Lit Circle- Lexicographer

Our English class is having another Literature circle to discuss the chapter The Song of Three Children in Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. This is a list of words and phrases used in this chapter along with definitions and possible explanations.

Achetez un cadeau pour votre fils – buy a present for your son
beto nki tutsala? – What are we doing?
boudoir – a woman’s bedroom or private sitting room
bottleflies – common blowflies, found in most parts of the world, slightly larger than houseflies
cadeux – present
civets – carnivorous cat-like mammals that have extended muzzles and are native to most of the Old World Tropics
cornea – a transparent part of the eye, which externally coats the iris and the pupil
elephantiasis – a chronic filarial disease that causes enlargement and hardening of cutaneous tissues and lymphatic obstruction.
Eros – an ancient Greek god, paralleled by the Roman god, Cupid.
filaires – small roundworms carried as mosquito larva which become parasitic when
frangipani flowers – plumeria
Great Rift Valley – a large geological feature that runs from Syria to Mozambique, which was formed due to a process called rifting
Guinea worms – an infection caused by drancuculus parasites
Gullah – an African American people who live in the south of America
Her character is meant to be corrupt, manipulative, and abusive.
Jezebel – a woman character that appears in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Holy Bible.
present in the blood of vertebrae in adult form (filaria)
mbika vines – any type of plant in the gourd, melon, squash family
mbote – hello or goodbye
microbes – a microscopic organism, typically disease causing bacteria
muntu – a state of existence, living, dead, or unborn
pagnes – a piece of clothe to wrap around the body
palmetto – a palm having fan shaped leaves
Pour vous, madame – for you, ms.
red laterite – a form of reddish soil or clay
schistosomiasis – an infection caused by parasitic flukes commonly found in tropical regions transmitted by feces polluted water or snails. It can cause, pain, anemia, and malfunction of the infected organ.
tuberculosis – an infectious disease that can affect almost any tissue of the body and especially damaging to the lungs

“Death is the common right of Toads and Men. Why swagger?” (527)
Swagger might possibly suggest hesitation but might also refer to the way that Adah used to walk. Death introduces the idea that all life will eventually die.

“Lock, stock, and barrel” (531)
A common phrase used to mean in completion. It was derived from Charlevill muskets that were used in the American Revolutionary. The muskets were shipped from France in three different parts, lock, stock, and barrel, which had to be assembled when they arrived in America.