Word of the Day for Friday July 15, 2005 atelier \at-l-YAY\, noun: A workshop; a studio. A garage in [1]Montparnasse served as Leo's atelier, and there he labored on his huge [2]triptychs, mixing his paints in buckets and applying them with a kitchen mop. --Mordecai Richler, [3]Barney's Version After Groton, he would attend the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, then settle in Paris, rent an atelier and paint. --Benjamin Welles, [4]Sumner Welles: FDR's Global Strategist His atelier was the headquarters of a lively little cottage industry. --Rollene W. Saal, "Listening for Voices That are Muted," [5]New York Times, January 25, 1987 _________________________________________________________ Atelier comes from French, from Old French astelier, "carpenter's shop," from astele, "splinter," from Late Latin astella, alteration of Latin astula, itself an alteration of assula, "a shaving, a chip," diminutive of assis, "board." References 1. http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=Montparnasse 2. http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=triptych 3. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671028464/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 4. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312174403/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 5. http://www.nytimes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=atelier