August 20, 2006, 10:47
shufitzWordspotting: vernacular
I always understood "vernacular" to be a noun, refering to a place's local language. But here I see it used as a adjective, not pertaining to language. Have you ever seen this usage?
Meanwhile the Atlanta Housing Authority ... has been ... demolishing its old projects and replacing them with attractive one- and two-family townhouses built in vernacular architecture.
- Wall Street Journal, Aug. 18, 2006, p. A14 col. 4
August 20, 2006, 11:51
zmježdIt's from a Latin adjective. The
AHD lists quite a few adjectival meanings.
August 20, 2006, 11:53
SeanahanI've certainly never heard it used in terms of architecture. I've heard it used as an adjective in the sense of "vernacular language".
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?gwp=13&s=vernacularquote:
Adj: 4. Of or being an indigenous building style using local materials and traditional methods of construction and ornament, especially as distinguished from academic or historical architectural styles.
August 20, 2006, 17:34
KallehI'm with Sean on that, even if we
are a generation apart.
August 21, 2006, 19:09
KallehIt seems most commonly used with language and architecture, though the OED cites uses in endemic diseases; of slaves; meaning "private, personal;" the phraseology of a particular profession or trade; and from 1727,
rare: "
Vernacularness, properness, or peculiarness to one's own Country."