{"id":7298,"date":"2026-03-11T00:16:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=7298"},"modified":"2026-03-11T00:18:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:18:56","slug":"word-of-the-day-lachrymose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2026\/03\/11\/word-of-the-day-lachrymose\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Lachrymose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of the Words Coach (https:\/\/www.wordscoach.com\/dictionary<\/a>), is lachrymose<\/em>. Pronounced \/ \u02c8l\u00e6k r\u0259\u02ccmo\u028as \/, this adjective means \u201csuggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful\u201d or \u201cgiven to shedding tears readily; tearful,\u201d depending upon whether the word is modifying a thing or a person (https:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/lachrymose<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its \u201cDid You Know\u201d section, Merriam-Webster says, \u201cThe misty-eyed souls among us will appreciate lachrymose<\/em>, a word that can describe a person who tends to cry often, or an emotional trigger that induces tears. Those more stoic in disposition might be moved (though not to tears) to learn that lachrymose <\/em>also has a scientific counterpart: its older cousin lachrymal<\/em><\/a> can mean \u201cof, relating to, or marked by tears,\u201d or (usually with the alternative spelling lacrimal<\/em>) \u2018of, relating to, or being glands that produce tears.\u201d Both lachrymose <\/em>and lachrymal <\/em>come from the Latin noun lacrima<\/em>, meaning \u2018tear\u2019\u201d (https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/lachrymose<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word first appears in English in the \u201c1660s, \u2018tear-like,\u2019 from Latin lacrimosus \u2018<\/em>tearful, sorrowful, weeping, also \u2018causing tears, lamentable,\u2019 from lacrima<\/em>, lacryma \u2018<\/em>a tear,\u2019 a dialect-altered borrowing of Greek dakryma \u2018<\/em>a tear,\u2019 from dakryein \u2018<\/em>to shed tears, weep, lament with tears,\u2019 from dakry \u2018<\/em>a tear\u2019 (reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE *dakru- \u2018<\/em>tear;\u2019 see tear<\/strong><\/a>).
\u201cThe meaning \u2018given to tears, tearful\u2019 is attested by 1727; the meaning \u2018of a mournful character\u2019 is by 1822\u2026.
\u201cThe -d- <\/em>to -l- <\/em>alteration in Latin is the so-called \u2019Sabine -L-\u2018; compare Latin olere \u2018<\/em>smell,\u2019 from root ofodor<\/strong><\/a>, and Ulixes<\/em>, the Latin form of Greek Odysseus<\/em>\u201d (https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=lachrymose).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes you cry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to tell you that I grew up in a Lutheran household, the great grandchild of German immigrants. And there isn\u2019t much that makes me cry. When I first started teaching at the small, private Christian college where I taught for 28 years, students in chapel would sometimes be invited to ask for prayer requests. Occasionally, a student, on the verge of tears, would ask for prayers for a pet who had been injured by a car, or some such thing. I would wonder why they were crying!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are some things. For instance, we had a family tradition when I was growing up; we used to watch a movie every Christmas season called All Mine to Give<\/em>. Here\u2019s a summary from the wiki: \u201cAll Mine to Give<\/em><\/strong> (British title: The Day They Gave Babies Away<\/em><\/strong>) is a 1957 Technicolor melodrama film directed by Allen Reisner and starring Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, and Rex Thompson. When first one parent, then the other, dies, their six children have to look after themselves in the Wisconsin of the mid-19th century\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/All_Mine_to_Give<\/a>). But that doesn\u2019t really describe the ending. The second parent, the mother (played by Johns), dies right before Christmas. Before she dies, she calls her oldest son in to talk to her, and she tells him that it is his responsibility to find homes for his younger siblings. But when the town finds out that the mother has died, one of the women wants to take away one of the daughters. So Robby asks the town, Can we stay together for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The town agrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children return to the family home, and the next day, Christmas, Robby takes his siblings around the town and gives away his siblings. The last one is the youngest daughter, and as Robby is walking through the snow pulling her on a sled, he comes across a house. He stops, knocks on the door, and asks the woman who answers if she would like his little sister. Having given her away, he walks on through the snow, on the way to a lumber camp. I have to admit that I choke up even thinking about the ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is La Boheme<\/em>. I know that not everyone is fond of opera, and I don\u2019t go to the opera frequently, but La Boheme<\/em> is wonderful. The story is \u201cbased on Henry Murger\u2019s novel Scenes de la vie de Boh\u00e8me<\/em>.
\u201cFour struggling bohemians \u2013 a poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher are living together in Paris, when one freezing Christmas Eve their lives are changed forever. A girl named Mim\u00ec knocks on their door looking for a candle light, and she and Rodolfo fall in love.
\u201cHowever, the rush of love at first sight soon gives way to something much darker \u2013 it becomes clear that Mim\u00ec is desperately ill, and that Rodolfo, in his poverty, cannot provide for her. Our bohemians try to find their way, but are soon sharply awoken to the harsh realities of life\u201d (https:\/\/www.operanorth.co.uk\/news\/la-boheme-in-a-nutshell\/<\/a>). The story, in four acts, is a bit more complicated as Mimi spends some time away from Rodolfo, connected to a sugar daddy with the goal of getting some money. And Rodolfo and his friends struggle with their arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spoiler alert: Mimi dies at the end, and the very last thing you hear, if you\u2019re in the audience, is Rodolgo singing a single word: \u201cMimi.\u201d Now, I know the opera; I\u2019ve seen it several times. And I choke up if I just hear that being sung, on the radio or television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have cried on other occasions\u2014the death of my father, for instance, or the death of our cocker spaniel, Joey. But I\u2019m not exactly a lachrymose person. There are, however, lachrymose things all around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes you cry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s image is Mimi\u2019s death in a production of La Boheme<\/em> (https:\/\/forbiddenmusic.org\/2022\/09\/05\/eduard-hanslick-on-puccinis-la-boheme-at-viennas-court-opera-conducted-by-gustav-mahler\/<\/a>). \u201cThe end of a friendship of the Quarter. The scanty possession of Mimi\u2019s friends have been hastily sold to provide the dying girl with medicine, but nothing avails her now\u201d (ibid.). The production took place in 1903 at the \u201cVienna State Opera in Vienna with Selma Kurz as Mim\u00ec, Marie Gutheil-Schoder as Musetta, Fritz Schr\u00f6dter as Rodolfo, Gerhard Stehmann as Marcello, and Gustav Mahler conducting\u201d (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/La_boh%C3%A8me<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of the Words Coach (https:\/\/www.wordscoach.com\/dictionary), is lachrymose. Pronounced \/ \u02c8l\u00e6k r\u0259\u02ccmo\u028as \/, this adjective means \u201csuggestive of or tending to cause tears; mournful\u201d or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[238,395,965,964,284],"class_list":["post-7298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-dictionary","tag-etymology","tag-la-boheme","tag-lachrymose","tag-linguistics","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7300,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7298\/revisions\/7300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}