Portulent / Portulence / Used In Novels But Not In OED ?

Ken · Apr 15, 2009

unless I'm imagining things, I've encountered the word 'portulent' and its variation 'portulence' in several 19th century novels I've read, years back. The word also comes up in a Google search, most notably for a New Yorker Talk of the Town article abstract from 1960:

http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?keyword=Portulent 34&sort=score desc&queryType=nonparsed

There are a number of Amazon links with the word, too. Oddly the word isn't in any dictionary, including the OED expanded edition. Has the word slipped into usage by mistake? ( It is quite similar to 'corpulent,' as a member has noted, and has the same meaning. )

Pomegranate · Apr 15, 2009

I can't find portulent in any of my dictionaries (online or hardcopy). I've never seen the word before. The closest words I found were "potulent" which is an obsolete word for drinkable or tipsy, and "portulaca" which is a flower.

Maybe its one of those words people just say wrong, like supposably and aksed. Or maybe it was a prtmanteau word, mashing corpulent and portly together?

Ken · Apr 15, 2009

... thanks for looking about, in any event. I like the obsolete word potulent. Portulaca is cool too. // So when you mash words together the result is called a prtmanteau? Neat. Learn something new everyday

Kitty Pryde · Apr 15, 2009

portmanteau.

CaroGirl · Apr 15, 2009

Pomegranate said:
I can't find portulent in any of my dictionaries (online or hardcopy). I've never seen the word before. The closest words I found were "potulent" which is an obsolete word for drinkable or tipsy, and "portulaca" which is a flower.

Maybe its one of those words people just say wrong, like supposably and aksed. Or maybe it was a prtmanteau word, mashing corpulent and portly together?

A portmanteau!!! I knew there was a word for that. Thank you!

IceCreamEmpress · Apr 15, 2009

Ken said:
unless I'm imagining things, I've encountered the word 'portulent' and its variation 'portulence' in several 19th century novels I've read, years back.

You're imagining things. I have a reasonably eidetic memory, and I know this is the first time I've ever seen it.

Yeah, a portmanteau of "portly" and "corpulent" seems spot-on for the 1960 New Yorker thing.

dolores haze · Apr 15, 2009

Corpulent, maybe? Old fashioned word for chubby.

Ken · Apr 15, 2009

IceCreamEmpress said:
You're imagining things. I have a reasonably eidetic memory, and I know this is the first time I've ever seen it.

... of course there is a possiblitity that you may not have happened to have read these particular classic novels I have, in which the word portulent was used, in which case your 'eidetic memory' would remain unblemished, and my mental faculties, sound ;-)

Dawnstorm · Apr 15, 2009

Ken said:
... of course there is a possiblitity that you may not have happened to have read these particular classic novels I have, in which the word portulent was used, in which case your 'eidetic memory' would remain unblemished, and my mental faculties, sound ;-)

Well, I searched for the term on Gutenberg.org, which has most of the classics, and came up empty. Google knows the word, though, and in the other thread Medievalist says she knows the word, too, and finds it in corpora that include literature and news.

I'll be following this thread; this is fascinating.

Personally, I don't know the word, but I do get a vague sense of familiarity. One possibility would be that the word exists, but it's not English. Many classics include foreign words, so that's a possibility. (But I should still be able to find the word on Gutenberg.org. Of course, Google isn't as reliable as a corpus search.)

Ludka · Apr 15, 2009

I think the portmanteau is the most logical explanation.

mscelina · Apr 15, 2009

Portulent/portulence is not a word. Portly or corpulent. Pick one and use it. Any manuscript that came across my desk with portulent on it would get red-inked right back to the author. Also, as a rare books collector and dealer who reads a LOT of classics, I have never run across the term 'portulent' in any of them.

Ken · Apr 16, 2009

... if portulent is a word, which I'm suspecting it is, it's as rare as a dodo bird.
Hardly a trace of it anywhere, outside the places I mentioned.

Bartholomew · Apr 16, 2009

I could swear I've seen that word before.

It's probably a bastard form of corpulent, though, as others have suggested. There is no significant gain in meaning by combining portly with corpulent. They both mean fat, though corpulent is much, much stronger.

Still, if it looks like a word, sounds like a word, and quacks like a word, it isn't a word until the Richardsnary says so.

Bartholomew · Apr 16, 2009

...His eldritch portulence crept up the stairs, devouring. Devouring.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

I think I saw the word in World of Warcraft. Can anyone verify this? My account is disabled until I get my novel done.

IceCreamEmpress · Apr 17, 2009

Ken said:
... of course there is a possiblitity that you may not have happened to have read these particular classic novels I have

Not bloody likely. I've read pretty much everything anyone who reads English would describe as a "classic novel." And even if I haven't read it, Project Gutenberg has scanned it and indexed it.

Also, that "Talk of the Town" from The New Yorker is poking fun at the woman's conflation of "portly" and "corpulent". Like many expats living in the US, Berton Roueche was amused by how Americans mangled their own language.

I see that a bunch of people have used it since 2000 in a jokey way, from the "Portulent Directory" at SFWorlds.com and in journalism since then. Maybe you saw it there and misremembered where you saw it?

Manix · Apr 17, 2009

Bartholomew said:
...His eldritch portulence crept up the stairs, devouring. Devouring.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

I think I saw the word in World of Warcraft. Can anyone verify this? My account is disabled until I get my novel done.

Me too!

Chris Huff · Apr 17, 2009

Note: Wow is the last place anyone should attempt to glean spelling or grammar from.

Ken · Apr 18, 2009

IceCreamEmpress said:
Also, that "Talk of the Town" from The New Yorker is poking fun at the woman's conflation of "portly" and "corpulent". Like many expats living in the US, Berton Roueche was amused by how Americans mangled their own language.

... couldn't say for sure without looking at the entire article, but I suspect it's unlikely that expat and insulter of Americans Berton [sic] Roach would just toss a supposed portmanteau into his piece like 'portulent' that would leave most readers scratching their heads and going "huh?" The New Yorker does have a tendency to feature obscure humor at times, but not this much so.

Plus they have a reputation to uphold, and printing a word that might come off as an error would be considered a treasonable and risky offense for an author to commit, particularly back in the 1960's when the helm was manned by William Shawn who had a habit of carrying around a hatchet in his attache case ;-)

So in conclusion, 'portulent' must be a word, though admittedly an obscure one, which would give a person no reason to feel badly and ashamed for not knowing.

PVish · Apr 18, 2009

As a portmanteau word, portulent could be handy. Possibly, a combination of portly and flatulent. Thus a chubby person with gas could be described as portulent.

Or, perhaps, it could be a combination of petulant and portly: The portulent child demanded another ice cream cone.

Perhaps it could refer to porches: After adding a stoop, a deck, and a patio, Mr. Clark's house was the most portulent on the street. Nah, that would have to be porchulent, wouldn't it?

The mind boggles at the possibilities for this word. It positively, portulently boggles.

Tsu Dho Nimh · Apr 18, 2009

Portulent = a blend of portly and corpulent?

I found it in the New Yorker, and in one other book from 1974, but not earlier.

Portulent / Portulence / Used In Novels But Not In OED ?

Ken

Pomegranate

Ken

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

CaroGirl

Living the dream

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

Ken

Dawnstorm

punny user title, here

Ludka

Hath more hair than wit

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you

Ken

Bartholomew

Comic guy

Bartholomew

Comic guy

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago

Manix

Mutatis mutandis

Chris Huff

Ken

PVish

Cat hair collector

Tsu Dho Nimh