Coronate
Bob Hagerman from Glen
Arbor, Michigan, wrote:
“With all the festivals this time of year, almost each of which requires
a queen, perhaps you would be interested in saying a word (or 25) about "to coronate" used
as a synonym for "to crown."
(As always, I also object to the use of "to surveil" as a synonym for the verb “to
watch" )
Coronate
is designated rare by the
Oxford English Dictionary. The last printed example in the OED dates back to 1847. Surveil, by the
way, is a back formation of surveillance, and it seems to have been most
popular in the1960s and the 1970s.
Running
counter to this is the fact that entering “coronate” in google results in
313,000 hits, and entering “surveil” brings up 296,000 results. Disappointing, no?
Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts
Dictionary, 2nd edition
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