Words Weird and Wonderful: Clark Ashton Smith’s Hyperborea by Bill Ward One of the defining characteristics of the work of Clark Ashton Smith is his rich vocabulary. From the antique to the allusive to the oddly conjugated, Smith’s polymathic mastery of the English language is a key aspect of his distinctive authorial voice. Smith’s thorough understanding of words also means that they are more than mere window-dressing lending archaic exoticism to his stories. For a perfect example look at the first word below, calamite. It isn’t just a taxonomic word used to paint a picture of a long-vanished prehistoric age. Smith here deliberately plays with the word’s derivation from the Latin (ultimately Greek) for ‘reed pen,’ not only specifically mentioning such a pen in the sentence, but having the calamite serve as the ingredient of writing paper.  From “The Door to Saturn” Calamite, n. Paleozoic plant resembling a horsetail. Greek (via Latin) “kalamos” reed pen “…there was a writing-table of ivory, with reed-pens, and various colored inks in little earthen pots; and there were sheets of paper made from a kind of calamite, all scribbled over with odd astronomical and astrological calculations that caused Morghi to frown because he could not understand them.” Flibbertigibbet, n. a flighty person, sometimes impish. Old English, “flepergebet” onomatopoetic descriptor of a chatterer or gossip.  “And they met those flibbertigibbet pygmies, the Ephiqhs, who hollow out their homes in the trunks of certain large fungi, and are always having to hunt new habitations because the old ones crumble into powder in a few days.” Magniloquent, adv. Speaking in a high-flown or bombastic manner, ie. grandiloquent. Latin “magnus” great + “loqui” to speak. “I have been conversing with one of the gods of Cykranosh,” he said magniloquently. “The god, whose name is Hziulquoigmnzhah, has given me a mission to perform, a message to deliver, and has indicated the direction in which I should go.” From “The Seven Geases” Anlace, n. double-edge dagger, medieval, also ‘Anelace.’ Middle English “anelas” Old French “alenaz,” Old High German “alasna,” awl. “His bladed buckler, his mace, broadsword, hunting-knife, ax and needle-tipped anlace jingled on the ground before the obsidian block.” Catoblepas, n. legendary buffalo-like creature with a perpetually downward pointing head. Greek “katablepo” to look downwards. “Also, they heard the bellowing of an alpine catoblepas pursued by the Voormis, and...