Greetings, word wizards and witches alike! And a humble welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandloquents. Is that a ringing you hear in your ear? It may be so, for today’s word is ‘tintinnabulate’.

Tintinnabulate is a lovely specimen of language meaning to ring as a bell, or tinkle. From both the Latin ‘tintinnabulum’ referring to a bell, and ‘tinnire’ to jingle, this word describes the sound of a ringing bell as it did in Roman times. To Romans, these bells indicated the hour of bathing, as well as being used in the home, and as an emblem. They were even placed around the necks of cattle and sheep so that they could be found if they strayed! Some farmers still use bells today, most famously in the Swiss alps.

Sadly, we have shortened tintinnabulate to the less impressive ‘ring’, ‘tinkle’, or ‘jingle’. Though they may serve us well, these substitutes are not nearly as spectacular! 

Earlier forms of tintinnabulate in the English language include the adjectives ‘tintinnabulary’, from 1787, ‘tintinnabulatory’ from 1827, and the noun ‘tintinnabulum’ meaning ‘small bell’ which was used in the late 1300s. 

You may have conjured to your mind the related word ‘tinnitus’, and you would be to correct do so, as the direct translation of tinnitus is, again, the ringing of bells. Today, tinnitus is used to describe a physical condition of ringing in the ear or head, when there is no external noise present. Though often misinterpreted as a disease in itself, tinnitus is merely a symptom, often of a malfunctioning hearing system. Can you hear something tintinnabulating? Make sure there are bells nearby, or you might have tinnitus!

Isn’t language wonderful?

Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber

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