Last 3 plays: infinite_jest (10/10), mynah5459song (10/10), Guest 76 (10/10).
King D'Rain, in the midst of his , tried to in his unruly and, in particular, Duke Rayne whose constant interruptions of self-promotion. The Duke often to his own being particularly astute although such breathtaking wisdom the others. Instead, the Duke's antics havoc in the chambers, threatening a into .
Homophones are words, often with different spellings, that sound the same but have different meanings. Within this definition, there are various subsets such as homonyms. To make things harder, there are also synophones - words with different spelling and meaning but that almost, but not quite, sound the same. In this quiz, "allude" and "elude" fall into this latter category. It is not hard to imagine that regional dialects can also result in such words changing category.
The definitions for the words are in the context of the quiz.
Turning to the synophone pair, "allude" (to make an indirect reference to) and "elude" (to escape the understanding of) share a common Latin root in "ludere" (to play, jest), which is an obsolete English meaning. Allude is a combination of ad (to) + ludere, elude comes from ex (out) + ludere.
"Council" (a body of people appointed to advise) has a Middle Ages church heritage, and is ultimately from the Latin "Concilium" (a meeting, a gathering of people). "Counsel" has a similar Latin source, "consiliari" (opinion), and came via the Old French counseil (advice, counsel).
"Descent" (the act of going downwards) comes from the Latin "descendere", comprising de (down) + scandere (to climb). "Dissent" (difference of opinion) comes from the Latin "dissentire" (differ in sentiments).
"Regnum" (kingship, rule, realm) is the Latin for "reign" (period of rule by a monarch). "Rein" (restrain or control as in 'rein in') comes from the Latin "retinere" (hold back), combining re + tenere with the 't' being lost somewhere on the way.
"Reek" (to stink) has an Old English source in "reocan" or "reken" (to emit smoke). There are similar words in Old German and Old Norse. This morphed by the 18th century in 'to emit a bad smell'. Also from Old English, "wreacan" (to drive out, punish) is the source for "wreak" (to inflict or cause), with similar old northern European equivalents.
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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