DERIVATIONS
SIR,—Evelyn Waugh, as might be expected, offers no evidence for his ex cathedra assertion that 'jejune' means 'empty, feeble, thin.' It is flattering of him to suggest that my definition must have been based on a 'bizarre misuse' by 'some Latin writer,' but it is not my practice to quote ancient and foreign authors as proof of contemporary English usage. I chose my explanation from the entire range offered by the authors of the NED- 'unsatisfying to the mind or soul; dull, flat, insipid, bald, dry, uninteresting; meagre, scanty, thin, poor; wanting in substance or solidity.' The NED is not always right but it remains the first court of appeal for educated men on questions of meaning.
My criticism of Mr. Worsthorne was based on a quotation from his Sunday Telegraph article which clearly assumed that 'jejune' was derived from the French `jeune' and thus meant 'childish,' naive' or 'infantile.' Even if Mr. Waugh is right, and 'jejune' does retain 'the secondary meaning of "feeble,"' Mr. Worsthorne must still be found guilty of using the word in a sloppy and inaccurate way.
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