Wednesday Word Skills ... on Saturday

Can you believe the number of new words I found in Lev Grossman's book "The Magicians?"
Some of them are so interesting, I almost believed Lev made them up himself. But, no! These are actual words and I was able to find them in the dictionary!
Of course, I did have to look in more than one dictionary to find some of them!
Do you have some favorites? I'm kind of partial to "nimbi." I like the meaning and it's sort of fun to say!

Corporeal = of, for or having the nature of, the body; physical; bodily; not spiritual. Of a material nature, perceptible by the senses; tangible.

Declension = a bending or sloping downward; a falling off or away.

Didactic = used or intended for teaching or instruction. Morally instructive or intended to be so. Too much inclined to teach others; boringly pedantic or moralistic.

Excoriate = to strip, scratch or rub off the skin of; flay, abrade, chafe, etc.; to denounce harshly.

Glassine = a thin but tough, glazed, nearly transparent paper used as for envelopes.

Golem = a human being artificially created by cabalistic rites.

Gonfalon = a flag hanging from a crosspiece instead of an upright staff, usually ending in streamers.

Madrigal = a short poem, usually a love poem, which can be set to music. An often contrapuntal song with parts for several voices singing without accompaniment, popular in the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th centuries. Loosely, any song, especially a part song.

Naiad = any of the nymphs living in and giving life to springs, fountains, rivers and lakes. Any of a family of submerged, fresh-water plants having linear opposite leaves. The aquatic nymph of certain insects, as the dragonfly or mayfly.

Chitinous = mutinous, tenuous.

Nimbi = a cloud or aura surrounding a person or thing; halo.

Faun = one of a class of rural deities represented as men with the ears, horns, tail, and later also the hind legs of a goat.

Susurrus = a soft murmuring or rustling sound; whisper.

Palimpsest = a parchment or the like from which writing has been partially or completely erased to make room for another text.

Verdant = green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grass; of the color green; inexperienced, unsophisticated.

Subpar = not measuring up to traditional standards of performance, value, or production.