj. Heavenly or spiritual. Something or someone so delicate it/they seem to perfect for this world.
8. Forensics (origin – Greek ) Noun. It’s a descriptive word first applied to persuasive speeches designed to sway the opinion of an assembled group of people. Because skilled speakers relied on evidence to support their opinions, Forensic became important in law courts. The term “forensic” can be used as an adjective to describe the art and science of legal arguments used to present/support evidence in a court of law and the evidence itself. For example, forensic evidence is criminal evidence obtained through scientific methods.
9. Nefarious (origin- Latin) Adj. Extremely wicked or vile.
10. Red herring (origin – The term began to be used in the 17th Century about training hounds to sniff out prey by teaching them not to be distracted by other scents such as the strong scent of a herring. Later the term was revised to mean deliberately confusing hounds during a hunt with a strong fish scent to allow foxes or rabbits the chance to escape their hunters). Noun. Information, evidence, or clues that are deliberately misleading or distracting.