Word of the Week

I came across this word while reading the book Widdershins.

maudlin |ˈmôdlin|
adjective
self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness : the drink made her maudlin | a maudlin ballad. See note at sentimental .
ORIGIN late Middle English (as a noun denoting Mary Magdalen): from Old French Madeleine, from ecclesiastical Latin Magdalena (see magdalene ). The sense of the adjective derives from allusion to pictures of Mary Magdalen weeping.