admarginate

Etymology

From ad- + margin + -ate.

Why this word is great

ADMARGINATE — [Verb] To write in the margin. From Latin ad- ("to, toward") + marginem ("margin, edge") + -ate (verbal suffix). Unlike "annotate" (which sprawls across footnotes and interlinear spaces) or "underline" (which emphasizes without commentary), to admarginate is to confine one’s thoughts to the periphery. It is the hurried pencil scrawl of a student arguing with a textbook, the librarian’s discreet correction of a misprinted date, or the faint, ink-smudged love notes left in the edges of a borrowed novel—each a quiet rebellion against the tyranny of the main text, a reminder that meaning often flourishes in the overlooked spaces.

verb

  1. To write in the margin.“c. 1810-1820, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Notes on Jeremy Taylor receive candidly the few hints which I have admarginated for your assistance”