591: -esque Jul 21, 2016

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Much like the endings, '-like' or '-ish', '-esque' is added onto the end of nouns like 'carnival' as used in translations of Mikhail Bakhtin's work or 'Kafka' in order to create the adjectival form. The word 'grotesque', however, is somewhat different (or differentish, I could say), because while the ending was added onto a noun the same as any other, it was added in Italian so people don't have the same connection. A 'grotto' is a structure resembling a cave, and in ancient Rome, these would often be painted with obscene imagery. When excavators found these paintings, they felt the images were repulsive, and so called them 'grottesca' ('grotto-esque') and the word became a synonym for ugly or repulsive. 
See more of the '-ish' suffix here.

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