Riparian, A Study in Words

I heard this word the first time on a BBC sitcom (“Keeping Up Appearances”) that aired the local PBS station. In the particular episode to which I am referring, the main character, Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced bou-quet) was preparing one of her infamous Candle Light Suppers. She had somehow finagled the weekend use of small boat parked along the River Thames and invited everyone she considered important to enjoy her meal of “riparian entertainments.” As is usual with our Hyacinth, her Candlelight Supper did not go as planned. But that’s a story for another day.

History of the Word Riparian

The English word riparian came from the Latin word riparius, a noun meaning bank or shore. It’s first usage in English was in the 18^th century and was used to refer to anything that existed along river banks (e.g. wetlands, habitats, trees and the like). Usage has expanded to include riparian delights, a term used to describe the rights of anyone who owns property along a riverbank with access to that waterway.

Riparian Defined

Riparian is an adjective meaning “Relating to, or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse like a river, a lake, or a tidewater. In Hyacinth’s case, she was planning her Candlelight Supper as a picnic along a riverbank. Her “riparian entertainments” consisted  of various seafood items

Words that Rhyme with Riparian

• agrarian
• Aquarian
• barbarian
• Bavarian
• Bulgarian
• Cancerian
• cesarean
• contrarian
• grammarian
• Hungarian
• librarian
• Maid Marian
• Ovarian
• Rotarian
• sectarian
• Sumerian
• tractarian
• Wagnerian

Using Riparian

If you wanted to use riparian in your writing you'd probably want to do a little research in the following areas:

• riparian vegetation (i.e. reeds)
• riparian woodlands
• riparian habitats
• riparian landowners, the rights and other issues of owning property near a river
• riparian flooding issues
• riparian ecosystems

Besides having a nice ring to it, riparian opens itself up to a number of writing ideas. Not only can writers use riparian as a topic, they can use it as a spring board for other topics -  comparing riparian woodlands to forested areas not related to a river, riparian habitats compared to other habitats, comparing riparian ecosystems to other ecosystems, general flooding issues unrelated to rivers - just to name a few.