I got more than a little annoyed when I tried to find out whatever happened to the word “sensual”, which, in its earliest mid 15th century incarnation meant “of, pertaining to, or relating to the senses, perception.” By the end of that very century, it had been corrupted to mean having to do with sexual gratification, lewdness, baseness, evilness. This was a time when the mind was set on a pedestal, high above the body, detached from anything so animal as the senses. It took the writer Milton in 1641, to have at it again, having realized that the initial meaning of the word was forever tainted, linked to sex, he invented the word “sensuous”, which, after a time fell into the gutter alongside sensual. Despite Coleridge’s attempts to restore the word sensuous to Milton’s meaning in the 18th century, he never could.  Its a shame really. We still need a word, and that word, despite all rumors to the contrary isn’t intuition.

    But in the meantime, in celebration of a very, very inventive wordsmith, Milton, who, as it turns out created 600 words (about 200 more than Shakespeare is known to have created), a few of the great ones (they still seem so modern). In reading them may I propose to ask yourself the following question: How would your thoughts shape themselves differently without them?

    Terrific. Pandemonium. Acclaim. Dreary. Satanic. Jubilant. Enslaved. Impassive. Self-esteem. Unaided. Rebuff. Chastening. Infuriate. Padlock. Earthshaking. Moon-struck. Love-lorn. Didactic. Stunning. Arch-fiend. Besottedly. Endearing. Well balanced. Unaccountable. Unprincipled. Dismissive. Irresponsible. Debauchery. Fragrance. Gloom. Embellishing. Extravagance. Cooking. Well-stocked. Half-starved. Hot-headed. Unhealthily. Enjoyable. Exhilarating. Attacks. Airborne. Exploding. Far-sighted. Vested. Infuriate. Enlightening. Civilizing. Cherubic. Loquacious. Impassive. Unadventurous. Framework. Helpfulness. Self-delusion. Didactic. Unoriginal. Discontinuous. As well as some lovely phrases—Every cloud has a silver lining. Trip the light fantastic. All is not lost.