Music in a Word

Crazy busy Friday with little time to post, and less inspiration as to what to write. Just as I sat down to lunch, something caught my eye, bobbing and glistening in the soft rain. I squinted through the window and in an instant there was a word in my head , and music in my ears. The word was Montbretia. I can't convey the symphony that it conjures for me. As for what it means literally, it is the name of a wild flower, endemic in parts of West Cork but also found further afield. If you follow the link, you can enjoy some pictures of this special bloom. Unfortunately as I drew closer to the flower that had caught my eye I realised, sadly, that it wasn't actually an early montbretia bloom at all, but I've included a picture nonetheless.

On the subject of evocative words, last night, out running in the park, I was wracking my brains to remember the word for the smell which follows rain in a dry spell. Oddly enough, as montbretia played in my head, I remembered the word. So to provide at least some intellectual reward to those who visit these pages, I offer you the following:


petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

[From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.]

"Petrichor, the name for the smell of rain on dry ground, is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces, and released into the air after a first rain." Matthew Bettelheim; Nature's Laboratory; Shasta Parent (Mt Shasta, California); Jan 2002.

"But, even in the other pieces, her prose breaks into passages of lyrical beauty that come as a sorely needed revivifying petrichor amid the pitiless glare of callousness and cruelty." Pradip Bhattacharya; Forest Interludes; Indianest.com; Jul 29, 2001.

And finally maybe this will help fuel your imagination in anticipation of the weekend.