Frequentatives in Fantasy Novels

I learned some grammatical terms recently that I probably knew at some point in my smarter youth.

Thanks to a re-post a couple of weeks ago by fantasy author, J.A. Andrews, I had fun experimenting with the somewhat sesquipedalian term frequentative (I couldn’t help but use sesquipedalian, the term used—unsurprisingly—to describe long words).

When my kids were young, one of our family’s favourite albums (okay, it was a CD) was “There’s a Word for That” by Barenaked Ladies. The song provides a fun way to learn (and possibly even remember) the correct terms for obscure body parts such as philtrum and frenulum. And it reminds us that there are proper terms for everything.

Writers and readers enjoy wordplay. If you really geek out on words, do you enjoy grammarplay?

What is a frequentative?

A frequentative is a verb form of another word that indicates repeated or habitual action.

You might quibble over that definition. If so, what would you quip (or, to use the archaic word, quib, meaning to evade a point or object to something trivial)? The point here is not to quibble over definitions but to have fun with words.

Here’s a few fun examples.

Crinkle – from cringe. If you bend slightly, you might cringe. If you bend something over and over, it crinkles.

Straddle – from stride. You stride once but if you maintain that distance between your legs (while riding a horse, for example), you straddle.

Twitter – from tweet. You probably knew this one, although since the social media company changed its name, we do far less of this.

Gruntled – Okay, this one is really fun.

We’re more familiar with the word disgruntled, which actually came first. When you sulk or complain and grumble, you’re disgruntled. So what’s the opposite of that?

If your spouse grunts when asked a question, that might strike you as rude. Fair enough; grunts are usually meant as a complaint. But maybe your spouse’s intention was to express a feeling of contentment (yes, context is important here; stay focused). If so, there was a time when we would have described your spouse as gruntled.

Examples of frequentatives in fantasy

I started thinking about examples of frequentatives in fantasy novels, but where would you start? They’re everywhere.

In fact, I could pull any fantasy novel from my bookshelf and clutter (frequentative of clot) this article with frequentatives.

One example that comes to mind is from Harry Potter.

Remember the odd magazine published by Luna Lovegood’s father? The Quibbler.

What a great name for that magazine, especially as an alternate news source to the more popular Daily Prophet. Mr. Lovegood wrote about trivial matters, but were they trivial, really? There are many quibs you might raise if we were to discuss The Quibbler.

For examples of frequentatives in fantasy, I did a quick sampling from The Maidstone Chronicles.

Startle – from start

Across the Fourwinds: “The unanticipated voice beside him should have startled Will, but the soothing tone calmed his fear.” He might have started once when he heard the voice, but if it really frightened him, he would have been startled.

Into the Maidstone: “Inside was a large glass sphere full of liquid, frothing with thousands of small minnow-like creatures. Everyone jumped back, startled.” When they jumped back, they started. But because they started repeatedly, they were startled.

Sparkle – from spark

Into the Maidstone: “The Ice Dragon was stunning. Even in the muted light, her ice-blue and white hide sparkled as she shifted her long tail behind the tree trunk.”

Wrestle – from wrest

If you wrest, or twist, repetitively, you wrestle. This might be a physical battle or a mental one, as in Beyond the Hollowtangle, where “Rowe paced the wall walk, his hands opening and closing as he wrestled with the madness of this battle.”

Dazzle – from daze

If something keeps you in a daze, you’d say it’s dazzling.

For example, in Beyond the Hollowtangle Will had the opportunity to view the Niasa Sea from high above: “Overcome by the contrast of deep greens and dazzling blues, Will kept his eyes open.”

Sometimes you can use more than one frequentative in a sentence. In book three, Into the Maidstone, Will is captivated by Ryowyn: “The full moon made her dazzling blue eyes sparkle.”

Hmm…if you use a frequentative repetitively, is it a frequentitle? Or maybe you’re making that sentence frequentickle.

I digress, but here’s another:

Into the Maidstone, when Will was in Acttun: “A tingling sensation raced up Will’s body, and his scalp prickled with static electricity.” More than one ting and prick.

Clamber – from climb

Those who are fit and experienced in the mountains can climb. But most of us climb awkwardly, we clamber up mountains.

You get a sense of Joe’s age and condition in book three, Into the Maidstone: “For a minute he was sure he was having a heart attack as he clambered up the rocky path as quickly as his old bones would allow.”

We could go on. There are so many fun frequentatives.

By the way, gruntled is now considered obsolete. Too bad. There are not enough gruntled people in the world.

I hope you’re gruntled today. If so, give me a few contented grunts.