Redolent

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛd.ə.lənt/

Definitions

  1. Emitting a strong, pleasant aroma ; bringing thoughts or memories to mind
  2. Producing a noticeable fragrant odor ; serving as a reminder or indication of something
  3. Giving off a clear and enjoyable scent ; closely associated with or evocative of a particular idea or feeling

Etymology: Smell an old Latin word closely and you catch a sound change in the act. Latin had "odor" for a scent, but its verb "to smell" was "olere", with an l where the d should be. Both come from the same ancient root, and the swap of d for l, probably picked up from a neighbouring dialect, appears elsewhere too: the Latin word for "tear" was once "dacruma", a near twin of Greek "dakru", before it settled into "lacrima". To "olere" the Romans added the prefix "re-", which took an extra d before vowels, as it does in "redeem". The result, "redolere", meant to give off a scent, to breathe a smell back out into the air. Its present participle, "redolentem", meant something exhaling fragrance, and that participle passed into Old French as "redolent". English borrowed it from French around 1400, and at first it meant what it said: sweet-smelling, fragrant. A garden, a spice or an ointment could be redolent. By the early eighteenth century the phrase "redolent of" could mean simply smelling strongly of something, pleasant or not, so it could describe a kitchen thick with garlic or a corridor heavy with cabbage. The figurative turn came more than a century later. By the late 1820s writers were using the phrase for anything that calls something else to mind, the way a smell can carry you back to a room you have not stood in for years. A street could breathe of the Middle Ages, a phrase of the pulpit. Its look-alike "indolent" is no relation. That word comes from "dolere", to feel pain; an indolent person was originally one who felt no pain, then no trouble about anything at all. "Olfactory", built from "olere" and "facere", to make, is a true cousin.

Synonyms: fragrant, aromatic, scented, odorous, perfumed

Antonyms: odorless, foul, stinky, unpleasant