orotund

English

WOTD – 19 December 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁óh₃s

The American actor James Earl Jones, noted for his orotund voice (sense 1), reading from William Shakespeare’s play Othello at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009.

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin ōre rotundō (“with a round mouth; hence, clear; loud”) (whence English ore rotundo), possibly influenced by rotund (“having a curved, round, or spherical shape; (figurative) of sound: full and rich”). Õre rotundō is derived from ōre (the ablative singular of ōs (“mouth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óh₃s (“mouth”)) + rotundō (“to make round”) (from rotundus (“circular, round”) (possibly from rota (“wheel”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hreth₂- (“to run”)) + -undus (suffix forming adjectives)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs)). Doublet of ore rotundo.

The noun is derived from the adjective.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒɹə(ʊ)tʌnd/, /ˈɔː-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹə(ʊ)ˌtʌnd/
• Hyphenation: or‧o‧tund

Adjective

orotund (comparative more orotund, superlative most orotund)

2. Of a voice: characterized by clarity, fullness, smoothness, and strength of sound; hence, of a person: having a clear, full, and strong voice, appropriate for public speaking, reading aloud, etc.

   (of a voice): Synonyms: ore rotundo, resonant; see also Thesaurus:sonorous

3. (by extension)
   1. Of writing, etc.: clear, effective, powerful.
   2. (derogatory) Of speech or writing: bombastic, pompous.

      Synonyms: grandiloquent, magniloquent, tumid, turgid

      • 1990, Robert Klitgaard, “Beginning to Move”, in Tropical Gangsters, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, page 124:

        A series of U.N. and government officials spoke. […] In orotund turns of phrase—indeed, in spiraling helices of phrase; in snarled fishing lines of phrase; in endless small intestines of phrase--the speakers ingeniously explored and invented connections between qwerty, alphabetical filing, and socioeconomic advance.

      • 2004 October 31, Anthony Quinn, “‘The Line of Beauty’: The last good summer [book review]”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-10-18:

        He would also, you can't help thinking, have approved [Alan] Hollinghurst's discriminating eye and perhaps even enjoyed the half-facetious, half-adoring tributes Nick pays to his famously orotund late style, the "plums of periphrasis" Nick likes to slip into his conversation.

      • 2014 August 15, Steven Pinker, “Reference and languages books: Steven Pinker: 10 ‘grammar rules’ it’s OK to break (sometimes)”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-27:

        When Groucho Marx was once asked a long and orotund question, he replied, "Whom knows?" […] The popularity of "whom" humour tells us two things about the distinction between "who" and "whom". First, "whom" has long been perceived as formal verging on pompous. Second, the rules for its proper use are obscure to many speakers, tempting them to drop "whom" into their speech whenever they want to sound posh.

        Appeared in print in the Review section (issue 52,240) on 16 August 2014, page 4, column 3.

Derived terms

• ororotundity (obsolete, rare)
• ororotundoism (obsolete, rare)
• orotundity
• orotundly

Related terms

• oral
• ore rotundo
• rotund

Translations

of a voice: characterized by clarity, fullness, smoothness, and strength of sound

• Bulgarian: плъ́тен (bg) (plǎ́ten), звучен (bg) (zvučen)
• Finnish: please add this translation if you can
• Georgian: ჟღერადი (žɣeradi)
• German: sonor (de), volltönig
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

of a person: having a clear, full, and strong voice

• Finnish: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

of writing, etc.: clear, effective, powerful — see clear,‎ effective,‎ powerful

of speech or writing: bombastic, pompous — see bombastic

Noun

orotund (countable and uncountable, plural orotunds) (obsolete)

1. (countable) A voice characterized by clarity, fullness, smoothness, and strength of sound.
2. (uncountable) The quality of clarity, effectiveness, and power in speech or writing.

Anagrams

• rotundo, round to