Make Your Point > Archived Issues > SOJOURN

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pronounce SOJOURN: Several ways are correct. I say "SO jurn." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: A sojourn (a brief stay or visit) isn't exactly the same as a journey. So why do they look so much alike? It's because they both come from the Latin diurnum, "a day." Diurnum filtered into Old French and grew to mean "a day," or "a day's travel," before morphing into the English word journey (and journal, too). And to sojourn, originally, meant to stay for a single day. Even though it's a bit hard to see it, sojourn and journey share that diurnum root with our word m___di_n, which literally means "midday" but can also mean "a high point" or, more often, "an imaginary circle around the globe, running from the north pole to the south pole and back around." Can you recall that one? (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  definition: We took the word "sojourn" from French, but you can trace it back to a Latin word meaning "to stay for one day." (If you squint at the word "sojourn," you can kind of see the Latin sub, meaning "until," and diurnum, meaning "a day.") To sojourn somewhere is to stay there for a short time, either as a guest or a resident.  "Sojourn" is also a noun. A sojourn is a temporary stay or visit. grammatical bits: Part of speech: Both a noun ("his sojourn here lasted three weeks") and a verb ("he sojourned here for three weeks"). Other forms:  Sojourns, sojourned, sojourning, sojourner(s). how to use it: Compared to everyday synonyms like "stay," "visit," "linger," and "reside," our word "sojourn" has a lofty, poetic tone. It's not a rare word, exactly. But it's rare enough (compared to "stay" and "visit" and so on) that it calls special attention to itself. For a lot of us, when we hear the word "sojourn," we instantly think of Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), the woman who escaped from slavery and fought for abolition and for women's rights. You'll recall from history class that she chose her own name (she was born Isabella Baumfree) when she converted to Christianity and devoted herself to traveling and preaching--staying in each place for a short while, and, if we read between the lines a bit, doing as much good as possible in her temporary stay in this life. So, pick "sojourn" when you need to strike a serious, profound, or sophisticated tone. Talk about someone's sojourn, often in a place: "his monthlong sojourn in Europe," "their sojourn in Florida for the winter." Or talk about someone sojourning, again, often in a certain place: "he's sojourning in Europe for a month," "they're sojourning in Florida for the winter." I should point out that if you accidentally say "sojourn" when you mean "journey," you probably won't confuse anyone, but your choice of word will be incorrect. At least, that's true today. Fifty years from now, who knows? When people make the same error for long enough, and often enough, it becomes "correct," or acknowledged by dictionaries. examples: "Her husband departed on what they planned as a three-year sojourn to earn money for the family."    — James Varnay, The Washington Times, 19 May 2019 "[The astronaut] Scott Kelly experienced numerous physiological and chromosomal changes during his long sojourn in orbit, including changes in gene expression."    — Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 11 April 2019 has this page helped you understand "sojourn"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "sojourn" without saying "stay" or "temporarily reside." try it out: In the Washington Post, Elizabeth Chang details her sojourn in Bermuda. She opens with this observation: "Every paradise on Earth has a dirty little secret — mosquitoes, perhaps, or overcrowding or jellyfish. Even the Garden of Eden had a snake. On a recent trip to Bermuda, a tiny territory rich in natural beauty, historic locales and multihued charm, my husband and I ran smack into its hidden flaw: Its roads are unsettlingly dangerous." Think of a sojourn of your own. Talk about whether or not Chang's observation applies to the place where you sojourned. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is "Faces & Feelings." If the word you're studying were a facial expression, what would it look like? Maybe one of the seven universal facial expressions, the ones identified by the psychologist Paul Ekman. In each issue, take a handful of words and assign each to an emotion it inspires. I'll list my answers at the bottom of each issue. Yours might be different from mine, which is okay--words, and emotions, are complex and personal! The goal here is just to interact with our words, to tie them more securely into memory by connecting them to emotion and to the face. Try this set today. Match each face on the left to a term on the right:     faceless fester flagitious flippant foment free-hearted frisson   review this word: 1. A near opposite of SOJOURNING is A. STAYING WARY. B. RESIDING PERMANENTLY. C. STICKING TO SAFE TERRITORY. 2. They're sojourning _____ Australia. A. to B. in C. through Answers to review questions: 1. B 2. B Suggested answers to game questions: joy: free-hearted surprise: frisson contempt: flippant sadness: fester anger: foment disgust: flagitious fear: faceless a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.