disjecta membra

[ dis-jek-tuh mem-bruh ]

plural noun

1. scattered members; disjointed portions or parts: applied to fragments of poetry or fragmentary quotations.

disjecta membra

/ dɪsˈdʒɛktə ˈmɛmbrə /

plural noun

1. scattered fragments, esp parts taken from a writing or writings

Word History and Origins

Origin of disjecta membra¹

< Latin, alteration of disjectī membra poētae limbs of a dismembered poet, a phrase in Horace

Example Sentences

Not only does it reprint the scribblings, random observations, inventories and disjecta membra of France’s second greatest poet — the greatest being, as Andre Gide remarked, “Victor Hugo, alas” — all this inchoate material is given context by Sieburth’s learned, elegantly written commentary.

From Washington Post

"Professor Winterthorn's Journey" is full of the disjecta membra of idle small talk, and in the following sequence, "The Suit of Mistress Quickly", Reid has written what is almost a piece of sound poetry.

From The Guardian

There lay all that remained of Mrs. Sykes—the disjecta membra, the fragmenta—the casket!

From Project Gutenberg

No chance here for even the unwitting insertion of that terrible purple boss; indeed the grapes of wrath were no longer in existence, for Chalmers Warriner had taken pains to have every bit of the disjecta membra of the old windows gathered up and buried in some inaccesible pit, its very location to remain forever hidden from human eyes.

From Project Gutenberg

I observed to-day, at Cape St. Comb, large angular fragments of a species of coarse granular sandstone rock, which appear to be disjecta membra of a much more recent formation than that underlying the prevalent surface formation.

From Project Gutenberg